Auto recall search tool launches to enhance customer outreach

Automakers announced the launch of a new tool aimed at increasing consumer participation in auto recalls by allowing approved commercial and governmental entities, including state departments of motor vehicles, state vehicle registrars, state vehicle inspection programs, motor vehicle insurers, auto finance companies, motor vehicle dealers, vehicle fleet managers, automotive parts recyclers and vehicle auction companies, to search for open recalls for thousands of autos at once, free of charge.  

This search tool, available at carfax.com/recall, is a result of a partnership among the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of Global Automakers – which together represent 99 percent of automakers in the United States – and Carfax, provider of vehicle history-based products.

The search portal will allow authorized users to search for open recalls for up to 10,000 vehicles at once and get results usually within a matter of seconds. This capability is an important tool in collective, continuing efforts to increase recall participation rates. According to current Carfax research, more than 57 million vehicles on U.S. roads have unfixed recalls, despite the fact that voluntary recall remedies are completed free of charge to the consumer.

"The industry's highest priority is safety," said Mitch Bainwol, president and CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. "Research has told us that nationwide, 93 percent of those who had heard about a safety recall on their vehicle learned about it from the automaker and new vehicle dealer communications. Establishing this portal is another step in working to inform customers to take action and address open recalls."

The Vehicle Recall Search Service will serve commercial and governmental entities, complementing resources already available to dealers, insurers and individual car owners. Authorized, registered users can access open recall information through the new search portal free of charge.

"Together, the industry has created a tool that will continue to put safety first for every consumer," said John Bozzella, CEO and President of the Association of Global Automakers. "The auto recall search tool is an exciting development that will help dealers, DMVs, and insurers inform consumers about vehicles with open safety recalls. Automakers continue to make safety a top priority and this tool will help connect consumers to this critical information."

"For decades, Carfax has made alerting consumers and dealers about open recalls a top priority," said Dick Raines, president of Carfax. "We provide thousands of Carfax Advantage dealers with regular open recall reports on their inventory and millions of drivers use our free myCarfax.com service and mobile app to stay on top of recalls. This great partnership helps put open recall information in the hands of many others who share our collective goal of increasing public safety by getting more recalled cars fixed."

Establishing a service to perform large batch searches will help commercial and governmental entities that routinely deal with the public to remind drivers of open recalls. For example, insurance companies could include open recall reminders with their policy mailings and state licensing offices could include open recall reminders in renewal notices.

This additional VIN search tool will supplement the extensive efforts by individual automakers and the industry to help inform the public about getting vehicle recalls remedied.