That sounds like magic to me. To get anything involved with the government not throwing a temper tantrum and make it about themselves.
They do fight. But usually it doesn’t end well for them. Usually they drag their feet and waste time hoping that most of the cars will be out of commission before the recall is forced on them or they fight the government over a proposed recall in court and lose. https://apnews.com/article/ford-nhtsa-fine-recall-slow-244e2318b794e2be10196414eba9a029
https://www.dailyjournal.com/articles/376533-tesla-recalls-too-little-too-late
Right now I know (brother is a tech) that Ford has problems with water pumps but no recalls have been issued. I suspect this is because of the cost to fix them and the fact that these cars are still in warranty, so it’s cheaper to have the people in warranty come information service and have it discovered that their water pump is shot than it is to tell them their water pump may be bad because the cooling system is contaminated. It cuts down the number of cars they have to fix significantly. Which is why (yes even if you’re not taking your car to a dealership) you should have your car inspected regularly if you aren’t going to do it yourself.
