Automotive

U.S. sector spotlight

The Sedgwick brand protection recall index is the essential reference for automotive manufacturers seeking impartial and reliable perspective on past, present, and future product recall data and safety trends.

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The U.S. automotive sector saw the lowest number of units recalled and the second fewest product recalls in the past five years in 2021.

The latest edition of our highly coveted product recall index report offers a comprehensive year-in-review of 2021 automotive product recall data and trends, and insightful predictions for the remainder of 2022. It is the only report of its kind that aggregates and tracks essential data to help automotive business leaders mitigate litigation and reputational damage caused by product recalls and other in-market product incidents.

While we strongly recommend you download and read the whole index, the following excerpt provides a glimpse into the key insights and analysis from the automotive sector.

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+4.2%

more U.S. automotive recalls in 2021

EQUIPMENT

leading cause of 2021 U.S. recalls

28.4M

impacted automotive units in 2021

The U.S. automotive landscape

As has been the trend for the past several quarters, advancements in vehicle technology continue to create additional safety and regulatory challenges that automakers must monitor and adapt to. Data privacy concerns around “connected” vehicles, the safety of innovative technology, and the latest crash-safety features integrated within autonomous and electric vehicles must all be considered.

The automotive industry has seen a lot of firsts, including the first ever award to a whistle-blower for information provided to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) about two car companies and their reported violations of the Safety Act. In another first, prosecutors in California filed the first felony charges against the driver of an autonomous vehicle after the car, which was equipped with a partially automated driver-assist system, was involved in a fatal car crash.

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Recall index report

Get unrivaled analysis and perspective on the latest automotive product safety trends and regulation.

Download the report

By the numbers: 2021 U.S. automotive recalls

With an increase in recall activity for the second-straight quarter, 2021 ended up surpassing 2020 for the total number of automotive events (770 versus 739). A total of 209 product recalls were recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021, representing an eight-quarter high and a slight increase on the 207 recalls of the preceding quarter.

While the number of product recalls in the fourth quarter marginally increased, the number of affected units fell 22.7% to approximately 3.6 million. In total, there were 28.4 million recalled units in 2021, 43.7% less than in 2020, which saw 50.3 million.

As it has been for the last 10 consecutive quarters, ‘equipment’ was the leading category of product recall events in the fourth quarter. In terms of impacted units, ‘airbags’ once again led the categories. There were 16 airbag recalls involving a total of 827,198 units in the fourth quarter. While that is not an insignificant number, it is one recall event less, and nearly half of the 1.6 million airbags impacted in the preceding quarter.

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Recall index report

Get unrivaled analysis and perspective on the latest automotive product safety trends and regulation.

Download the report

2022 strategic considerations

While product recall numbers are important, they are only part of the story. Here's what you should take away from automotive product safety developments in 2022:

  • Safety concerns related to electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, and new technology will remain at the forefront. What are you doing to prepare for increased regulation around connected vehicles? Are you ready for the new safety requirements and legislation that might be coming?
  • Automakers are well-advised to look at current FTC regulations and put their own safeguards in place to mitigate risk for consumers and for their own liabilities should a vehicle-related data breach occur. Do you have safeguards in place to protect from a data breach? Are you up to date on current regulations and what are you doing to ensure compliance?
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Recall index report

Get unrivaled analysis and perspective on the latest automotive product safety trends and regulation.

Download the report

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Whether you’re planning for — or currently facing — a product recall, market withdrawal or any other in-market product incident, our experts are on hand to support you.

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