The Washington Auto Show opened in our capital city this week, and this show is not like other auto shows. Yes, there was new vehicles on carpet for likely buyers to crawl through, but the D.C. show is more a policy show, where lawmakers come and talk about what’s right and what’s wrong with our great business. The pundits at this show are focused less on product and more on an electric and connected future and a time down the road when robot cars are the norm. It’s a lot of speculation.
This year we heard talk of trade and tariffs and the possible closing of the Mexican-U.S. border, a threat stoked by tweets coming from the White House.
Recalls were a hot topic this week as well. Recalls are always a hot topic with lawmakers, as recalls continue to be a problem issue for our industry.
According to Stout, an investment advisory company that does an annual report on the state of recalls, we have 57 million vehicles in the U.S. with open recalls – that’s 1 in 5 on the road today. Many recalls are not safety problems – a latch switch that works fine, for example, but is not within spec – but some are more than that. Some open recalls, not addressed, are potentially deadly.
Many in our industry are working on solutions to help improve the recall repair rate. Awareness is a key issue. How do you effectively alert owners to their car’s problems?
Cox Automotive is proud to be working with the Maryland Department of Transportation on a project that uses the state’s vehicle registration renewal process to tell people about open recalls. And the program is a success so far. Read what the State of Maryland has to say about that here.
