How many service visits did you have in which they failed to complete the active recalls?
How can a car dealer perform the recall repairs before the owner shows up?
The manufacture sends out the recall notifications in phases so that the vehicle owners don’t show up all at once, recall parts are supplied to dealers in limited quantities. Dealers are not going to interfere with the notification process.
The air bag recall was published in the newspapers and it took about 8 months to get it replaced. The computer took about 7 months. Not a peep from the dealer.
Nor from the Mazda dealer about the rear hatch struts. My wife has several friends who have similar cars and don’t follow the news about recalls. They are always surprised when I tell them about the recalls.
I’m not saying that there are no dealers who notify car owners about recall. You may have been fortunate to get these notices.
Way back in the 70s the Corningware coffee pot had handles loosen up and fall off. spilling hot coffee on the owner.
Corning made a public announcement to go to the dealer and either get a complete refund or buy another Corningware appliance of the same value. They were discontinuing that model.
We bought an electric casserole and paid the difference
The manufacturer notifies the owner of the vehicle, then the owner calls the dealer for an appointment.
I’m educated guessing that this is a letter to car owners subject to the recall…
Sometimes safety recall letters advise owners to not drive the vehicle because the risk of injury or death is so great. I’m not seeing that here. It sounds like, on a remote chance that the transmission quits transmissing then it looses forward propulsion. For me that wouldn’t be too alarming, more an inconvenience.
What would bother me a bit is that somebody is going to take apart my brand new car (before purchase or after) and put it back together, albeit with a new transmission, (but it already had that) not at the assembly plant, but in a repair shop with tools and parts scattered about. That’s not what I expect from a new vehicle. It happens, though.
CSA
Toyota mails the owner of any recalls. If you are not the original owner, you won’t get a notice since Toyota does not know.
I got a mailed notice form them for both the computer and the airbag.
Another point against the alleged infallibility of Toyota. I am second owner of my Mustang but Ford notified me of the Takata recall.
I am not the original owner of my 2001 Chevrolet Impala LS and still receive recall notices, (naming specific outstanding recalls). Either GM or Chevrolet dealers, in need of service customers, get my information from the Secretary of State (Department of Motor Vehicles).
I get them for all my older GM vehicles, also. Since I don’t get the recalls done I get some notices for years.
CSA
Lucky you! I’m not sure what happens in Canada but I have never gotten a recall notice of a car I bought second hand. This where a dealer who regularly services your car could be useful.
I have been lucky with my dealers, Toyota and Dodge. They have competitive $$ oil changes and several times I had additional notes on the receipt that some type of recall or campaign was completed N/C. I have only been mailed a few recall notices but a lot more work was done by the dealer. I am sure Toyota or FCA paid for it, the dealer is not a charity, but somehow their database catches this stuff. Both my cars are second hand.
It is not the role of the dealers to send out recall notices. Vehicle manufactures send out recall notices in phases based on the parts supply, priority and dealer capacity. It wouldn’t be productive to have 1000 customers show up at a dealer Monday morning for a recall if the dealer can only receive 25 airbags each week.
For the airbag recalls Southeastern U.S. was a high priority because of the effect of the high humidity on the airbag inflators, Northern areas did not receive the same quantity of parts as dealers in phase 1 locations. Airbags are still being replaced today on vehicles older that yours and in higher risk areas.
That is not true, Toyota has access to motor vehicle registration records to send recall notifications to vehicle owners.
I’m the second owner of my Pontiac and have gotten several notices from GM. Some advise taking it in to the dealer and others just advise that if the problem develops take it in. I guess I don’t know how they know but maybe through DMV. Then again some people don’t bother to register new addresses.
Maybe though according to the recall, the deal shouldn’t have been canceled but just wait for the parts to come in and a new transmission installed. Certainly if the car became undrivable, they would have provided a loaner. Seems like it was not an immediate concern.
