Shanghai (ZXZC)- At the news briefing of vehicle recalls held by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, it is revealed that a total of 251 recalls were issued last year, concerning a new high of 20,048,000 vehicles.

From 2013 on, vehicle recalls have been increasing year by year. As to the volume, the vehicle recalls from 2013 to 2015 only involve over 5 million units respectively. In 2016, a total of 11.33 million vehicles needed to be recalled while the volume in 2017 surged 77 percent to be over 20 million units.

The volume explosion of recalled vehicle in the past two years was closely related to the Takata airbag scandal, which has triggered the biggest recall in the auto history. The volume in September, 2017 can be a good case in point. In September last year, the volume rose sharply to 9.7 million units from 120,000 units in the previous month. And the volume fell to 543,000 units in October of 2017. The volume caused by Takata airbag contributed nearly 80 percent to the total volume of September and October.

We found that the following problems were the main reasons for vehicle recalls in 2017, airbag problem, engine malfunction, fuel leakage, steering defect, short circuit of battery sensors, etc.

Among all auto brands, the volume of recalled vehicles under Germany, Japanese and American brands accounted for over 90 percent of the total volume. Germany brands exceeded the brands from other countries in vehicle recall volume and needed to recall 10.98 million vehicles in China last year.

The vehicle recall volume of Chinese auto brands skyrocketed 952.6 percent to 1.4 million units in 2017, involving a total of 20 brands and 31 models and making up 6.98 percent of the total volume. In 2016, the volume of vehicle recall was only 133,000 units.