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News, Analysis and EditorialGeneral
Motors 2004 Recalls Continue to Mount: Is GM Quality Dropping Like a Rock?
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Auto on Info April 2004 General Motors 2004 Recalls Continue to Mount: Is GM Quality Dropping Like a Rock? Per an April 16, 2004, Detroit News article, General Motors increased its 2004 recall total for safety problems to 7.7 million vehicles. The newspaper reported that, as of April 16th, GM had issued 6 safety problem-related recalls. Per an April 19, 2004, Associated Press article, General Motors is recalling an additional 95,000 Chevrolet Malibus to repair a seat belt anchor that detached on side impact tests conducted by the U.S. government. For all of 2003, General Motors recalled 7.4 million vehicles. This recall total was about 13 times greater than Toyota's, after adjusting for a difference in U.S. market share, and far exceeded those of Ford and Chrysler. (See General Motors' U.S. 2003 Recall Numbers: A Bottomless Pit and a GM Defense?) GM's huge number of recalls in 2004 and 2003 raises the question: Is General Motors' quality plunging? Linear regressions of a decade-plus history of Reliability Percentrank averages for the major lines of General Motors suggest a downward descent. The graphs depicting the extrapolations appear below. The linear extrapolations of Honda Reliability Percentrank medians at the high end and Chevrolet Reliability Percentrank medians at the low end are included for reference.
However, there is evidence that the Buick line is holding together some better, for the first three years, than it did previously. (See CR's April 2004 Reliability Tables Indicate Some Changes in Short Term Reliability, but Infiniti, Honda, Toyota, Lexus, and Acura Remain Dominant by this Measure As Well.) On balance, it seems likely that GM's relative reliability has recently hit bottom, or is presently hitting bottom. The conclusion is, in the main, a consequence of the fact that GM's 1995-1999 Reliability Percentrank average is the lowest of the major U.S. auto sellers. The table below gives these averages for the major U.S. auto sellers.
With such a Reliability Percentrank average, GM's relative reliability cannot get much lower and some improvement in relative reliability is, if not inevitable, at least likely, if not yet, at least soon. And with improvement in relative reliability, hopefully will come an uptick in overall quality, if not noticeable in use, at least sufficient to be measurable by instrument. "GM Recalls Surpass 2003 Levels," The Detroit News at http://www.detnews.com/2004/autoinsider/0404/16/g01-124748.htm "GM Recalls 108,000 Chevrolet Malibus," Associated Press, accessible at Yahoo! News Extrapolations of Reliability Percentrank averages: Buick - Cadillac - GMC - Pontiac (Each of the charts giving extrapolations include extrapolations of Chevrolet's Reliability Percentrank medians.) 1995-1999 Reliability Percentrank averages: Table II-MVRP |
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