How to Check if Your Vehicle Has Been Recalled

A San Diego lemon law attorney helps drivers when their vehicles turn out to have any types of problems, including serious defects.  Some vehicle defects and problems are obvious to motorists, such as when a car won't start because of engine problems. However, in many cases, even when there are serious safety problems with cars, drivers do not necessarily know of the issues until an accident happens or until after something goes wrong.

Motorists need to be properly alerted in a timely manner if there is a problem with the vehicle that they are driving. Motorists should also know how to check if their car is under recall so they will find out right away if the car they are operating is putting themselves or others in jeopardy.

Tips for Checking if Your Car Has Been Recalled

ABC News reported recently on some tips that motorists should follow in order to check whether or not their car is under recall.

ABC provided the advice on checking for recalls to car owners after talking with several motorists across the country whose vehicles had open recalls because of a serious fire risk. Many of the owners of the vehicles did not even know they had a recall out on their cars, but those vehicles were quietly posing a threat to health and safety.

To make sure this does not happen to you and to ensure you are promptly aware of all recalls so you can take swift corrective action if there is a problem with any of your cars:

• Use a recall look-up tool: You can visit SaferCar.gov to find their look-up tool that lets visitors quickly find recalls. To determine if there is a problem, conduct a search using a car's VIN number. With most recall lookup apps, you can also look up a vehicle's history by using the car's make-and-model number. If you use an app designed specifically to alert you to recalls, you'll immediately be able to discover if there are any issues with your car that must be fixed.
• Search for consumer complaints: You can conduct a search by using the name of the car manufacture and specifying that you're looking for complaints by typing “manufacturer name and complaints” in your search engine. By using quotes, you force a search engine to look for whole phrases. If you separate your keywords with a comma, you can search for multiple keywords. Both could be good techniques to find complaints about car issues.
• Check out the history of a used car: You should use Carfax and potentially other government and private tools to make certain that the car you're buying is what the dealer is actually selling. Title washing is a major problem and involves car dealers trying to hide the truth about a salvage title or other problems. You don't want a car that doesn't have a clean history.
• Sign up for email alerts from SaferCar.gov: You will receive email alerts about recalls and vehicle problems that might affect you. You can also download a mobile phone app for your phone that will provide you with alerts.

If you suspect there is a problem with your car, you should also talk with a San Diego lemon law attorney about the options that you have available to you for obtaining a remedy.