How recalls work

Nearly all government recalls are related to safety issues and are managed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Since 1966, the government has asked manufacturers to recall and fix literally hundreds of millions of vehicles. Most recalls are initiated by the automakers themselves, but many of the largest campaigns have been prompted by the government, in response to consumer complaints.

People often consider a recall to be a black mark. While a recall normally signifies a potential safety defect, a recall also means a defect that was found on a number of cars and a free fix made available to all. Once a problem has been identified and determined to potentially impact a volume of cars, the entire lot is corrected, as there is often no way to isolate which specific examples have the defect, or the propensity to experience a fault based on myriad usage factors.

Research recalls on your vehicle at the NHTSA Web site.

--Gordon Hard