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Opinion: Is NHTSA out of control?

Filed under: Government/Legal, Recalls, Safety

Recent Rises in Recall Numbers A Cause For Alarm

Preliminary indications suggest there may be an all-time recall record in 2013.

The announcements seem to be coming almost every day, if not more frequently: a million-plus Jeeps, a quarter-million Hondas, another million Toyotas. Last year saw a sharp reversal of the long, downward trend in automotive recalls and while it’s still too early to say where things will wind up when 2013 winds down, preliminary indications from the first half of the year suggest there’ll be another increase, if not an all-time record.

Significantly, automakers recalled roughly the same number of vehicles as they sold in 2012, about 14.5 million, notably with Toyota and Honda, two brands traditionally known for their quality and reliability, at the top of the chart. In fact, those two makers have led the list, in terms of individual vehicles recalled, for the last five years. And they were on track to do the same thing again in 2013 – Honda already targeting about 2 million vehicles for problems ranging from airbags to brakes to switch fires – if it weren’t for a series of big safety campaigns announced by Chrysler over the last month.

The most recent of these actually combined five separate recalls and covered about 840,000 vehicles, but it was dwarfed by the recall of 1.6 million Jeeps announced – reluctantly – in June. And that controversial campaign raises some serious questions about what’s behind the recent rise in the number of recalls.

Paul A. Eisenstein is Publisher of TheDetroitBureau.com and a 30-year veteran of the automotive beat. His editorials bring his unique perspective and deep understanding of the auto world to Autoblog readers on a regular basis. This story was reprinted with permission from the author and TheDetroitBureau.com.

Continue reading Is NHTSA out of control?

Is NHTSA out of control? originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 17 Jul 2013 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Opinion: Shanghai Motor Show threatens to make New York redundant

Filed under: New York Auto Show, China, Shanghai Motor Show

Shanghai Struts its Stuff – Challenging the Big Apple
2011 Shanghai Motor Show entrance

Barely two decades ago, China’s roads were ruled by bicycles, motorbikes and buses.

It wasn’t all that long ago that the Shanghai Convention Center was little more than a rice paddy, but this week, the sprawling facility will play host to what has rapidly become one of the world’s most important auto shows.

By a quirk of the calendar, this year’s big Chinese car show not only overlaps but threatens to overwhelm the New York Auto Show and its ability to garner valuable media time – a development that echoes the rapidly transformation occurring in the global automotive business.

Michael Dunne, the founder of Automotive Resources Asia – today a part of J.D. Power and Associates – recalls his first trip to China, barely two decades ago, when the roads were ruled by bicycles, motorbikes and buses, and the sight of an automobile was enough to draw everyone’s attention. Today, the most populous nation on Earth is also the biggest automotive market, having surpassed the U.S. two years ago, never to look back.

Paul A. Eisenstein is Publisher of TheDetroitBureau.com, and a 30-year veteran of the automotive beat. His editorials bring his unique perspective and deep understanding of the auto world to Autoblog readers on a regular basis.

[Image: Philippe Lopez/Getty]

Continue reading Opinion: Shanghai Motor Show threatens to make New York redundant

Opinion: Shanghai Motor Show threatens to make New York redundant originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Opinion: Time to raise the speed limit, how does 150 MPH sound?

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety, Autoline on Autoblog

Ever since automobiles first appeared over 100 years ago, every automaker has tried to make them go faster. And they succeeded. Nearly every year, cars became more powerful with higher top-end speeds. But then, in the mid-1950s, we hit a plateau. The national speed limit was set at 70 miles per hour, and we’ve been stuck at that rate ever since. As a result, the automobile has made absolutely no progress as a transportation device in over half a century.

Speed itself is not a safety hazard. It’s the difference in speeds between cars that lead to accidents.

Actually, in 1974, it got worse. The national speed limit was lowered to 55 mph, ostensibly to save fuel and lives (it did neither). Such an agonizingly slow rate of travel proved too much to take for most Americans. We demanded that the limit be raised, and we got it back to 70 mph. Now it’s time to demand another raise.

I’m not talking about some sort of modest increase to, say, 85 mph. We need to put a comprehensive plan in place to gradually move the limit up, over the next couple of decades, to 150 miles an hour. And we need to do that with no sacrifice in fuel economy or safety.

Continue reading Opinion: Time to raise the speed limit, how does 150 MPH sound?…

[Image: Getty]

Continue reading Opinion: Time to raise the speed limit, how does 150 MPH sound?

Opinion: Time to raise the speed limit, how does 150 MPH sound? originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Opinion: If distracted driving is such an epidemic, why don’t statistics show it?

Filed under: Safety

Declining Highway Death Rate Challenges Distracted Driving Fears

Distracted driving

The distracted driving debate is being marred by an overdose of hype and hysteria.

