Driver complaints to federal highway safety regulators soared this year, spurred by a slew of Toyota Motor Corp. recalls and a rush by other automakers to announce fix-it campaigns that focused the public's attention on auto defects. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration received more than 40,000 complaints through Dec. 14, according to an analysis by automotive research firm Edmunds.com. That's four times the volume of recent years.
"People are now more aware that there is an agency called NHTSA and that you can complain to it. Complaints are a good thing," said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety. Toyota, long considered one of the most reliable brands, was the subject of more than a quarter of the complaints. Its ratio of complaints to 100,000 vehicles sold jumped to nearly 87 so far in 2010 from 37 a year earlier. This month Toyota agreed to pay $32.4 million in fines for failing to promptly inform regulators of defects in its vehicles, instead allowing millions of potentially dangerous vehicles to remain on the nation's roads.
Nissan Motor Co. had the second-worst ratio, at nearly 62 complaints per 100,000 vehicles sold; Volkswagen was third at nearly 58. The industry average was 47 complaints per 100,000 vehicles sold, up from fewer than 30 in 2009.
NHTSA is hearing from people such as Mark Cox of Leesburg, Va. He filed a complaint after his 2003 Subaru Legacy sedan and his 2004 Nissan Quest minivan failed routine state safety inspections because of clouded headlight lenses.
"They start to oxidize, and that reduces the amount of light that is transmitted out of your headlights. That is a safety and durability issue," Cox said, adding that he learned to file the complaints while reading about the Toyota auto defects issues.
"Maybe as more people bring these issues to light, and NHTSA looks at them, some of these problems will get fixed," Cox said. He still hasn't heard back from the agency, though. Nor has Hisham Alam of Huntington Beach, Calif., who filed a complaint with NHTSA this year after the engine in his 2002 Toyota Highlander froze. "The engine loosened from its bolts, breaking the head gasket and causing the oil and coolant to spill out," Alam said. "The dealer said it would cost $7,500 to fix." He found similar Toyota complaints on the NHTSA site and decided to file his own in October. He wound up paying $2,500 to an independent mechanic to rebuild the engine. Source: chicagotribune.com