HONDA, TOYOTA Top Vehicles Recalled Between 2010 – 2015

Cars belonging to more than 6million motorists have been subjected to safety recalls over the past five years, new figures have revealed.

The figure is equivalent to more than half the 11.2million new cars sold in the same period. And intriguingly it is some of the car firms that have the highest reputations for reliability that are subject to the largest number of recalls.

Toyota – hit by a scandal involving ‘runaway cars’ – had the highest number of recalls with the company responsible for 1.27million (1,270,615) vehicles returning to dealers for safety checks or action over the five year period from 2011 to 2015.

Toyota – hit by a scandal involving ‘runaway cars’ – had the highest number of recalls with the company responsible for 1.27million (1,270,615) vehicles returning to dealers for safety checks or action over the five year period from 2011 to 2015.

Second place Honda called back nearly a million models (994,578) even though its Jazz model ranked fifth for reliability in Driver Power 2015.

In third place for recalls is Vauxhall with 632,217 recalls over the five years. Fourth place goes to Germany’s BMW with 545,303 recalls followed by Nissan at 452,186.

Faulty airbags are the biggest bugbear involved in more than 1.73million recalls (1,733,049) followed by fire risk at just over 1million (1,047,254 and faulty brakes at 870,172.

Latest figures for 2015 alone show Toyota again topping the table with 739,870 recalls followed by Honda at 461,634 and Vauxhall 115,001.

In 2014 Fiat topped the recalls at 95,052, followed by Toyota at 80,769 and Ford at 75,451. In 2013 BMW topped the league with 313,518 recalls followed by Nissan at 252,707 and Honda at 233,801.

Motoring magazine Auto Express gathered statistics from the Government’s official database, held by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, formerly VOSA, to see what the most recalled vehicles are and why.

Industry chiefs stress that the whole point of recalls is to be transparent about safety problems and to recall vehicles to be fixed before accidents happen – not seek to ignore safety issues in the hope that no-one will notice.

But the new Auto Express Report says:

‘The five-year picture on UK car recalls is staggering. Almost 6.1 million vehicles have been returned to dealers since the start of 2011.

‘Comparing recalls to sales is probably unfair, though, as those 6.1m recalled cars have build dates going all the way back to 1997. It demonstrates, however, just how common recalls are in extraordinarily high number.’