Does Your Vehicle Have an Open Recall?

Most of the time manufacturers send out notices to owners of vehicles with recalls because of their responsibility to have all recalls taken care of on vehicles they’ve produced. A recall could relate to items that fail over time that shouldn’t or to the overall safety aspects of the vehicle. Unfortunately it’s nearly impossible for a manufacturer to contact every owner of a collection of vehicles and some notices don’t make it to the current owner, which means you should be proactive in your approach to handling a recall on your car, truck or SUV.

The challenge may be learning how to find out about a recall. For most of us we feel that recalls on vehicles are a hassle and if it’s working then why should we bring the vehicle in for a repair? The reason for this is a simple one; a recall has been issued because the item in question could eventually fail. Many times a recall is issued to fix or replace an item that wasn’t properly manufactured which requires inspection first. Some vehicles don’t even need a repair, but simply need to be inspected and found to be fit for road duty while others will require parts be replaced on the vehicle.

Now that I’ve convinced you to have your vehicle checked out if it’s under a type of recall you need to know how to find out if you have an active recall that needs to be taken care of. In order to do this you need only know the secret recall code for your vehicle; your VIN number. With this number you can access the database needed to find out if your vehicle has an active and open recall in place that needs to be taken care of before you continue driving.

Here’s a quick way for you to check and have your vehicle fixed:

• Obtain your Vehicle Identification Number (VIN)
• Visit the NHTSA website
• Input your VIN
• Read through the material to see if you have an open recall or if any recalls have been issued for your vehicle
• If you have an open recall you should contact your nearest dealer service center to have the vehicle looked at

Once you’ve taken these steps you’ll feel much better about the vehicle you’re driving and the condition it’s in while you’re driving down any road in the country.

Vehicle recalls aren’t something to take lightly. Yes, some recalls are for items that don’t have anything to do with vehicle safety, but many do and ignoring the need to have a recall handled could easily cause you to be in a fatal accident that’s caused by the ignoring of a recall that needed to be taken care of much sooner. Don’t let this be your story, check the NHTSA website and see if your vehicle has an open recall issued on it and then take it to your nearest service center to be fixed or inspected so you know for sure your vehicle will continue to offer you the ride you need.