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General Motors Co. recalled 2.6 million vehicles worldwide due to ignition switch problem, including roughly 368,000 in Canada, and faced criticism for waiting 11 years to do so.Jeff Kowalsky/Reuters

Canadian auto recalls hit an all-time high last year, with more than eight million vehicles affected as several high-profile problems with faulty airbags and ignition switches brought safety issues to the forefront.

Auto makers issued nearly 600 recall notices on Canadian vehicles in 2014, according to data obtained from Transport Canada.

Both the number of recalls and the number of vehicles affected are significantly higher than in any other year, according to a data analysis by The Canadian Press.

The previous record for the highest number of recalls was set in 2010, when auto makers issued 468 recall notices affecting 1.5 million products, including vehicles, car seats and tires. But the total number of vehicles affected was higher in 2013, when manufacturers recalled two million products, despite the total number of recall notices being lower at 466, according to the analysis.

Industry observers say auto makers are issuing recalls en masse in an attempt to prevent future problems after defective ignition switches led to numerous crashes and at least 58 injuries and 42 deaths. General Motors Co. recalled 2.6 million vehicles worldwide due to the problem, including roughly 368,000 in Canada, but faced criticism for waiting 11 years to do so. The company is now facing several lawsuits.

"GM was in a pickle and nobody else wanted to be the new GM," said George Iny, president of the Automobile Protection Association. "So they started to do some housecleaning. And people with skeletons in the closet and bodies in the basement have been pulling them out."

Among last year's high-profile recalls were 700,000 Honda Canada Inc. vehicles over potentially exploding airbags produced by Japanese parts maker Takata Corp. Roughly 14 million vehicles made by 10 different auto makers have been recalled worldwide as a result of the Takata airbag issue.

Independent auto industry consultant Mark Petro says while it's pro-active for manufacturers to issue recall notices, many of the older vehicles will never be repaired. That's because once vehicle ownership changes or owners move, it becomes challenging for auto makers to track them down.

Despite the spike in recalls and the publicity surrounding the airbag and ignition switch problems, experts say Canadians are unlikely to be deterred from buying cars.

Earlier last year, Mr. Bailey conducted research going back at least a decade and found no correlation between auto recalls and sales.

"People have fairly short memories, particularly when shopping for cars," he says.

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