I'll add one more twist to the '68 steering wheel recall. The recall mentions it applies to both '68 Firebirds and '68 Tempests yet only says "Potential Number of Units Affected 12,164. Note that the Definitive Firebird & Trans Am Guide 1967-1969 shows 47,532 Deluxe steering wheels were equipped on '68 Birds.

Note that there were only three steering wheels from the factory, standard, deluxe and sport. With 47,532 deluxe, 3,655 custom sport, I would assume there were about 56,000 standard steering wheels.

Did they estimate only some of the wheels would break?