On Aug. 14, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced new regulations that will allow the nation’s 240 million car and truck owners to determine if their vehicles have been recalled — and if they’ve been fixed, reports The Detroit News.
NHTSA will require all major automakers and motorcycle manufacturers to provide consumers with online access to recall information searchable by vehicle identification number, or VIN. The search feature will be available at automakers’ websites and at the government’s safercar.gov website, according to the news report.
The agency noted that several automakers already offer this feature, but those who do not will have until August 2014 to comply.
The rule requires the manufacturers to allow car owners to determine if recall fixes have been completed for their individual vehicles. They must update recall status at least weekly, compared with NHTSA’s initial proposal it be updated daily, the publication reported.
Many automakers, including Chrysler Group, General Motors, BMW AG and Ford Motor, already allow owners to type VIN numbers into a corporate site to determine if their vehicles are subject to recalls.
Under the regulation, smaller manufacturers like Ferrari, Maserati, and Lotus will not be required to provide the information. The three provide a VIN-based recalls lookup service through the Carfax website.
Source: The Detroit News
