Customers change gear on proactive model recalls: Survey

A JD Power survey has revealed that Chinese customers think positively of proactive car recalls, a finding that may relieve nervous manufacturers.

Based on a poll of 1,581 respondents, the global market research company and Chinese automotive website BitAuto found that 70 percent thought carmakers that made proactive recalls as responsible, as well as 50 percent who said recalls do not necessarily mean their cars were shoddily built.

For some time, the automotive industry has been shielding recalls, misbelieving that they are bad news for carmakers, said Jacob George, general manager of JD Power's Asia Pacific operations.

But the fact is that customers think positively of proactive recalls, and what impresses on them negatively are passive recalls that come reluctantly after media exposures or government orders, George added.

"Cars are extremely complicated products that are composed of some 10,000 parts and it is almost unavoidable for a few cars to be faulty," said Zhu Lei, BitAuto's chief technology officer.

He said if customers have some knowledge of cars and how they are produced, they will have a more reasonable understanding of recalls.

The poll also asked respondents' opinion of China's car recall system, which was put in place in 2004.

Some 65 percent said the system has been effective in protecting customers' rights and interests, and 52 percent believed that the system has prompted more carmakers to recall faulty vehicles in a more proactive way.

Last year, more than 20 million defective cars were recalled in China, according to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

Recalls surged 77 percent year-on-year, with defective seatbelts, air bags and powertrains the major issues.

Statistics show that 11.34 million faulty cars were recalled in 2016 and 5.59 million were recalled in 2015.

At an earlier news conference, Yan Fengmin, an official at the government watchdog, said customers' increased awareness of protecting their rights facilitated the authorities' work in investigations that prompted recalls.

Based on leads from different sources, the general administration conducted 43 car-related investigations in 2017, forcing carmakers to recall 13.58 million cars, 68 percent of the total recalled in the year.

Statistics from the general administration show that carmakers issued 37 recalls, involving 3 million cars, in the first three months of this year.

The watchdog has said that more efforts would be made this year to further improve the recall system and tighten supervision on recalls of faulty products.