My weekend nearly got off to a disastrous start when a driver, busy texting, suddenly realized he was going to miss his exit. At the last possible moment, he slammed his brakes and surged across four lanes of traffic, avoiding the need to go a few miles out of the way – but nearly touching off a multi-car accident in the process.

We’ve all seen the texters, the women putting on makeup, the guys checking their sports scores. Heck, a woman in Florida recently crashed while giving herself a bikini shave. But are we experiencing, as Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood puts it, “a deadly epidemic” of distracted driving – one that can only be addressed by the most draconian of new laws?

There’s no question that there are some things you just shouldn’t be doing behind the wheel, and few would argue against the laws that many states have passed prohibiting motorists from texting while driving. But what other steps are needed? The latest federal data on highway fatalities suggests we’ve probably gone far enough – and that the distracted driving debate is being marred by an overdose of hype and hysteria.

[Image: Corbis]

Continue reading Opinion: If distracted driving is such an epidemic, why don’t statistics show it?

Opinion: If distracted driving is such an epidemic, why don’t statistics show it? originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Opinion: Is BMW becoming too soft?

Filed under: Marketing/Advertising, BMW

Happiness is the corner BMW ad

“Happiness isn’t around the corner. Happiness IS the corner.” So said an ad for BMW created in 1996 for the Z3. In the TV version (see the video at the very bottom after the break), a heavy-metal music track underlined the idea, which was carried over to magazines and billboards.

I’m reminded of that ad, one of the more perfect expressions of the BMW brand I have ever seen, this week as I take in the Bavarian automaker’s plan to launch vehicles powered by “alternative” powertrains under the “i” sub-brand: as in, yes, iPad, iPod, iMac. So far, I’m not hearing about Apple filing trademark infractions. It is, I believe, also “i” as i Isetta, the last time BMW brought out a mini city car. “I” for innovation probably figures into the choice, as well.

The campaign was literally meant to attract more people who were not necessarily driving enthusiasts to the brand.

BMW has brand issues. Take the Super Bowl on Feb. 6. BMW ran two ads in the big game for a cost of between $5 and $6 million. One ad was to push diesel engines. Another was to push the fact that all X3 crossovers are now being built at BMW’s plant in South Carolina. “Designed in America. Built in America,” says the voiceover at the end of this ad. How about using the big game to push the core of your brand equity – driving excitement. How about an ad that says: “aspire to own and drive this marvelous machine.”

Something has gone horribly wrong at BMW. And I think I know what it is. Back in 2006, then- BMW marketing director Jack Pitney (who tragically died in 2010) shared with me a Powerpoint strategy showing how far too many people, in his mind, weren’t considering a BMW because they were intimidated or otherwise put off by the performance image of the brand. It was this finding that led BMW to first do a corporate ad campaign touting BMW’s independent ownership, and then the softer “Joy of Driving” campaign that ran most of last year. It was literally meant to advance a “softer side” of BMW, and attract more people who were not necessarily driving enthusiasts to the brand.

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Opinion: Is BMW becoming too soft? originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Opinion: Five Questions For Ray LaHood

Filed under: Safety, Autoline on Autoblog

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood

It took ten months. It involved the best brains in the nation. They conducted exhaustive tests. And Lord knows what it all cost. But when it was over, the results were totally predictable. The U.S. Department of Transportation could find nothing wrong with Toyota vehicles that would cause them to suddenly accelerate out of control.

The results were predictable because the country went through the same thing nearly a quarter of a century ago. Only then, it involved Audi. And in both of these cases, each car company was accused of having some sort of mysterious gremlin that would cause its cars to suddenly accelerate out of control.

But there is a significant difference between both investigations. Back then the Department of Transportation blamed it on driver error. Officially, they called it “pedal misapplication.” But this time around, the Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, wouldn’t do that. He said it was caused by mechanical problems, i.e., sticky pedals and piled up floormats.

Too bad the Secretary didn’t have the courage to call it like it is. By failing to identify the root cause of the problem, more people are going to lose their lives.

[Image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty]

Continue reading Opinion: Five Questions For Ray LaHood

Opinion: Five Questions For Ray LaHood originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Opinion: Turning the tide at Toyota?

Filed under: Safety, Toyota

What price a reputation? That’s what Toyota will be learning in the months and years ahead as it struggles to recover from the safety scandal that has enveloped the company since it announced the first recall for unintended acceleration in October 2009.

There wasn’t a single Toyota model that didn’t land on the recall list at least once last year.

Going into the recession, certainly no company seemed better suited to weather the perfect storm than the Japanese giant, which had positioned itself as the leader in quality, reliability and dependability, or QRD in industry speak, as well as the benchmark for green mobility. Having ousted General Motors as the global king-of-the-hill, the Asian automaker seemed unstoppable.

