There Are More than 53 Million Vehicles on the Road with Unrepaired Safety Recalls
Deborah Hersman, president & CEO, the National Safety Council
(Washington D.C., Thursday, June 22, 2017) – On Thursday, June 22, 2017, the National Safety Council (NSC), along with champion partner and founding coalition member FCA US, will launch Check To Protect, a national campaign to encourage owners to check for and address open recalls on their vehicles.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there are more than 53 million—or more than one in four—vehicles on the road with unrepaired safety recalls. This poses an urgent and serious risk to drivers and passengers. With motor vehicle fatalities on the rise, checking for and addressing recalls is an easy way drivers can protect themselves and their passengers.
Checking for and addressing open recalls is simple and free. Owners can visit checktoprotect.org and enter a vehicle identification number (VIN) to learn if their vehicle is subject to any open recall. If it is, a local authorized dealership can make the repair at no charge.
The problem is worse among older car owners. According to the Auto Alliance (Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers) and Global Automakers, for newer vehicles, the recall completion rate averages 83 percent. However, that rate falls to just 44 percent for vehicles five to 10 years old. Older vehicles tend to change hands more frequently, making it harder to track current owners with recall notification systems. This finding motivated NSC and FCA US to target Check To Protect toward owners of older and used vehicles.
In a December 2016 survey of owners of older vehicles fielded by Public Opinion Strategies on behalf of FCA US, approximately one-third of respondents reported receiving a recall on their vehicle. However, of those respondents, four in 10 said they would wait to take in their vehicle for repair (as opposed to getting the recall fixed immediately) and five percent said they wouldn’t take it in at all.
The 17-digit VIN can be found in the lower left corner of a car’s windshield or on the inside of the driver-side door. It can also be found on a vehicle’s registration card and possibly on insurance documentation.