Car manufacturer's sense of responsibility towards consumers

Every now and then we see car manufacturers make recalls for cars to rectify problems that they discover in their cars after the cars have been sold to customers. No car maker is immune to this as the production process and sourcing of parts from a large number of suppliers make it virtually impossible have full control of quality. Naturally, car manufacturers will put a lot of emphasis to ensure that the components and parts are up to their expectation and are sufficiently tested. Occasionally the testing is insufficient and flaws start to appear causing problems or premature failure of the component.

Each car having hundreds of thousands of parts, some moving and some static means that to ensure optimum quality the stringent evaluation process has to start very early during the new model development phase. Even simple items such as carpets and floor mats have to be designed and tested but yet occasional problems occur like in the recent case of floor mats for the Mercedes M Class sold in US.

Large car companies such as Lexus, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Ford, Mercedes, BMW and Porsche are quick to acknowledge problem when it arises and will quickly issue recalls to rectify the problems. This cannot be said for companies such as Proton which has over time produced shoddy quality cars which they take no responsibility to rectify. The very common case was the exploding front windscreen for car assembled before year 2000. The front windscreens were not laminated and numerous cases of exploding windscreens were reported after the cars were parked under the hot sun. Some cases happened when the cars were being driven on the road. Other common issues were the power windows that wouldn't close or jammed while being closed. This led to many Proton owners opting not to open the windows but to open their doors instead to take parking tickets or pay tolls. Proton did not issue a recall on this and left thousands of Proton owners in a lurch. Having this kind of attitude it is little wonder why the average Malaysian who can afford to buy a car other car Proton will immediately buy a non-Proton car.

Some car makers will even shun warranty claims. In a recent case in UK, a lady owner of a Hyundai i20 wanted to claim warranty for the replacement clutch for a 4 month old car. Hyundai in UK did not acknowledge that it was a problem with the component and denied the warranty claim considering it as a wear and tear item. Under normal usage, it is almost impossible to completely wear out a clutch in 4 months and Hyundai demonstrated that they lacked the responsibility towards the customer. All this when it hits the media is bad press for Hyundai. Hyundai should have investigated when the clutch was worn out in 4 months and check the quality of the component with their supplier or manufacturing arm. Such bad press will not bode well for reputation and also it quickly can turn ugly especially when it will cause potential customers to lose confidence in their warranty system.

Having the right sense of responsibility towards the customer makes a huge impact on repeat sales. Customers in general can accept the odd recall and that the car maker was responsible enough to acknowledge the problem and take the action to rectify it. The customers would likely return to buy another car from the same car maker (if the ownership experience is satisfactory). Margins for selling cars these days have dropped tremendously with fierce competition and rising manufacturing costs. Customer retention is now more important than ever before.