The 10 Worst Vehicle Recalls: Past and Present

Aug 16, 2023

Punctured fuel tanks, sticky gas pedals, and brake fluid leaks, oh my!

Recalls are simply a fact of life in the automotive industry. Sure, some of the bigger automakers can spend upward of seven figures to simply test their vehicles to the breaking point. That's a great mindset to have, but trivial problems can still slip through the cracks; some can be minor, while others can be catastrophic. Regardless, the automotive industry has seen some relatively major missteps; these can range from a faulty cap for a brake fluid reservoir, all the way to lethal handling characteristics and absolute brake failure.

Vehicle recalls are unsurprisingly a massive pain in the backside for automakers. Not only are they costly to fix, but they can also bite back with a messy class-action lawsuit. That's not to mention the injury and even death that can result from poorly-designed components. The associated legal headache from recalls has left well-known automakers doing unspeakable things to save face—all to no avail, as you’ll see in several extreme cases.

Below you’ll find ten of the worst offenders in no particular order.

You’ll likely notice that most of the recalls on this list involve relatively inexpensive vehicles that were produced in absolutely brash numbers. However, if you were fortunate to even be able to afford a tasty Bentley Arnage in 2007, you’d have probably slept better at night knowing that you didn't have to worry about any pesky recalls. Wrong.

Unfortunately, ultra-expensive luxury vehicles aren't immune to manufacturing defects—far from it. In the case of the Arnage R, Bentley caught word that quite a few vehicles had left the assembly line with the wrong wheel nuts. So what's the big deal? Well, these improperly sized wheel nuts could lead to the wheels coming off, which is … bad news.

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Contrary to what you might think, Volkswagen doesn't have a squeaky clean past when it comes to recalls. Few muddy the German brand's reputation quite as badly as the big lie that was Dieselgate. A quick explanation: VW didn't just fabricate successful emissions results, thinking nobody would notice. It's actually much worse than that.

Volkswagen (and select Audi) diesel vehicles had hidden "defeat devices," which could sense when the car was being emissions tested—and could therefore proceed to reduce emissions accordingly. The recall was issued in 2016, and most of the cars could be fixed with a simple software update. However, roughly one million troubled vehicles needed mechanical intervention. After all was said and done, Volkswagen pleaded guilty to criminal charges, and was required to pay $40 billion in damages; former VW engineer Oliver Schmidt ended up spending seven years in prison for his role in the scandal.

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Right when I thought I had seen it all, BMW was in the news late last year for a class-action lawsuit. BrightK Consulting Inc. of California is suing the German automaker, claiming that liquids spilled in the cupholders of the latest X7 SUV can allegedly leak onto the control electronics for the airbags—not only rendering them defective, but possibly leading to a false deployment.

The case is still ongoing, but things aren't looking good for BMW, especially after its recent fiasco with a heated-seat subscription service. If you’re the driver of a 2020 X7, you might want to avoid using the cupholders for a little while.

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You probably don't need me to tell you that getting rear-ended is a pretty bad time—I can speak from personal experience. However, imagine if such an impact set your vehicle alight in a ball of fire; that would have been you if you owned a Ford Pinto in the late 1970s.

The Pinto's catastrophic flaw involved the fuel filler neck, which would sever in a rear-on collision and puncture the fuel tank. This would then spray (yes, spray) fuel into the passenger compartment, which would then ignite. Ford caught the problem early on, realizing that it would cost $11 per car to fix the issue. A leaked memo from 1973 revealed how many people would die each year along with the brand's decision to ignore the issue, as it would be too expensive to fix. However, after 27 deaths, Ford was forced to save face, and ended up recalling 1.5 million of its Pintos. It's estimated that it cost them $20 million to fix the lot.

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Picture this: you’re driving down the road and your accelerator pedal gets stuck all the way down. Bad news. If you were the driver of select Toyota vehicles in 2009–2010, that could have been you. The first recall was issued on November 2, 2009, citing that incorrectly installed floor mats could lead to throttle pedal entrapment. The second recall began in January 2010 after Toyota discovered a possible mechanical issue that could have caused the accelerator to become stuck. Sales of the affected vehicles were halted for weeks while replacement parts were fabricated.

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We could write an entire article about the issues that plagued the Chevrolet Corvair. However, with only a few paragraphs to work with, we’ll hit the highlights (or lowlights if you will).

