The recalls that did not stop the complaints
We compared owner complaints about the recalled part in the year before and the year after 787 large recalls since 2015. In 242 of them, complaints held steady or rose even after the fix was announced.
- 787 recalls of 10,000 or more vehicles from 2015 on had enough complaints to compare.
- In 107 (14%) complaints about the recalled part fell by half or more in the following year.
- In 242 recalls, owners filed at least as many complaints (80% or more) about the same part after the recall as before, with 25 or more in the year after.
Recalls with the most complaints after the fix was announced
Complaints about the same area of the car (for example, the transmission) on the recalled models and years. "Before": the 12 months before the recall; "after": months 3 to 14 after it.
How we did it
Source: official recall records and owner safety complaints filed with the federal safety agency, as published in its public data files.
For each recall of 10,000 or more vehicles announced between January 2015 and 15 months ago, we counted complaints in the same component category on the recalled models and model years, by the date the complaint was filed. We skipped the first two months after the recall, when owners are still waiting for parts.
Complaints that mention the recall itself (owners waiting for parts or for the notice) are left out of both periods, so the comparison reflects the problem rather than the recall process.
More complaints after a recall do not prove the fix failed: some owners had not had the repair done yet, and a recall can draw attention to a problem. The pattern is a signal worth checking, not a verdict.
You are free to cite or republish these figures with a link to this page. Updated November 8, 2026.