One in Five Auto Recalls Go Unresolved

Manufacturers recalled over 62 million cars and trucks last year to repair safety-related defects, which is the highest total ever. That’s bad enough news, but data from the title-search company Carfax in Centreville, Virginia, suggests that more than 46 million cars in the U.S. are being bought, sold or driven with at least one open recall on the books, which amounts to one out of every five, overall. Perhaps ironically, the company says family oriented models, especially minivans and SUVs, are most prone to be driven with unresolved recalls. California, Texas, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania top the list of cars with open recalls, with West Virginia, Michigan, Mississippi, Wyoming and New Jersey having the highest ratios of unfixed recalled cars in the U.S. “America’s cavalier response to manufacturer safety recalls is putting lives at risk,” says Larry Gamache, communications director at Carfax. “The minor inconvenience that comes from having a recall fixed pales in comparison to what can happen if you don’t.”