Most cars in the 1960s—bar the Porsche 911—were acres long, had an engine at the front, and weren't all that powerful. However, the Corvair remains the only American car to have a rear-mounted air-cooled engine. Rather unsurprisingly, it proved to be much less nimble than Porsche's 911. In fact, one of the first automotive safety advocates, Ralph Nader, went as far as to call it the only vehicle where you can have a "one-car accident."

Its deathly handling characteristics stemmed from the half-shafts at the rear, which connected to the frame-mounted differential. Critically, the inboard portion of the half-shaft (closest to the differential) could flex, allowing the rear wheels to articulate at extreme angles when the rear-suspension was under load. This dramatically reduced the amount of rubber that could meet with the road, leading to a sudden unexpected loss of traction. In extreme cases, there was a chance that one of the wheels could tuck under the body and tip the vehicle into a rollover.

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Sometimes recalls take some time to rear their ugly head. Case in point: Ferrari was recently in the news for a faulty brake fluid reservoir affecting 23,555 vehicles from the 2005 model year to as new as 2022—including the LaFerrari and F60.

The issue? A faulty brake fluid reservoir cap that didn't vent properly. This had the potential to create a vacuum, which could then increase the probability of a leak; if enough fluid leaked out, affected vehicles could have lost partial or complete braking ability, which is problematic to say the least. Thankfully, the fix only requires a new cap that vents properly along with a software update that issues a warning on the dashboard when the fluid is dangerously low.

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It doesn't take a car enthusiast to realize the importance of engine mounts as they, ahem, keep the engine mounted to the car. Maybe someone should have expressed that to General Motors, which got into trouble in the late 1960s for some faulty engine mounts. So what's the big deal? It all has to do with the fact that old cars used a cable to connect the accelerator pedal to the engine.

When one engine mount broke, it caused the opposing side of the motor to rise. This yanked on the throttle cable, leaving it stuck open. The inherent jolt made the issue worse, leading to even more forward momentum. The upward motion also pulled the brake booster loose, greatly increasing the amount of force needed on the brake pedal to stop the vehicle. Yeah, not great.

GM actually flat-out resisted the recall, with Edward Cole (then, the president of GM) citing that it was no more serious than a flat tire. Well good ol’ Eddy was in for a surprise, because the U.S. government put its foot down, and General Motors had to fix seven million affected vehicles—costing it millions.

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Suzuki was in hot water in 2015 following a catastrophic brake recall with its Celerio hatchback. One automotive journalist was conducting a brake test (in the United Kingdom) from 80 mph when the brake pedal went to the floor and wouldn't slow the car down in the slightest. The issue? Suzuki had installed a safety device that would retract the brake pedal in the event of a crash—yes, we see the irony. While that sounds rather contrary to what you’d want in an emergency situation, many areas of the world actually require such a system.

When crashing a car, the brake pedal is prone to causing injuries to the lower extremities—especially when the firewall begins to deform. The retracting brake pedal aimed to mitigate this altogether. Suzuki found out that a hard braking maneuver could snap the small metal piece that kept the brake pedal in place. The fix simply involved swapping in a much stronger link to the retraction system, and all was well.

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Airbags are a brilliant invention. Created by John Hetrick, they are one of the most important automotive safety advancements since the seatbelt. Or are they?

One Japanese company called Takata is (well, was) well-known for manufacturing seatbelts and airbags. That is, until 2013, when a high-profile scandal revealed that its airbags could explode and send metal shrapnel into vehicle occupants. According to the New York Times, Takata and Honda knew about the inherent defect—which could have killed six people—and decided not to alert the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. After both entities were found out, the U.S. Justice System fined Honda $70 million and Takata $14,000 each day it failed to cooperate.

In terms of numbers, it's one of the most devastating recalls for any business. By the end of 2019, 65–70 million vehicles were recalled with roughly 42 million still to be accounted for.

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Matt Crisara is a native Austinite who has an unbridled passion for cars and motorsports, both foreign and domestic, and as the Autos Editor for Popular Mechanics, he writes the majority of automotive coverage across digital and print. He was previously a contributing writer for Motor1 following internships at Circuit Of The Americas F1 Track and Speed City, an Austin radio broadcaster focused on the world of motor racing. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona School of Journalism, where he raced mountain bikes with the University Club Team. When he isn't working, he enjoys sim-racing, FPV drones, and the great outdoors.

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