Lies, Damned Lies, And Statistics

"ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)" (adabofoppo)
03/17/2014 at 13:31 • Filed to: Rants, Tips

So, after getting flamed for my usual sarcastic opinion on the front page, I thought I would do some sleuthing and try and back up my ideas with actual numbers and not those I pull from a badger's ass.

Would it surprise anyone that you cannot actually find over stats on recall numbers by brand or manufacturer anywhere on the web? I've been looking for a couple hours now and I have yet to find them. Wolfram Alfa can't even comprehend what I'm asking for when I query "Car recalls by brand."

The NHTSA has a very; I was going to say lovely, but official-looking is the better descriptor here, website that allows vehicle owners to search for recalls by VIN, provided they can find the search icon among the all the other info bombarding their eye-holes once the site loads. It's functional, but wow what a mess.

I live-chatted with a less-than helpful representative who pointed me toward the "Flat Files" that people can download from the NHTSA search website. These files are merely enormous rich-text files (the recall file is 103 MB!), that require MS Access to open them properly. I don't have MS Access on my PC, so I tried Open Office Calc. Not only did Calc not load all the cells, the file is just lines of random characters. I'm sure they have some meaning to the people who assembled it, but I am clearly not hallucinating from pure, concentrated boredom so I don't know what they mean.

One would think in this data-driven, instant-results society we live in, that anyone could fire up their ancient, dust-entombed Dell PC, log into America Online, and search for cute kitty videos, I mean automotive recall statistics by brand, year, or multiples of brands and years just to see who is building higher quality vehicles, and has been doing so for how long. Why is this so difficult? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

I'm sure that the major manufacturers would prefer that any stats related to recalls weren't even available. But, I would not have guessed that it would be difficult to find some general, broadly informative stats about the different brands and years total recall numbers. I know that these are generally big numbers, and that most of the public can't really do math beyond laps of a NASCAR race.

Am I missing something? Should I not want to be able to find these numbers? Are the black helicopters I keep seeing important?

DISCUSSION (19)

ddavidn > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
03/17/2014 at 12:22

Just ask those men in suits that are going to knock on your door in a minute...

vorspringing > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
03/17/2014 at 12:59

If the raw numbers are there, someone will always have crunched them - it's just a matter of finding the report. :) Page 32

It's a "Porch-uh" > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
03/17/2014 at 14:25

Can you send over the link to the flat files? Do they have CSV available?

Are you just looking to see how many recalls each brand has? If so, over what time frame?

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > It's a "Porch-uh"
03/17/2014 at 14:54

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/downloads/flat…

Yes. I just want to know how many total cars each brand has recalled since 2004.

It's a "Porch-uh" > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
03/17/2014 at 16:10

Which file were you looking at that was 103MB? The one I see there for recalls is only 6.7MB.

It's a "Porch-uh" > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
03/17/2014 at 16:15

I'm assuming only major auto manufacturers? This data includes trailers, big trucks, and specific equipment manufacturers.

It's a "Porch-uh" > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
03/17/2014 at 16:52

I might have just broke Excel when I tried to get fancy and calculate counts of total units affected by mfg. Otherwise, I have the totals by mfg once it's done trying to calculate.

It's a "Porch-uh" > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
03/17/2014 at 17:12

So quickly in Excel, with all the data (from 1949-on) Ford tops the list with 5446 recalls, affecting 3,621,947,659 potential units. This is a total of all the entries for each make, so there's some overlap (one car could have multiple recalls).

The rest of the top 10 (by units affected): Chevy, Mercury, GMC, Toyota, Dodge, Lincoln, Honda, Pontiac, & Buick.

I can break down the data many different ways, just need to know exactly what you're looking to get back. The list above is by Make, but I can also count by Manufacturer, so all the Ford and GM brands would be consolidated.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > It's a "Porch-uh"
03/17/2014 at 19:18

You're awesome!

By overall manufacturer would be great, if it's not much trouble.

It's a "Porch-uh" > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
03/17/2014 at 23:40

This is since 1949... do you want me to keep all the dates, or from a certain date forward?

It's a "Porch-uh" > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
03/17/2014 at 23:55

Here's all the sorted data: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-daAO…

By number of recalls, GM wins, but Ford wins for number of potential vehicles.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > It's a "Porch-uh"
03/17/2014 at 23:55

2004-present. The last decade basically.

It's a "Porch-uh" > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
03/18/2014 at 15:12

Boom. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-daAO…

Sorted by number or recalls and number of units affected.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > It's a "Porch-uh"
03/18/2014 at 17:14

You Sir, are a Gentleman and a Scholar.

It's a "Porch-uh" > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
03/18/2014 at 17:19

No problem. Definitely changes the rankings looking at the last 10 years vs. the last 65.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > It's a "Porch-uh"
03/18/2014 at 21:32

It does indeed.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > It's a "Porch-uh"
03/19/2014 at 09:22

Are you going to keep that file hosted online? I'd like to link to it in a follow-up piece. Thanks again for sorting all that data. You'll get a shout-out for it.

It's a "Porch-uh" > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
03/19/2014 at 12:25

Yup, it can stay there.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > It's a "Porch-uh"
03/19/2014 at 12:28

Excellent, especially considering I've already linked to it. Look for "Total Recallection" it's my follow-up piece. It's okay, I've done better, but oh well.