Consumer Watch: 37 million cars have unfilled work on recalls

photo Ellen Phillips

Q: It seems like I receive car recall notices several times a year. How necessary is it to pay attention to these?

- Rachel Recall

Dear Ms. Recall: Please do attend to these safety notices. The life of your vehicle or, more importantly, your own life may be at risk. The media often showcases defective parts that can cause accidents, injuries or even deaths, and assuming your auto was safe six months ago, could be a potential danger now.

A recall means that a prospective safety problem has been discovered and all affected cars can be inspected and fixed free, regardless of age or mileage.

On the other hand, many safety problems aren't announced by the manufacturer and, thus, the media is kept as much in the dark as you.

According to ShopSmart, the government estimates only 75 percent of those trucks and cars that are recalled actually are repaired, and one reason is because lots of folks don't receive the notices in the first place.

I suspect too many readers throw aside the letter, either meaning to call the number later or toss in File 13 because of the mistaken belief that the notice is junk mail. To alleviate the latter, the government now requires a particular label on all recall mailings. (A scary note: Carfax estimates that approximately one out of seven cars on today's roads - 37 million - has uncompleted recall work.)

Speaking of repairs, sometimes months can pass between the time a recall is announced and the time at which owners are notified to take in their vehicles for repair. If you're concerned about driving a recalled vehicle, contact the dealership even if you've received no notice (more on this in a moment) and insist upon the earliest you can bring in the car. In my opinion, it's always better to be safe than sorry. And, certainly, if you experience a true safety problem with your vehicle, immediately report it to the manufacturer's customer service department (check contact info either online or in the owner's manual) and, also, get on the stick and file a complaint to the government's vehicle safety hotline at 888-327-4236 or online at safercar.gov.

To be absolutely certain all bases are covered with regards to your vehicle's safety, don't wait for recall notification. Call the local dealership's service department and give your VIN number, found at the base of your windshield on the driver's side or on your registration and insurance paperwork. Checking Carfax at recall.carfax.com will find most autos' recall VIN check and, even better, for free. And to iterate, safercar.gov is a fount of information where you can go to the owners section and, not only discover recalls but also sign up for email alerts and download the SaferCar "recall alert" mobile app.

Extra helpful tips

P.S. Thanks to my optician (Bless you, Kathy!) and her fire department friend, here are two special consumer tips worth saving, both having to do with fabric softener sheets or the liquid version. First, the ingredient found in both is a sight irritant at best and a fire waiting to happen at the other extreme.

Those of us who wear anti-reflective lenses and use one of these products in the washer or dryer probably haven't a clue why our glasses continue to smudge, even after repeated wipes with our shirttail. Once the fabric softener gets on our clothes, it attaches to anything else it touches, such as (smudged) lenses or (dull) gold neck chains, among other items. Miss Kathy advises us to wash a hankie or something similar and hang it to dry; then, hand wash your glasses with warm water and dishwashing soap and dry with the air-dried hankie (or whatever).

Worse than troubles with glasses, though, the fireman buddy says 90 percent of all dryer fires are caused by lint build-up in the filter. "But I clean the lint out every time I dry clothes," you cry. Nope, not enough. He advises to remove the lint filter once a month, clean the lint off, and then gently scrub the filter using the same dishwashing soap and warm water, thereby ensuring the heat circulates throughout the filter. If anyone out there is an unbeliever, take out the filter and run water over it. If the water flows through easily, you're good; however, if the H20 accumulates, which most likely will occur, then get out that scrub brush.

Ellen Phillips is a retired English teacher who has written two consumer-oriented books. Her Consumer Watch column appears every Sunday. You may contact her at consumer watch@timesfreepress.com.

Upcoming Events