How to check a recall on a vehicle

A recall can be disastrous to your fleet because the health of your vehicles is so important. Do not worry; there are actions you can take to check for vehicle recalls and ease the suffering brought on by probable downtime. Let’s follow us to find out how to check a recall on a vehicle in this post!

What is a recall on a car?

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that “when a manufacturer or the NHTSA finds that a vehicle, equipment, car seat, or tire causes an excessive safety risk or fails to meet minimal safety criteria,” a car recall is issued. Before the NHTSA gets involved, manufacturers typically decide on their own to recall products and fix safety flaws.

What is a recall on a car?
What is a recall on a car? How to check a recall on a vehicle

Manufacturers are expected to address the issue by repair, replacement, refund, or, in exceptional circumstances, repurchasing the car. When a recall happens, the malfunctioning or deficient part(s) of the vehicle, not the complete vehicle, are frequently replaced. But don’t worry, the cost of the repair and/or installation is usually borne by the manufacturer.

Who manages vehicle recalls?

When an automaker or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) finds that a car’s equipment poses a safety concern or doesn’t meet minimal requirements, a recall is issued. Before the NHTSA gets involved, manufacturers often voluntarily recall products to address safety issues.

The federal agency in charge of overseeing auto safety is the NHTSA. For instance, the organization oversees auto recalls when a vehicle or component doesn’t adhere to safety regulations. More than 390 million automobiles, trucks, buses, recreational vehicles, motorcycles, and mopeds have been recalled since The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act was passed in 1966 to fix safety flaws.

Within 60 days of alerting NHTSA of a recall decision, an automaker is obligated to mail owners a notice of any potential safety danger to the vehicle. NHTSA will supervise the recall and make sure the manufacturer complies with the law whether NHTSA or the auto company itself issues it.

How to check a recall on a vehicle

How to check a recall on a vehicle
How to check a recall on a vehicle

As you read this, there’s a chance that the car in your driveway has an open recall. Automakers are supposed to notify owners of recalls that pertain to their vehicles, but this may not always be the case, especially if you are the second or third owner or have the vehicle serviced at a non-affiliated shop.

Oh, and don’t believe that just because you purchased a used automobile from a dealership, all of the recall work has been done. According to Juliet Guerra of the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), secondhand cars can still be sold by dealers unless the NHTSA or the manufacturer deems them to be too risky to drive or operate.

Guerra claims that “dealers enthusiastically embrace” informing customers of any found flaws so they may arrange to have them fixed as soon as replacement components are available.

What distinguishes tire recalls from other auto safety recalls?

Your first line of defense against auto collisions is your tires. They are the only component of your car that comes into contact with the pavement. A single small flaw can cause a tire to blow out, which can then cause an accident. These factors dictate how NHTSA handles tire recalls in comparison to other auto recalls.

Tire recalls, in contrast to vehicle recalls, have a deadline. Consumers have 60 days from the time they are contacted to return the tire in order to receive a free replacement. The application of this guideline, it should be noted, varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, and many businesses will continue to replace recalled tires for years.

How can I find out if my tires are still subject to a recall?

Following the most recent recall news is the best method to learn whether your tires have been recalled. Create a Google Alert as one method of doing this. You can also use the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association’s Tire Recall Lookup tool to find out if your tires are subject to a recall.

There will be a range of manufacturing dates listed in tire recall letters. You will require the DOT Tire Identification Number to find out if your tires are affected by the recall (TIN).

The DOT TIN must start with the initials DOT and then a string of characters in order to comply with federal laws. A series of numbers showing the date the tire was created will appear after the DOT number. The tire was produced, for instance, in the 15th week of 2018, according to the number 1518. Although NHTSA only provides date ranges, you can utilize a week-of-the-year calculator to compare the TIN to the NHTSA-provided dates.

Vehicle Recalls and Repairs Tracking

How to check a recall on a vehicle
How to check a recall on a vehicle

Being proactive rather than reactive must come naturally to a fleet manager. You should build up a strategy to regularly carry out a vehicle recall check in order to stay ahead of concerns. Manually performing this task might take a lot of time, but there are software options, such as Fleetio, that will alert you as soon as your vehicle’s make and model are listed for a recall. In this manner, if a car needs repairs, you can take fast action and “go to the front of the line.”

You will receive daily email notifications when there is a new match between a safety recall and your vehicle if you use Fleetio’s recall management service. You can easily establish issues for those recalls, which will let you track them against the completed repairs and maintain thorough, current service logs for every vehicle.

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