Over the last several weeks, there have been a couple of major announcements from two of the world’s largest automotive brands that show how IoT can help them avoid recalls and warranty claims.
After conducting several years of its own research and testing, the first came from GM, who announced that it recalls six million vehicles in the U.S. after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration denied its recall appeal, saying the carmaker had not established the recall was unnecessary.
The most recent came from Ford, which announced it took steps to rein in rising warranty costs. Part of the new plan to offset these costs involves the company charging suppliers upfront for half of the cost of warranty-related issues.
In both these cases, there’s obviously a lot at stake. First and foremost, it’s the safety of drivers and passengers in the vehicles. Second, it’s the damage to the OEMs’ brands when massive recalls or spikes in warranty claims occur. And finally, it’s the financial hit that these companies take––which Ford is now saying will be shared with its suppliers––a reality that will undoubtedly have a severe impact on valuation and shareholder return.
In both of these cases, there’s an important part of the story that’s missing. What are automotive manufacturers, OEMs, and suppliers, doing to prevent issues like recalls and warranty claims from happening at all?
Have airbag manufacturers developed new testing protocols? Are manufacturers and OEMs using the latest technology to detect and avoid these issues, or are they helping them limit the scope of this type of recall? And for Ford, how are they calculating the distribution in the responsibility of the costs? Does pushing prices back to part manufacturers truly represent a renewed focus on quality?
How about getting proactive instead of being reactive?
On top of the cost of recalls, automotive brands and parts suppliers undoubtedly invest a significant amount of money conducting their own tests, not to mention legal fees. And rather than investing time and resources to create and manage a complicated warranty cost-sharing program, could manufacturers work with suppliers to test new technologies to eliminate issues during manufacturing and assembly that could massively reduce warranty claims?
Instead of stop-gap measures, the adoption of AI and Machine Learning technologies could help manufacturers shift from being reactive to proactive––an investment that could save significant money over the short and long terms.
Let’s explore some of the features and benefits that current technology and an advanced vision solution can provide.
