Case Study: Enhancing data accuracy to drive recall success

In the realm of large-scale product recalls, data integrity is not merely a technical concern, it is a strategic imperative. When millions of units are implicated, the ability to accurately identify, locate, and engage affected consumers becomes the cornerstone of operational success. Beyond the immediate safety and regulatory implications, data quality directly influences brand reputation, consumer trust, and long-term market resilience.

Yet, many organizations underestimate the complexity of recall execution. Inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated data can derail outreach efforts, prolong remediation timelines, and invite regulatory scrutiny. In today’s environment, where consumer expectations are high and compliance standards are unforgiving, precision is non-negotiable.

When a leading global automaker confronted this challenge, Sedgwick Brand Protection stepped in with a transformative solution. By deploying advanced data enhancement technologies and recall intelligence, Sedgwick not only elevated data accuracy but also redefined the automaker’s approach to outreach, compliance, and operational efficiency.

Challenge  

The automaker faced a recall of over 1.3 million vehicles across the United States, triggered by the presence of potentially hazardous airbags. The scope was vast, spanning multiple model years and ownership cycles. Many vehicles had changed hands, been exported, scrapped, or were no longer registered to the original owner, creating a fragmented and unreliable data landscape.

Traditional outreach methods, reliant on state vehicle registration databases, proved insufficient. These databases are often outdated, with approximately 22% of vehicles changing ownership annually and 11% of owners relocating. The result: a significant portion of the recall population became unreachable, placing strain on internal teams and elevating the risk of non-compliance.

To overcome these barriers, the automaker required a sophisticated, scalable solution, capable of cleansing, enriching, and validating millions of vehicle-owner records with speed and precision.

Solution  

Sedgwick Brand Protection deployed its proprietary data enhancement platform, engineered specifically for high-volume, high-stakes recall environments. This end-to-end system integrated multiple layers of intelligence to deliver actionable, compliant, and verified data at scale:

• VIN-level data enrichment: Sedgwick appended current ownership and contact details to millions of VINs, identifying vehicles that had been sold, exported, scrapped, or were in commercial transit. This granular insight enabled targeted outreach and eliminated guesswork.
• Disposition intelligence: Vehicles no longer in circulation were flagged and compliantly removed from the recall list, in full alignment with NHTSA standards. This reduced unnecessary outreach and ensured regulatory transparency.
• Contact cleansing and validation: Enhanced phone and address data were matched, verified, and corrected, dramatically reducing inaccuracies and elevating outreach precision.
• Scalable execution architecture: Sedgwick’s platform improved data accuracy by up to 24%, reducing error rates to just 21%. This enabled targeted engagement with verified owners, minimizing waste and maximizing impact.

By integrating these capabilities, Sedgwick delivered a recall strategy that was not only efficient but also audit-ready—ensuring the automaker could respond confidently to regulatory inquiries and consumer expectations.

Results  

The automaker realized significant improvements across multiple dimensions of recall performance:

• Elevated completion rates: With enriched data and precision outreach, repair rates surged, demonstrating the power of verified engagement.
• Optimized operational efficiency: By removing ineligible VINs, the automaker streamlined parts production, reduced inventory strain, and improved resource allocation.
• Regulatory assurance: Sedgwick secured disposition data for 95% of VINs, with 20% compliantly removed. This ensured full transparency and readiness for audit, reinforcing the automaker’s commitment to safety and compliance.

Key takeaways  

• Data accuracy is a strategic asset: Clean, current, and verified data is the foundation of effective recall execution. It drives compliance, protects brand equity, and enables consumer trust.
• Specialized expertise accelerates success: Partnering with a proven recall specialist like Sedgwick ensures scalable solutions, mitigates risk, and delivers measurable outcomes.
• Precision outreach enhances engagement: Targeted communication with verified owners reduces consumer fatigue, improves response rates, and strengthens brand-consumer relationships.

About Sedgwick Brand Protection

Brand and reputation are the most valuable and vulnerable assets a business has. Brands embody everything a business does, and its customers expect. 

Nothing says more about a company’s commitment to its customers than its efforts to uphold promises of safety, quality, and service. That’s why companies are often remembered more for how they handle an in-market challenge than for the problem itself. We know what it takes to manage recalls in a way that upholds your commitments to customers, supply chain partners, and regulators. 

Trusted by the world’s leading brands and businesses, Sedgwick Brand Protection works in partnership to manage the risks and minimize the impacts of in-market business and product crises. Since 1995, we have managed more than 7,000 of the most sensitive and time-critical product recall and remediation programs, spanning 150+ countries and 50+ languages. 

To discover more about our product recall and incident response solutions, visit: https://www.sedgwick.com/product-recall

1.3MM

affected units

95%

of targeted VINS secured

Sedgwick’s proprietary data enhancement methods can improve accuracy by up to

24%