US auto industry galvanised as recalls hit record in 2014

Detroit

SPURRED by a decade-old ignition switch defect in millions of General Motors (GM) vehicles, the US auto industry last year issued more recalls involving old models - those made five or more years ago - than ever before, an analysis of federal recall records by The New York Times shows. More than 60 million vehicles have been recalled in the United States, double the previous annual record in 2004. In all, there have been about 700 recall announcements - an average of two a day - affecting the equivalent of one in five vehicles on the road.

The eight largest carmakers each recalled more vehicles in the US last year than they have on average since 1966, when data collection began, with GM, Honda and Chrysler each setting corporate records, the review by paper found. While carmakers are cleaning up years of defects that previously went undetected or ignored, driving has become statistically safer, partly because of added technology in newer vehicles.