What should you do if your car is part of a recall? First, if you get a recall notice in the mail, check your registration to make sure your vehicle make, model and year is in fact part of the campaign. Phone a nearby authorized dealer of the manufacturer to arrange an appointment for repairs. Ask how long it will take. Follow any other specific instructions in the notice. You should not have to pay for the recall repairs.
The recall notice should identify the affected vehicles, name the defective component or condition, explain the consequence of the defect (e.g., crash, stall, etc.) and announce the proposed fix. The notice should also have a recall “campaign” number issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). The NHTSA Campaign number is an important piece of information. Keep the notice in a safe place. If you want more information, visit the NHTSA website.
What if you heard about a recall in the news, but you didn’t get a notice in the mail? This could be due to a variety of things, most commonly a move or a change of ownership. A safety recall may occur later than the warranty expiration date, so the manufacturer may not have the most up-to-date information. If you do not have the recall notice, search the NHTSA website for repair information by make, model and year of your car or truck. Download and print out the reach results, and use that as a notice when you make your appointment. You can also contact the ODI hotline at 1-888-327-4236.
You usually do not have to contact a lawyer about a recall. The manufacturer is already offering a free repair. However, if you have been in an accident or have taken the vehicle in for repair of that defect on previous occasions, only to be told there was “no problem found” or the condition you complained of was “driver error,” you may have a good warranty or other product defect claim. Then you need good legal advice. The California lemon law requires the consumer to give the manufacturer a reasonable opportunity to repair the vehicle through its authorized repair shops. What is “reasonable” often depends on the circumstances. Recall investigations can provide information that was hidden before. And, if the recall remedy does not fix the problem on a widespread basis, the botched recall may give rise to a class action lawsuit.
Most importantly, do not ignore a safety recall notice. NHTSA does not issue these things lightly, and manufacturers sometimes take pains to prevent an expensive recall campaign. Toyota is in the hot seat now, but it is not the first car maker alleged to have influenced NHTSA investigations. If you get a recall notice, assume there is a good reason for it and set up your repair appointment without delay.
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My Car Is Part of A Recall – Now What?
What should you do if your car is part of a recall? First, if you get a recall notice in the mail, check your registration to make sure your vehicle make, model and year is in fact part of the campaign. Phone a nearby authorized dealer of the manufacturer to arrange an appointment for repairs. Ask how long it will take. Follow any other specific instructions in the notice. You should not have to pay for the recall repairs.
The recall notice should identify the affected vehicles, name the defective component or condition, explain the consequence of the defect (e.g., crash, stall, etc.) and announce the proposed fix. The notice should also have a recall “campaign” number issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). The NHTSA Campaign number is an important piece of information. Keep the notice in a safe place. If you want more information, visit the NHTSA website.
What if you heard about a recall in the news, but you didn’t get a notice in the mail? This could be due to a variety of things, most commonly a move or a change of ownership. A safety recall may occur later than the warranty expiration date, so the manufacturer may not have the most up-to-date information. If you do not have the recall notice, search the NHTSA website for repair information by make, model and year of your car or truck. Download and print out the reach results, and use that as a notice when you make your appointment. You can also contact the ODI hotline at 1-888-327-4236.
You usually do not have to contact a lawyer about a recall. The manufacturer is already offering a free repair. However, if you have been in an accident or have taken the vehicle in for repair of that defect on previous occasions, only to be told there was “no problem found” or the condition you complained of was “driver error,” you may have a good warranty or other product defect claim. Then you need good legal advice. The California lemon law requires the consumer to give the manufacturer a reasonable opportunity to repair the vehicle through its authorized repair shops. What is “reasonable” often depends on the circumstances. Recall investigations can provide information that was hidden before. And, if the recall remedy does not fix the problem on a widespread basis, the botched recall may give rise to a class action lawsuit.
Most importantly, do not ignore a safety recall notice. NHTSA does not issue these things lightly, and manufacturers sometimes take pains to prevent an expensive recall campaign. Toyota is in the hot seat now, but it is not the first car maker alleged to have influenced NHTSA investigations. If you get a recall notice, assume there is a good reason for it and set up your repair appointment without delay.