Automakers Worried About Federal Scrutiny - May Overreact With Excessive Recalls

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne said he’s concerned the auto industry will overreact to the scrutiny faced by General Motors Co. over its recall of 2.6 million cars for ignition switch defects.

The Justice Department, Congress and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are all investigating whether GM improperly delayed a recall of the ignition problem in older compact cars that’s been linked to 13 deaths. GM first learned of a problem in 2001 in a pre-production Ion and repeatedly opted not to recall the vehicles.

“On recall issues, you’re going to see a heightened level of sensitivity. You may see excessive corrective actions,” Marchionne said at a forum Tuesday in Auburn Hills.

Until then, costs could rise for the industry, he said. Marchionne said it is “too early” to say if Chrysler will need to increase its reserves to account for recall cost.

MattDarringer - 5/9/2014 7:52:14 PM

+1 Boost

"Excessive" recalls are not bad. Recalls show that a manufacturer CARES about customers.

poot66 - 5/10/2014 9:02:01 PM

+1 Boost

Of course Chrysler would worry about that, they might be forced to attempt to start building well made reliable cars. GM and even Toyota ignoring problems for years that they knew could be fatal is far from a standard recall. If people could die, maybe you should try and fix it.