It could happen: 20 million vehicle recalls in 2010

It all started when "unintended acceleration" became a household term. Early in 2010, Toyota recalled 2.3 million vehicles due to issues with sticking accelerator pedals. The federal government was displeased with the fact that Toyota knew about the issue, yet dawdled for years before issuing a recall, and fined it a record $16.4 million dollars.Now, as a result, we're on pace to recall 20 million vehicles in 2010, which is the most since 2004. In fact, according to The Detroit News, automakers have recalled twice as many cars in the first half of 2010 than was recalled in the first half of 2009 (when 16.4 million vehicles were recalled all year). It's likely that this is due to trigger-happy automakers seeking to avoid Toyota's nightmare, however The Detroit News goes on to say that NHTSA has taken matters into its own hands by demanding recalls even if automakers disagree.

While this should all help keep our roads and the cars we buy safer, I'm concerned that these recall costs have to go somewhere. The result will be more thoroughly engineered vehicles, though in the short term, we could see a rise in vehicle costs as manufactures attempt to recoup some of the recall losses.