The most baffling car recalls from recent history that shook the automotive industry

Cars are a very big necessity in our daily lives, and we really would be at a loss without our gas-guzzling friends for transportation. And with every car company, there is a certain level of trust and reliability that develops. But when the same car company recalls cars that have already been sold off, then it really raises questions and creates doubts in our minds. So here are a few cases where cars were recalled for truly baffling reasons!

General Motors

Back in 2004, GM had to recall a huge number of Chevrolet Avalanche, Silverado, Sierras and Escalades because of a malfunctioning tailgate that became too much of a pain for customers. It was like not having landlord insurance and seeing your property burned down! Through no fault of their own, their cars’ tailgate cable would stop working, and this resulted in quite a few accidents which could have been averted if the tailgate wires were properly put on.

Honda

In 1995, many Legends, Integras, Preludes, Civics and Accords had to be recalled for a very minor error, but which really was a piece of danger just waiting to strike. In many of the mentioned cars, it was noticed that the plastic release buttons of the seatbelt buckles were not locking properly, and small bits of plastic were preventing the buckle from sliding in properly into the locks. This was a serious issue, as during an accident, if the buckle isn’t locked right, the tension will be too much for it to handle and the seatbelt will fly off, endangering the lives of the passengers. So these were changed after a huge recall.

Toyota

This was a bizarre recall, as the fault was cars accelerating without any intention on the drivers’ parts! Cars such as Avalon, Camry, Matrix, Prius, Highlander and Tacoma were among the few that hastily had to be recalled by Toyota, as they were seen to be accelerating unintentionally! There were two kinds of faults found. One was when there was an acceleration-pedal mechanism failure, and the other one was this- it was seen that the floor mat near the pedal was uneven, which somehow was jamming the accelerator pedal without the driver wanting to!

Ford – 1

In one of the weirdest faults ever, Ford had to recall literally hundreds and thousands of cars, because of ignition switch issues. And what made this weird was, the ignition switches on many of the Ford cars were turning themselves on, without you even knowing, while the car was nicely tucked away in your garage. This led to many cars getting their steering columns melted away and electrical shorts, which killed batteries in a matter of minutes! Cars such as the Aerostar, Victoria, Mustang, Tempo and others had to be brought in to get fixed.

Ford – 2

Yet again, Ford scored big with this recall in 2009, when more than 10 million cars were recalled because they all had faulty cruise-control switches, which were catching fire on their own! Explorers, Excursions, Windstar and Ranger were among a few of the models which had to be brought back for Ford to fix. The switches were seen to be overheating, weirdly, even hours after they had been parked!