The most-recalled automobiles of 2006

By Dan Lienert

updated 3:52 p.m. ET Feb. 20, 2007

Last week, Honda Motor announced a global recall of 45,000 Civic Hybrid sedans, hoping to correct defective voltage converters that could cause short circuits, stopping the cars' engines and preventing them from restarting.

This is an example of a recall at its most serious: a grave problem affecting a large number of vehicles, prompting the automaker to spring to action and immediately contact owners.

Other recalls, on the other hand, are not so grim.

Take the October 2004 federal recall of Ford Motor's 2005 Jaguar S-Type sedan, a move that potentially affected 50,000 models. (Recalls typically don't affect an entire model's production run.) According to a statement released by the U.S. Department of Transportation, "The brake-fluid master-cylinder reservoir is recessed and oriented in the engine compartment beneath a leaf screen, such that the brake fluid warning statement embossed on the top of the reservoir is not visible by direct view."

Somebody call Ralph Nader.

All kidding aside, examine the most-recalled 2006-model cars, and you will find that a number of seemingly trouble-free vehicles have problems.

Honda's 2006 Civic has had four recalls, as has Hyundai's popular Sonata sedan. Each of these models had one recall for improper labels within the vehicle (comparatively minor recalls), but each also had three recalls for manufacturing problems that could have caused accidents and injuries.

For example, the 2006 Civic had a November 2005 recall potentially affecting 25,000 cars. On certain Civics, Honda had not installed the gas pedals properly, and they may have come loose at the floor mountings. In drive, the pedals could have become stuck, increasing the risk of a crash.

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In Hyundai's case, an August 2005 recall potentially involved 36,000 Sonatas. On certain models, a manufacturing defect was causing the front seatbelt to interfere with the manual seatback recliner knob, causing the recliner to release inadvertently — a safety hazard.

As recalls go, "The recliner knob was pretty big," says Hyundai spokesman Miles Johnson. "That got some coverage." On the other hand, fixing the problem involved a "minor change on a plastic part."

Regarding all four Sonata recalls, "We voluntarily initiated all these actions to ensure the safety and quality of the vehicles and customer satisfaction," Johnson says. "These recalls were discovered early, and were contained to a small population of vehicles."

Indeed, while some recalls can affect tens of thousands of cars, many can affect a small number of models. One of the Sonata's 2006 recalls — a problem with the headlights — potentially affected only 500 vehicles.

Small and minor recalls are just two things that make them imperfect indicators of vehicle safety, even though recalls can teach us a lot about major trouble spots.

Some, though, say the number of recalls issued each year is too high.

In his recently published book, "Shifting Out Of Park: Moving Auto Safety From Recalls To Reason," author Kevin M. McDonald says the Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which develops and administers car-safety regulations, issues as many as 30 million recalls per year. More cars are recalled than sold, he says.

What's more, compliance with federally mandated recalls is tough to achieve, since car owners ignore up to 25 percent of recall notices, according to McDonald. He points out that parts and labor cost automakers around $100 per vehicle per recall. Do some recalls even make sense for consumers and automakers? We asked McDonald, who also works for Volkswagen as an in-house counsel.

“"In the book,” he says, “you'll see a couple of examples of recalls that shouldn't have been safety recalls. There was a GM recall a couple of years ago of about a half-million Astros and GMC Safaris. The defect was the failure of these 500,000 vehicles to chime for four to eight seconds when the seatbelt wasn't clicked. These affected vehicles failed to chime for a fraction of a second less than the safety standard required — even though the illuminated seatbelt icon on the dashboard lit up for longer than was required."

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