Yet nearly seven years ago, I wrote a column suggesting Toyota might become the next GM if it weren’t careful, and even as the company’s sales continued growing, there were subtle signs of trouble in the offing – most notably in its slippage on the quality charts.

But few would have anticipated the sudden acceleration crisis, or the series of additional recalls that followed, month after month. In 2010, there wasn’t a single Toyota model that didn’t land on the recall list at least once – some repeatedly.

[Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty]

Continue reading Opinion: Turning the tide at Toyota?

Opinion: Turning the tide at Toyota? originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 17 Feb 2011 18:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Opinion: Ranking the automotive Super Bowl ads from best to worst [w/videos]

Filed under: Marketing/Advertising, Videos

Volkswagen and Chrysler lead

Volkswagen Passat uses The Force

Super Bowl XLV car ads – Click above to see the videos and their rankings after the jump

The Super Bowl is a contest of advertisers as much as it is for two football teams seeking championship rings, the big trophy and bragging rights.

The Super Bowl is one of the few times a year that most of the country is gathered around a single event.

This year, twelve of the advertisers are from the auto sector: Chevrolet, Chrysler, BMW, Mini, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Audi, Hyundai, Kia, Suzuki, Cars.com and Bridgestone.

Why so many car related ads? 2011 is widely seen as a breakout year for the auto industry. In 2008 and 2009, sales fell below 11 million, about one-third less than the industry had been doing in the early part of the decade. Sales in 2010 were better and sales are forecasted to come back even stronger this year.

The slowly recovering economy has kept a lot of consumers out of the new car showrooms. But cars and trucks are getting older. The U.S. has seen a sales rate below the annual scrap rate for a few years now. The stock market is back to where it was before the 2008 economic meltdown. Unemployment is ticking down. Things are looking up.

“The Super Bowl is one of the few times a year that most of the country is gathered around a single event,” says General Motors marketing chief Joel Ewanick, who bought five ads at $2.7-$3 million per to advertise Chevrolet models. Chrysler marketing chief Olivier Francois says, “There is no better place for a real coming out,” referring to a slate of newly designed vehicles Chysler is releasing this year. Chrysler bought an unprecedented two-minute ad.

Continue reading and to see the rankings of the Top 10.

Continue reading Opinion: Ranking the automotive Super Bowl ads from best to worst [w/videos]

Opinion: Ranking the automotive Super Bowl ads from best to worst [w/videos] originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 07 Feb 2011 15:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Opinion: Chrysler no longer left for dead, biggest test still coming

Filed under: Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Fiat

Some years ago, sitting in my office with the windows open on a warm spring day, I heard a deep rumble – not unlike the sound of a freight train passing by… but closer, more menacing, and immediately followed by a violent shudder as a rare Midwest earthquakes rolled out from under Lake Erie.

This wasn’t supposed to be a particularly good year for the smallest of the Detroit makers.

I’m starting to hear a similar sound, not quite so loud, but this time emerging from Auburn Hills, Michigan, where Chrysler is headquartered. Call it a hum, maybe a rumble, though definitely not yet the sort of buzz that would follow a similarly seismic event – in this case the turnaround of a company most folks had long written off for dead.

This wasn’t supposed to be a particularly good year for the smallest of the Detroit makers. Its product pipeline, went the conventional wisdom, was all but empty, other than the completely-remade Jeep Grand Cherokee and redesigned Chrysler 300, due later in the model-year. But I think most of us in the media were delivered a pleasant surprise a few months back when we got a first good look at the rest of the maker’s 2011 lineup.

Continue reading Opinion: Chrysler no longer left for dead, biggest test still coming

Opinion: Chrysler no longer left for dead, biggest test still coming originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 04 Feb 2011 16:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Opinion: Obama should have tapped Ford’s Mulally for adviser role, not Immelt

Filed under: Government/Legal, Ford, Earnings/Financials

Immelt and Obama

When President Obama tapped General Electric chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt to be his top outside economic adviser, my first reaction was: Really?

Maybe I’m partial to the auto industry, the industry I follow the closest, but my next reaction was: Was Ford CEO Alan Mulally’s line busy? His email down?

Immelt took over for legendary CEO Jack Welch in 2001. And I’ve never been aware of a huge fan club for Immelt as a great CEO. According to published reports, though, he is very socially and politically connected, and has visited the White House some 16 times since Obama took office.

[Image: J. Scott Applewhite/AP]

Continue reading Opinion: Obama should have tapped Ford’s Mulally for adviser role, not Immelt

Opinion: Obama should have tapped Ford’s Mulally for adviser role, not Immelt originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 18:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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