Dealers make very little on warranty and recall work That was how it was in the mid 1970s. GM paid 70% of shop rate and zero profit on parts! The 30% reduction for labor was of course deducted from the mechanics flat rate. I was very surprised that Kia now pays full shop rate and parts mark-up for warranty and recall.
The mark-up on warranty and recall parts is 25-30%, the per hour labor rate is about 15% less than retail. The dealer collects more than $900 from the manufacture for each airbag that I replace, there is more labor involved with certain vehicles compared to most airbag recalls.
The dealer looks up recalls when I’ve taken cars in for other work. All dealers might not do this, but that was the case for some of our cars.
Simple answer, YES. It is a federal law having to disclose recalls or open repairs by a dealer on new cars.
Not that I don’t believe it but do you have the citation? Statute, rule?
Federal law: TITLE 49, UNITED STATES CODE SUBTITLE VI. MOTOR VEHICLE AND DRIVER PROGRAMS, paragraph 30116, Defects and noncompliance found before sale to purchaser:
(a) Actions required of manufacturers and distributors.–If, after a manufacturer or distributor sells a motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment to a distributor or dealer and before the distributor or dealer sells the vehicle or equipment, it is decided that the vehicle or equipment contains a defect related to motor vehicle safety or does not comply with applicable motor vehicle safety standards prescribed under this chapter–
(1) the manufacturer or distributor immediately shall repurchase the vehicle or equipment at the price paid by the distributor or dealer, plus transportation charges and reasonable reimbursement of at least one percent a month of the price paid prorated from the date of notice of noncompliance or defect to the date of repurchase; or
(2) if a vehicle, the manufacturer or distributor immediately shall give to the distributor or dealer at the manufacturer’s or distributor’s own expense, the part or equipment needed to make the vehicle comply with the standards or correct the defect.
(b) Distributor or dealer installation.–The distributor or dealer shall install the part or equipment referred to in subsection (a)(2) of this section. If the distributor or dealer installs the part or equipment with reasonable diligence after it is received, the manufacturer shall reimburse the distributor or dealer for the reasonable value of the installation and a reasonable reimbursement of at least one percent a month of the manufacturer’s or distributor’s selling price prorated from the date of notice of noncompliance or defect to the date the motor vehicle complies with applicable motor vehicle safety standards prescribed under this chapter or the defect is corrected.
(c) Establishing amount due and civil actions.–The parties shall establish the value of installation and the amount of reimbursement under this section. If the parties do not agree, or if a manufacturer or distributor refuses to comply with subsection (a) or (b) of this section, the distributor or dealer purchasing the motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment may bring a civil action. The action may be brought in a United States district court for the judicial district in which the manufacturer or distributor resides, is found, or has an agent, to recover damages, court costs, and a reasonable attorney’s fee. An action under this section must be brought not later than 3 years after the claim accrues.
That’s great, but this is not applicable to the end-client, it is prior to that in a “food chain”
That has been the standard procedure for the last 30 years, it has been taken more seriously since the recall reform 18 years ago.
Recalls must be completed before delivery of the vehicle, the customer never took delivery so there was no violation.
Now that the repairs have been completed will the next buyer be informed that the vehicle once had a recall? I don’t believe that it is a requirement to inform the buyer that a vehicle was involved in a recall.
OK but I guess I’m just a little less concerned than others. Lots of cars get recalls for various reasons and the work is just performed. It really should have no bearing on the value of the car on the lot or after it is sold. Of course most everything can be related to safety of some sort. I’ve had recalls for seat belts, fuel lines, brake lights, etc. Most of the time before any problem develops but if not, they reimburse you for the expense. Just seemed refusing a car because new transmissions were being produced to replace the original ones because the original may fail was a little extreme. Usually takes time or years to discover a problem, then develop a solution, produce and ship the parts, and perform the work. Personally I’d be happy to put 10, 20, 30,000 miles on a new car and then get a new transmission but I get not being told about it.