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Part II: the biggest auto recalls in history

On Behalf of | Sep 11, 2019 | Auto Recalls |

Regular readers of our Lemon Law and Car Fraud Blog will recall that we recently published a post about the biggest auto recalls in U.S. history since the 1970 creation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

In that post, we looked at a couple big auto recalls that happened not long after the NHTSA was established: the 1972 recall of 4.1 million Fords and the 1973 recall of 3.7 million GM vehicles. The Ford recall was over defective seatbelts and the GM vehicles were recalled to fix defective underbody shields.

Those early recalls pale in comparison to the numbers involved in the 2014 recall of 5.9 million GM vehicles. The problem five years ago was with ignition switches that could shut off the engine and prevent vehicle airbags from deploying. So far, the faulty switches have been linked to at least 124 fatalities.

A year after that recall, Honda recalled 6.3 million vehicles that had been equipped with faulty airbags. Those who read our blog know that this issue with Takata airbags has plagued multiple automakers, and more importantly, drivers and passengers around the world.

About 40 million vehicles were outfitted with Takata airbags that had the potential to send deadly shrapnel flying through the cabins of vehicles.

Some of our readers who have been around awhile might remember the 1996 recall of 7.9 million Ford vehicles that had ignition switches that could short circuit. Ford only issued the recall after receiving more than 1,100 reports about fires caused by the switches.

While that was the second biggest recall in history, Ford also claims the top spot with 1981’s recall of 21 million vehicles that had flawed transmissions and gear position indicators. The problem with the affected vehicles was that the parking gear could fail to engage though the gear indicator showed that the vehicle was in park. The defect was blamed for 98 fatalities and 1,710 injuries.

Please contact our consumer protection law firm to help you resolve issues involving defective new or used vehicles, dealer fraud or violations of Lemon Laws.

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