Vehicle Safety Recalls Week Promotes Checking Your Car For Outstanding Recalls

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has declared this week to be Vehicle Safety Recalls week. The dedicated week is meant to remind Americans to check their car for active recalls. It is scheduled as the week leading up to the beginning of daylight savings to encourage people to check their recalls at least twice a year, once as daylight savings time starts and once as it ends.

Check Your Car For a Recall

Checking your car for a recall is simple, just enter your VIN (found on the lower left of your car’s windshield) into www.nhtsa.gov/recalls. This website will show all unrepaired recalls for your car in the last 15 years and will give instructions on how to get any recalls repaired free of charge.

In 2019 alone, the NHTSA administered nearly 900 safety recalls affecting over 38 million vehicles. Remember that recalls are conducted because the affected product can cause unforeseen injury. Failing to participate in a recall repair puts you, your passengers, and other vehicles on the road at risk.

Sign up for Recall Alerts from Government Agencies

In addition to manually checking your car’s VIN for recalls, you can also subscribe to emails about recalls from major government agencies. Using recalls.gov, you can subscribe to receive emails from the CPSC, the FDA, the USDA, and the NHTSA. The Consumer Product Safety Commission conducts recalls of nearly all consumer products to address “unreasonable risks” of injury. The Food and Drug Administration conducts recalls and issues warnings concerning food, medications, animal health, biologics, medical devices, and cosmetics. The United States Department of Agriculture monitors recalls of meat and poultry products. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conducts recalls on vehicles and vehicle-related products such as tires, car seats, and roof racks.

Kia Vehicle Recalls

The recent Kia recalls emphasize why you should check your car for recalls and sign up for recall alerts. Kia has conducted multiple recalls in 2020 to address the risk of engine fires in its cars and vans. They recently recalled over 193,000 vehicles with faulty fuel hoses. In addition, they recalled nearly 229,000 of their vehicles because of the risk of an electrical short in the brake computer. Kia announced both of these recalls within two weeks of each other, but you may not have heard of either of them since vehicle recalls happen so often and are not given much coverage in traditional media.

If you believe you or a loved one was adversely affected by a vehicle recall, contact one of our Washington, D.C. recall attorneys.