Find out if your car has been recalled.
At the Center for Auto Safety, we want to make it easy for you to find recalls on your vehicle! Try out our new service, the vehicle safety check:
You can also check your vehicle for recalls on NHTSA:
Check My VehicleThe National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) oversees safety recalls of motor vehicles as well as tires, child safety seats, and other items of motor vehicle equipment. When one of these products experiences a safety-related defect or is not compliant with a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS), NHTSA is charged with ensuring public safety. Although almost all recalls are undertaken voluntarily by manufacturers, they may be strongly encouraged by NHTSA as part of an ongoing safety defect investigation, or advocated for by individuals or consumer groups who can petition NHTSA to open an investigation into a particular defect. Rarely, NHTSA will order an automaker or other supplier to conduct a recall. When a recall occurs, the manufacturer is required to fix that vehicle at no cost to the owner. That can be done by repairing it, replacing it, offering a refund (for equipment) or, in rare cases, repurchasing the car.
Keep up to date on recalls, investigations, and service alerts about your car by becoming a member of the Center for Auto Safety.
Be sure recalls find you.
Current notification process
When an auto manufacturer identifies a safety defect, it must notify dealers and owners of the vehicle of that defect or noncompliance within 60 days. In a letter sent via first class mail, the manufacturer must include a clear description of the defect, its risks, and the measures that must be taken to fix the defect or noncompliance. The letter must also indicate that the repair will be available to the owner free of charge and list the day on which the fix will become available, or if the owner has already paid to have the defect fixed, they may be reimbursed. The requirements for owner letters are part of an effort to ensure that recipients of the letters fully comprehend and are fully informed of the serious nature of the subject matter of the letters. Unfortunately, however, these important recall notifications can go unnoticed by owners—often, these notices can look like junk mail—and thousands of owners are unaware that their vehicles are under open recall.
Electronic Notification
Not only would it be a good idea for car companies to notify you via email that your car has been recalled—but it’s the law. Unfortunately, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has failed to implement this common-sense requirement passed by Congress over three years ago. The Center for Auto Safety is standing up for consumers by continuing to push NHTSA and the Department of Transportation to move faster to use email in addition to US mail and other traditional means to notify consumers about safety defects in their family cars.
If it’s so important, why doesn’t anyone call me?
When something important is happening in your life, you don’t just email or send a postcard. You use every means of communication you can—particularly the one that’s fastest and easiest: your phone! It is critical that the manufacturer of your vehicle knows how to reach you, especially if you are not the original owner of a vehicle. Be sure to provide your number to the manufacturer through your dealer or the manufacturer’s office.
What about when I register the car?
There is one part of the government that has the opportunity to reach all car owners easily every few years: motor vehicle registration administrations. The Center supports efforts to notify consumers of open recalls on their vehicles via the inspection process.
LINK: U.S. DOT and Maryland MVA Collaborate to Improve Recall Remedy Rates