More than 50 million vehicles in the United States—about one in five—are driven while in need of an urgent repair or with an active recall. This figure, while surprising, represents a 6% decrease in the number of vehicles driven with an active recall from last year.
Automakers issue recalls for vehicles if a significant quantity of them have defective or damaged components that pose serious safety risks to drivers. Repairs associated with recalls are free, but drivers don’t necessarily know this and aren’t always aware of recalls, per recent research from CARFAX
. Read on for a further breakdown, plus ways to know if there’s a recall for your vehicle.
4.7/5 rating on the App Store | Trusted by 5+ million customers and 7 million cars4.7/5 app rating | Trusted by 5M+ drivers Ignored recalls are most common in southern states
Mississippi, Texas, and Louisiana have the highest percentage of cars with open recalls. According to CARFAX, a shocking 24% of cars on the road in Mississippi have been recalled, as have 23% of cars in both Texas and Louisiana.
Unsurprisingly, the country’s four most populous states have the most vehicles with open recalls: California, Texas, Florida, and New York.
The CARFAX report said sedans and SUVs are most likely to remain on the road despite recalls, but it’s unclear if that’s simply because they’re the most common types of cars or if those vehicle types are recalled at a greater rate than, say, hatchbacks.
Stay aware of recalls with the CARFAX Car Care app
Unaddressed vehicle issues could be due in part to drivers being unaware of recalls. Recall monitoring services like the one available through the CARFAX Care App automatically notify drivers of recalls involving their cars. There are currently over 37 million cars registered in the CARFAX Car Care app.
According to federal law, repairs required because of a recall must be completed at no charge to the vehicle’s owner.
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