Safety in numbers

摘要

Is the glass half-full or half-empty? The way someone answers such a question probably reveals much about how they see the UK's vehicle safety recall scheme, administered by the Bristol-based vehicle safety branch of the government's Vehicle & Operator Services Agency (VOSA). Regular reports (usually twice a year) on the latest recall campaigns are published in Transport Engineer, based on bulletins issued by VOSA. Readers have been known to respond to our summaries by expressing disappointment, outrage even, at the number and type of safety-related defects persistently getting past manufacturers' much-vaunted quality-control systems, and coming to light only after vehicles have been in service for some time.