COLUMBUS, Ohio (WKRC) - Ohio is the first state in the country to notify its vehicle owners when they have open recalls. The new program fills a gap a lot of drivers were falling through. Now, when you get your notice to renew your car registration in Ohio, along with how much you owe, you will now see a new notification: whether your car has an open recall. “So I opened it up and saw how much money I owe the state of Ohio. But on the right side, I saw that I actually have a recall for my VIN number,” said Local 12’s Walter Randolph-Smith.
He is like 1 in 5 drivers who has an open recall on his car. He bought his car used and has moved around a lot. The manufacturer hasn’t been able to keep up and he did not receive notification that there was something wrong with his power train.
“It sounds very important,” said Smith-Randolph. “Sounds like I should take my car to the dealership to get it fixed.”
The Bureau of Motor Vehicles announced the plan in December but just began sending out notices a couple of weeks ago.
“We have automobiles on the road that have open recalls that could be safety issues and, through no fault of the drivers, they’re not even aware,” said the head of the BMV, Charlie Norman.
Norman says it costs very little to implement the program but has the potential to save lives and save the state money as well.
“First responders and the services they provide are extremely expensive. So to the extent, we’re able to mitigate those accidents that happen. That means something to Ohio taxpayers,” he said.
CARFAX is providing Ohio the recall database at no cost. It says there are 414,000 cars in the Cincinnati area alone with open recalls. Those numbers are not a surprise to the people at Kings Toyota in Mason. They do about 600 recall repairs there a month -- everything from replacing entire frames to be well-publicized Takada airbag recall.
“You definitely want the airbag to perform when it needs to,” said Ray Tucker, the service director at Kings Toyota. “Got to get your recall taken care of at your local dealer as soon as possible.”
Still, CARFAX reports 1 in 3 people do not get their recall repairs completed. It’s a statistic that the BMV says it hopes its new program will improve.
Recalls are free repairs; you just bring your car to the dealer and they'll take care of it. Drivers can also go to carfax.com and plug in your VIN number to see if you have a recall on your car.
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