Vehicle Recalls Grow Almost Four-Fold In FY 2021-22

Voluntary vehicle recall data shared by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has revealed an almost four-fold increase in the number of vehicles recalled in FY 2021-2022 over the previous year. Total vehicle recalls stood at over 13.31 lakh units with two-wheelers being the major contributors. The four-year data, maintained by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, shared by the ministry revealed a massive spike in two-wheeler recalls over the past financial years with numbers jumping from a low 1,286 units in FY 2020-2021 to a little over 8.64 lakh in FY 2021-2022. The number of passenger cars recalled in FY 2021-2022 meanwhile stood at 4.67 lakh units.

The data showed that four-wheeler recalls in the past two financial years – FY 2021 and FY 2020 – passenger car recalls had been notable higher than for two wheelers.

SIAM data reveals that two-wheeler recalls spiked in FY2022 to 8.64 lakh units as compared to 4.67 lakh passenger cars recalled.

The spike in recalls coincides with the implementation of more stringent rules for vehicle recalls that came into effect in 2021. The new rules called for the setting up of a portal to register vehicle defect complaints and the issuance of mandatory recalls from the government should number of complaints related to certain components cross a specified number based on overall sales of the vehicle. The new rules also called for fines of between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore for the vehicle manufacturer should the government issue the recall its vehicles.

Coming to the current FY2023, compiled figures for April 1 to July 15 revealed a similar situation to last year with two-wheeler recalls outnumbering four-wheeler recalls. Two-wheeler recalls in the three-and-a-half-month period stood at 1.60 lakh as against 25,142 for passenger cars.

Recalls are typically initiated should it be discovered that a certain component in a vehicle being manufactured is not up to regular production standards or is later discovered to be more prone to failure. Voluntary vehicle recalls are an industry wide practice where the manufacturer either announce or directly contact vehicle owners to bring in their vehicles for inspection to check the vehicle for a certain part defect and replace it at no cost to owners.

The ministry also shared road accident data for a four-year period from the calendar year 2017 through to 2020. The data revealed a declining trend in reported road accidents from about 1.14 lakh in 2017 down to 92,196 in 2019 and 60,986 in 2020. It should be noted that 2020 witnessed extended spells of travel restrictions owing to COVID-19 related lockdowns.