Recalled cars have created headlines by taking lives of people through many safety lacks, the reason being that in spite of being recalled, they were not repaired. Typically car-fire warnings always urge the recalled car owners not to park their cars in garages or near houses or other inflammable structures till the recall work gets completed. In August 2014, the NHTSA has launched a recall lookup tool to address this issue. It is known to give consumers an easy access to the recall records for every vehicle that has been sold as new since the year 1999. This system was mandated by the Congress in the year 2012.
Recall Car Accidents
In the Hyundai Turnersville dealership we were discussing the fact that multiple cases are recorded in which the car owners of burned-up cars revealed the fact that they were not aware about the recall of their car. Most of them had purchased used vehicles while many didn’t even know that the required repair work has ever been done. Some cars that were parked in garages caused structural damages while others damaged neighboring vehicles as soon as flames started spreading.
Tracking Down Owners
The automakers and regulators are constantly worried about the fact that not all of the used vehicles must have been repaired and that their future owners might get caught up being unaware of the severe problems of the cars. The risks can involve anything like the following:
- Car fires
- Brake and steering failures
- Safety feature failure
Currently, the NHTSA still does not have the authority to ask the used-car sellers to disclose their recall cases or initiate the process of respective recall repairs.
While the automakers are having the names and addresses of the new-car buyers in their files, they lose the trail often when the original owner sells off the car and tracking down the new owner of these old and used cars become nearly impossible especially in private-party sales.
Check Your Car
Because of the fact that car recall notices might miss through the loopholes of the current automobile selling market, the only way to prevent the life-threatening risks is making the consumers aware that they should take a few minutes in regular intervals to check if there is any recall outstanding for their model of vehicles. The same rule is applicable if they are planning to buy a used car. Henceforth, once a consumer brings home a newly purchased used car, the best possible way to avoid the risks of unrepaired recall accidents is to register the vehicle with the manufacturer through their official website. Following this simple procedure will pull their car out of the loop of recall-miss-communication.
Check Your Car VIN
The best way to verify the recall notification for the car you are owning is checking its unique vehicle identification number (VIN). This is a number through which the manufacturers and the NHTSA track back the recalled cars. The VIN is usually listed on the vehicle registration papers and it can be found in the upper left corner of the dashboard, that is visible through the windshield, and also on the sticker placed on the driver-side doorjamb. The last word of advice from the Turnersville Hyundai dealership experts is that used car buyers should always check the VIN number of the vehicle before any purchase.