Driver complaints to federal highway safety regulators soared last year, spurred by a slew of Toyota Motor Corp. recalls.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration received more than 40,000 complaints through Dec. 14, according to an analysis by automotive research firm Edmunds.com. That’s four times the volume of recent years.

“People are now more aware that there is an agency called NHTSA and that you can complain to it. Complaints are a good thing,” said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety.

Toyota, long considered one of the most reliable brands, was the subject of more than a quarter of the complaints. Its ratio of complaints last year jumped to nearly 87 for every 100,000 vehicles sold. Recently, Toyota agreed to pay $32.4 million in fines for failing to promptly inform regulators of defects in its vehicle.

Nissan had the second-worst ratio, at nearly 62 complaints per 100,000 vehicles sold; Volkswagen was third at nearly 58. The industry average was 47 complaints per 100,000 vehicles sold, up from fewer than 30 in 2009.

NHTSA is hearing from people such as Mark Cox of Leesburg, Va. He filed a complaint after his 2003 Subaru Legacy sedan and his 2004 Nissan Quest minivan both failed routine state safety inspections because of clouded headlight lenses.

“They start to oxidize, and that reduces the amount of light that is transmitted out of your headlights. That is a safety and durability issue,” Cox said.

“Maybe as more people bring these issues to light and NHTSA looks at them, some of these problems will get fixed,” Cox said.

NHTSA said it had received more than 64,000 complaints in 2010, compared with about 35,000 in recent years. (Edmunds tossed out duplicate complaints from the same individual and complaints that had other inconsistencies.)

The agency reviews every complaint, looking for patterns that might determine whether an investigation is warranted, NHTSA spokesman Eric Bolton said.

Bolton urged drivers experiencing problems with a vehicle to file a complaint, either online at www.nhtsa.gov or through the agency’s auto safety hot line at 888-327-4236.

Although higher than in recent years, the volume of complaints in 2010 is tiny considering that there are about 250 million vehicles on U.S. roads, Ditlow said.

The volume of complaints was higher during President Jimmy Carter’s administration, Ditlow said, but subsequent administrations were less interested in auto safety, and the number of complaints declined as NHTSA’s prominence faded.

“What we are seeing once again is an administration and agency that are saying, ‘We welcome your complaints. Tell us what is wrong with your car.’ And it is saying we will take action,” he said.

Among large automakers, Ford Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. had the lowest complaint ratios. General Motors Co. had the second-highest volume of complaints but ranked only sixth in its ratio of complaints to vehicles sold, according to Edmunds.

Source: the Los Angeles Times