Has Your Car Been Recalled? Here's What You Need To Know

Safety-related recalls are a hot topic in the auto industry these days with manufacturers like General Motors facing possible legal issues over fauly airbags, to Toyota’s $1.2 billion settlement over claims of unintended acceleration. And how can we forget Audi's series of recalls on Audi 5000 models, which like with Toyota were associated with reported incidents of unintended acceleration, however in this case linked to 6 deaths and 700 accidents. 

So what's behind the surge of recalls these days? They seem to be happening left right and center. 

If you were to ask an industry expert, they'd tell you it has more to do with auto-makers doing what they can to avoid insanely expensive lawsuits & government penalties as well as bad publicity, rather than being attributed to an overall decline in quality standards (although that’s a whole other topic in itself, perhaps for another time). 

The fact of the matter is, safety-related recalls are actually good news for consumers because it means the auto-maker is being held accountable for selling you a car that has mechanical or electrical problems, and it is their responsibility to fix it. 
 

CONSUMER BE AWARE

Auto recalls occur when an auto-maker (or the NHTSA) determines that a car model (or several models) has a safety-related defect, or that it does not comply with a federal safety standard. When this happens, the auto-maker is obligated to notify all car owners of the problem via a letter which should contain the following information:

• A description of the condition or defect.

• The risk or potential hazards such as the kind of injuries it could cause. 

• What the potential warning signs are.

• Details on how the manufacturer plans to fix the problem, including when the repair will be available and how long it should take.

• Instructure on what action(s) to take next. 

Auto-makers will do their best to contact owners affected by a safety-related recall, which is why it's important to make sure your contact information is up-to-date in the company database.

And even if you've never received a notification (it's possible you may have disregarded it in a sea of junkmail) it's still a good idea to continually keep yourself informed on whether your car is on a recall list, because at the end of the day your safety should always be a top priority and it only takes a second. Well maybe a minute.
 

HOW TO FIND OUT IF YOUR CAR HAS BEEN RECALLED

If you're unsure of whether your car has been issued a safety-related recall, there are a couple of ways to quickly find out:

• Do a search in Transport Canada's Road Safety Recalls Database by entering your vehicle's Make, Model and Year. 

• Visit your auto-maker's website and check the recall status of your vehicle by using its 12-digit Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). 

Parents with small children are advised to register their child car seats with the manufacturer to receive recall information directly, and it's always a good idea to have your tires registered while you're at it. 

TAKE ACTION SOONER THAN LATER

If it does turn out that your car is on a recall list, there's no need to panic. However don't let this sit around for too long, especially if the defect could pose a major hazard.

Schedule an appointment to have you car fixed at a loal authorized dealer such as Sommerville Auto's Service Center (we're authorized to do factory warranty work for major North American Auto Manufacturers on all models) and make sure to bring your recall letter with you, if you have one.  

All recall-related fixes should be done FREE OF CHARGE, hence bringing the letter with you so as to avoid any complications. If your dealer tries to charge you for the recall fixes, ask to speak to a manager and explain the situation. If you're still running into issues, contact the manufacturer directly.