Government regulators look for solutions to recall repairs

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Robo calls, social media ads, personal letters from the CEO and even a smartphone app are among ways auto companies are trying to convince more customers to get repairs done on cars recalled for serious safety defects.

The unusual steps were discussed at a forum Tuesday hosted by government safety regulators who are frustrated over what they say is an unacceptably low rate of recall repairs.

In some recalls for problems as serious as air bags that can spew shrapnel into drivers or fuel tanks that can rupture in a rear-end crash, completion rates are below 15 percent, six months or more after the recalls were announced.

Those recalls involve millions of vehicles, challenging automakers to find replacement parts and the cars’ owners. Regulators have fined automakers for dragging their feet, while concerned car owners are left waiting for repairs and worrying about their safety.

On average, automakers fix three out of four cars covered by a recall in 18 months. Mark Rosekind, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration since December, wants to get that repair rate to 100 percent. So Tuesday he asked auto companies and safety advocates for their recommendations.

General Motors, fined $35 million by NHTSA for moving too slowly to recall about 2.6 million small cars with faulty ignition switches, was praised for using new methods to reach owners. The defective switches caused numerous crashes, and the company’s handling of the recall brought congressional hearings and a Justice Department investigation. So far, GM has agreed to pay compensation in at least 90 death cases and for 163 injured people.

GM said that as of early April, 70 percent of the U.S. small-car owners had been in for the service, 14 months after the recalls began.

GM started the recall slowly because its parts supplier had to equip factories to make switches for 2.6 million cars such as the Chevrolet Cobalt. GM customer relations executive Julie Heisel said Tuesday that the company boosted the rate by going beyond the usual recall letter, adding emails, human and automated telephone calls and social media.