The year 2015 may be in the past, but it will certainly go down with the dubious distinction of witnessing the highest ever recall rate in the history of India's automotive industry.

Taking the lead in revving their vehicles back to workshops were auto majors Volkswagen and Honda.

For an industry that announced a voluntary code on vehicle recall in July 2012, it does not come as a surprise to see an increase in voluntary recall whenever a safety defect, which poses a risk of accident or harm to potential vehicle occupants, is recognised in vehicles.

According to the latest Ministry of Heavy Industries, Government of India, data published by ET Auto, more than one million vehicles were recalled in 2015 alone, out of over 1.8 million cars recalled between July 2012 and December 2015.

The recall featured not just cars but motorcycles as well.

German automaker Volkswagen topped the list with the largest single recall followed by Honda cars. While Volkswagen was forced to recall 3,23,700 cars fitted with the controversial EA 189 diesel engines in the month of December; Honda's 2.24 lakh units across various models launched in India were forced on reverse gear to fix faulty airbag inflators.

Interestingly, Honda had issued three other recalls in 2015 -- 90,210 diesel units of Honda City sedan and Honda Mobilio MPV to fix a faulty fuel-return pipe in December, 3,879 units of its popular sedan City equipped with continuously variable transmission (CVT) and 11,381 CR-Vs and Accords in the month of May.

American automaker General Motors came third in the list with over 1.5 lakh units being recalled. Chevrolet Beat and Spark, the company's small cars, along with the utility vehicle Enjoy had to be recalled to plug in battery related issues.

Akin to a virus, the recall plague did not spare the country's leading automaker Maruti Suzuki. The recall woes led to 33,098 units of Maruti Altos being taken back to the workshops to replace faulty right-hand door latch assemblies, while Mahindra and Toyota recalled 60,000 units and 7,100 units respectively of their vehicles citing airbag issues.

In the two wheeler segment, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) was forced into issuing a recall for 13,700 units of the CBR 250R and the CBR 150R motorcycles as a result of incorrect application of the sealants in the starter relay switch instalments.

Also Read

Soon, American motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson Motor Company also joined the bandwagon with 3,698 units of its Street 750 before the recall saga of India's automotive industry came to an end with the two-wheeler manufacturer, Yamaha Motors voluntarily recalling 9 units its ZF-R1 and YZF-R1M superbikes to fix problems with faulty gearboxes.