Auto industry hits record sales

DETROIT – The U.S. automotive industry has been through a rough couple of years filled with massive recalls, congressional hearings, record fines and allegations, at times, of a careless, shoddy approach to safety.

And yet, for the most part, consumers seem unfazed as they continue to buy cars and trucks at record levels and at record prices.

"The fact of the matter is, there is a plethora of recalls, and after a certain point in time people become numb to them," said John Humphrey, senior vice president of J.D. Power's global automotive practice. "We have more recalls now than we have ever had and yet the industry is selling more cars than ever."

Legendary consumer safety advocate Ralph Nader said the industry has improved but continues to get away with cutting corners that harm consumers and the environment.

"Today, the cars are much safer, less polluting, modestly more fuel efficient, but there is still a long way to go," Nader said in late July, as he was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame. "We've ceased to see just carelessness, ignorance and indifference. These are increasingly criminal acts, now prosecuted because there is no criminal penalty in the motor vehicle safety law."

Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan, argues that the long list of recent investigations and recalls has damaged the image of the U.S. auto industry just as automakers need to recruit young, talented engineers to develop autonomous vehicles.

"Automakers have progressed from occasional, seemingly innocent mistakes and low-profile recalls to endless, high-profile recalls that resulted from decisions to save money, to coverups top-level executives blamed on lower-level engineers, to coverups suspected of going all they way to the top and claims of paying dealers to lie about sales," Gordon said.

During the past six years, as U.S. sales steadily rebounded from the depths of the Great Recession, the CEOs of General Motors, Toyota and Volkswagen — the world's three largest automakers — all testified before congressional committees to defend decisions tied to safety lapses, fatal accidents and cheating on emissions testing.

Along the way, CEOs lost jobs, automakers overhauled corporate structures and others took steps to rethink safety processes and speed communication with regulators.

The automotive industry is now in the midst of the largest recall in U.S. history and the general public seems largely unaware or concerned.

The Takata air bag recall affects 32 million vehicles made by 33 automotive brands. The media focuses on the recall as federal regulators issue dire warnings and automakers send millions of recall notices directly to owners.