It’s staggering:
For those who are just tuning into the GM recall saga, some quick facts. GM has issued 44 recalls in North America this year alone. More than 20 million vehicles have been affected worldwide—a tremendous figure that surpasses total annual vehicle sales in the U.S. The recall pace has snowballed since the start of the year, with only two issued in January, but 14 so far this June for some 4.2 million vehicles. With half of the year left to go, GM is already looking at $2 billion in total recall-related charges.
While some recalls have been over more severe issues than others, the breadth and scope of GM’s fiasco this year reveals a shocking safety crisis. At its current rate, GM is on track to shatter the entire auto industry’s record for most vehicles affected in recalls in a single year, explains Michael Schultz, an industry analyst at the Center for Automotive Research. “It’s unprecedented,” says Schultz, who also expects that the company isn’t done yet. “I anticipate there’s going to be more until they have literally nothing else possible to issue a recall on,” he says.
