The number of product recalls fell slightly in the April-June quarter of 2023 from the first three months of the year.
According to the Sedgwick Brand Protection Recall Index, there were 856 recalls in the second three months of the year, down slightly from 863 in the first quarter, which saw the highest single-quarter total of product recalls since the final three months of 2018.
Here's a sector-by-sector breakdown
Auto recalls
For the second quarter, there were 479 recalls compared with the five-year average of 484.
In this three-month period, the lowest half-year was 2020 with 413 recalls, with the highest 2021 with 540. In terms of the number of vehicles recalled, 2023 is at a 10-year low with 15.82 million.
Most of the auto recalls -- 51 -- were for issues involving electrical systems, compared with 48 in the last quarter. Equipment had the second-most recalls with 36, involving 1.15 million vehicles making it the third-highest category by unit this quarter.
Consumer product recalls
There was good news in the consumer product sector, as both the number of recalls and the number of products recalled were down from the January-March period.
There were 76 consumer product recalls in the second quarter compared with 94 last quarter --a drop of 19.1%.
In terms of the number of units affected, there was 10.7% decline to 20.65 million products this quarter from 23.12 million in the first quarter.
At the same time, though, the average recall size jumped to 271,767, the second-largest number. Five recalls involved more than a million units.
Food and drink recalls
During the most recent quarter, the increase in the number of units affected totaled 114.10 million, an increase of 190.6% from the previous three months.
Overall, there were six FDA food recalls -- each involving more than two million units; three of them affected more than 15 million units each.
The average recall size also grew with the 745,475 unit average up 122.2 percent over last quarter's 335,488.
The figure for the year so far is 34.4% above the average half-year figure recorded for the last five years.
According to Sedwick, with Congress and groups of state attorneys general encouraging agencies such as the FDA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to do more to protect public safety, it's a pretty safe bet that the numbers of recalls and products affected will continue to rise.