Auto recalls surge in 2009

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Auto recalls surge in 2009, safety agency says

Posted on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 12:40 PM EST.(Employee News)

Automakers recalled 16.4 million vehicles in 2009—the highest annual tally since 2005, the government said today and The Detroit News reported.

That’s almost 6 million vehicles more than the 2008 tally, the paper noted. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Toyota Motor Corp. led the way with 4.87 million vehicles recalled in nine campaigns—the first time the Japanese automaker has led the industry in total recalls, the News said. Toyota launched a recall of 4.26 million vehicles in November over reports of sudden acceleration, including at least one accident that caused four deaths, the paper said.

Overall, automakers launched 492 auto recalls last year, the lowest number of campaigns since 2006. But very large recalls by both Toyota and Ford Motor Co. skewed the number of vehicles higher, even though the number of campaigns dropped substantially, the News said.

General Motors Co. recalled 2.2 million vehicles in 16 campaigns; Chrysler Group LLC recalled nearly 590,000 vehicles in 15 campaigns; Honda recalled 454,000 vehicles in four campaigns; Nissan Motor Co. recalled 706,000 vehicles in six campaigns; Hyundai Motor Co. and its Kia unit recalled 1.3 million vehicles in eight campaigns, the story said. (The Detroit News)