From the article: “Federal laws do not require used-car dealers to repair vehicles with safety defects before putting the cars back into public use. Nor are dealers required by law to disclose to customers that a vehicle is the subject of a recall. Legislation to address the issue has languished in Congress.”
I looked up the VIN numbers for the two cars we bought used (SaferCar.gov). One of them is in the recall for exploding driver-side air bags. I called a dealer to arrange the repair, but it’ll take a few days to get the part.
I’m amazed that no one let us know. We get all kinds of other junk from the dealers, but no one told us about this life-threatening issue. If there’s something that can be done at the state level, please look into it. I’ll also write our reps in DC.
— hs
Thanks, Hal. We’ll check in on this and get back.
A recall is issued, either voluntarily by the manufacturer or by NHTSA. A recall is issued when a defect poses a risk to safety and may exist in a group of vehicles of the same design, manufacturer or items of equipment of the same type and manufacture. Manufacturers are required to fix the problem by repairing it, replacing it or offering a refund.
If a recall is issued, the manufacturer will contact you via mail using the address on file with your vehicle registration. The manufacturer is required to make a reasonable effort to notify you of a recall of your vehicle.
It may be the case that you have not received notification of a recall, either because it was issued before you owned your car or the manufacturers notification did not reach you. Currently, the best way to find out about all recalls that may be outstanding on your vehicle is to visit http://www.safercar.gov, the federal government’s clearinghouse for information about automotive recalls. Once you enter your VIN (vehicle information number) you can find out about any outstanding recalls on your vehicle. Your VIN is located on the small metal plate on the driver’s side of your dashboard, facing the windshield or it can be found on your registration. If a recall repair has been performed, it will not appear during your VIN search.
As noted above, there are no mandatory notifications for recalls that may have been issued prior to your ownership of your vehicle. At the federal level, there is currently legislation pending from Senator Ed Markey and others that would make repair of safety recalls a mandatory condition of car registration or renewal.
Senator Brownsberger is contemplating proposing legislation on this subject. Would it make sense to require notification of outstanding safety recalls as part of annual vehicle inspection? Currently, pursuant to the Federal Clean Air Act, notification of outstanding recalls on a vehicles emissions system are part of the annual vehicle inspection in Massachusetts.
Senator Brownsberger would like your feedback – should completion of recalls be a mandatory part of annual inspection? Is this the right time and frequency to notify vehicle owners of possible safety issues? What do you think?
Andrew Bettinelli
Legislative Aide
Office of State Senator William N. Brownsberger
I don’t know whether the recall was issued before or after we bought the car. But as noted in the NY Times article, the dealer is allowed to sell a car with a known recall that has not been addressed. So that should be fixed. I’m glad that Sen Markey is working on that.
Alerting owners about recalls at inspection time makes sense. It may mean that the owner has been driving a dangerous car for awhile, but at least the owner would find out.
Should car owners be required to address recalls at inspection time? I suppose that makes sense; it may be a hardship to get the car to a dealership, but it’s less of a hardship than a catastrophic failure of some part of the car. So on balance, I think that’s a good idea. And the inspections are at least partly about safety of the vehicle, so it makes sense.
It would be easier of the inspection station could make the repair as well, but there are probably a lot of problems with that.
— hs
Thanks, Hal.
I think we should put this forward as a piece of legislation and get some feedback. Not sure how it all plays through, but we’ll put it forward.
In response to Mr. Shubin’s post, Senator Brownsberger has filed legislation that would make notification of outstanding vehicle recalls part of the annual state inspection. The bill, S.1989 has been assigned to the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure.
Andrew Bettinelli
Legislative Aide
Office of State Senator William N. Brownsberger