CARY, N.C. -

There are more vehicles being impacted by recalls, and with cars becoming even more advanced these days, the process to remedy may become more complicated.

The number of automotive recalls to begin 2021 was consistent with average quarterly figures from last year, according to the latest product recall index from Sedgwick.

At 13.5 million units, however, the number of vehicles included in those actions during the first quarter was up 82.5% from the fourth quarter, the company indicated.

And looking ahead, expect a magnifying glass on electric vehicles and tech-leaning vehicle components

“At the outset of 2021, safety concerns related to electric vehicles and new technology remained at the forefront. As electric battery and charger recalls play out, the industry faces significant hurdles in building consumer confidence needed to meaningfully deliver on their electrification promises,” Sedgwick said in its report on the index.

“But that’s only the start of what promises to be a series of component-related recalls to come in 2021.”

And you can expect that to be more along the lines of tech features around things like autonomy or data privacy, the company said. More software, less tires and airbags.

As the report puts it, you might not have to go to the mechanic to have these issues fixed, they still present a safety risk — albeit one of a different stripe.  

“Vehicle safety used to be relegated to equipment or components that created inherent safety risks,” the company said in the report. “In these terms, passenger vehicles are arguably safer than they have ever been.

“But cars have become increasingly sophisticated in recent years, and the definition of automotive safety is expanding to include risks like cybersecurity and data privacy.”

As it stands, the most recent data from CARFAX shows there are more than 53 million vehicles out on the roads with unfixed recalls. That's an improvement of 5% from 2020, but the industry has “a long way to go,” CARFAX general manager of data Faisal Hasan said in a news release on that data.

“The number of vehicles on the road with open recalls peaked at 63 million in 2017, so we’re heading in the right direction but there’s still a long way to go,” Hasan said.

“We’re teaming up with the vehicle manufacturers to try to help raise awareness around recalls. The goal is to make the information readily available for owners to boost the closure rates for open recalls,” Hasan continued.

How effectively these problems are fixed could become even more complicated as the vehicles become more advanced and complex.

“Automotive recall effectiveness is already a hot-button issue among regulators and lawmakers,” Sedgwick said in the report. “Now consider how recalls are going to evolve with innovation and technology leading the way.”

Or, as the company recapped in a news release, “As the industry evolves, automotive recall effectiveness will become more challenging.”

Sedgwick suggests paying attention to recalls around advancements like hybrid propulsion systems or safety-minded tech features like forward-collision, lane departure warning and electronic stability control, among others.

“Many of these features are a reminder of the innovation and technological advances that are progressing toward electric vehicles and onward to autonomous vehicles,” it notes. “While we haven’t seen significant activity in these areas so

far in 2021, there were record numbers in 2020, followed by an ongoing stream of complaints filed with NHTSA.”

As for the Q1 numbers, however, 8.8 million of the 13.5 million vehicles recalled involved an airbag issue.

There were 183 recalls in the first quarter. Twenty-six of those were for equipment, the top reason for the recalls, according to Sedgwick.

Twenty were for airbags (impacting the aforementioned total of 8.8 million units). To provide some context on that, the report notes that all of 2020 showed 46 airbag recalls, with 19.3 million included.

It added: “Despite the original Takata defect filing date of May 2016, we are still seeing automakers work through the regulatory scrutiny and safety concerns related to airbags and inflators.”

In more recent data, Sedgwick said there were 59 auto recalls last month. While that's only modestly softer than the Q1 monthly average (61), there were just 1.4 million units included. In Q1, the monthly average was 4.5 million. 

Twelve of the 59 recalls were for electrical system causes, which topped the list. Next was structure concerns (10 recalls) and steering issues (nine).