Press Release - 11-23-2016

DMV News

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, November 23, 2016

 

Contacts:
Joe Morrissey           [email protected]     
Rich Meddaugh       [email protected]

  

DMV ENCOURAGES HOLIDAY TRAVELERS TO CHECK FOR IMPORTANT RECALL INFORMATION
New Feature Touting the Website on DMV Vehicle Inspection Reports Has Now Reached 1.2 Million New Yorkers over the Past Month

 

With the holiday travel season upon us, the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is encouraging motorists to check for possible recall advisories related to their vehicles.  To increase awareness of this important resource, DMV is now including the website address along with information about the vehicle recall process on all vehicle inspection reports. 

 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Safety Issues & Recalls website is a clearinghouse of traffic safety and automotive consumer information.  To find out if a vehicle you own or plan to purchase needs to be repaired because of a safety recall, you can go to visit the Safety Issues & Recalls page  and enter the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) or the vehicle’s make and model.

 

DMV Executive Deputy Commissioner Terri Egan said, “When you get your car inspected, you get a vehicle inspection report.  That report now reminds you to check NHTSA's Safety Issues & Recalls for recall information.  Repairing a car subject to a safety recall keeps drivers safe and makes our roads safer for everyone.  Since October, when we activated this new feature on our inspection reports, more than 1.2 million New Yorkers have been reminded to check for safety issues and recalls.”

 

The new vehicle inspection reports now include the following: “Your vehicle may be subject to a manufacturer’s safety recall.  To check, go to NHTSA's Safety Issues & Recalls page and enter your vehicle’s VIN (Vehicle Identification Number).  The site will quickly tell you if your vehicle has not been repaired as part of a safety recall in the last 15 years.  In case of an open recall on your vehicle, you may visit a local new car dealer who sells and repairs your brand of vehicle to have it repaired at no expense.”

 

Recalls are issued when a manufacturer or NHTSA determines that a vehicle, piece of motor vehicle equipment, car seat, or tire creates an unreasonable safety risk or fails to meet minimum safety standards. Your vehicle’s manufacturer is required to notify you of any recalls and fix the problem for free.

 

Vehicle owners may not get manufacturer recall notices due to things like a recent move or an issue with mail delivery, so NHTSA recommends checking the Safety Issues & Recalls page at least twice a year. You can also sign up for NHTSA’s Recall Alerts that will notify you if your vehicle is included in a recall, and there is a mobile app for Apple and Android devices that sends recall alerts and offers other helpful safety tools.

 

If your vehicle has a safety recall, NHTSA's Safety Issues & Recalls page will give you the relevant recall information so you can contact the manufacturer or a local dealer about scheduling the repair.  Recalls that go unaddressed may not only jeopardize the safety of the owner/operator of the affected vehicle, they could also affect the safety of every other person sharing the road with that potentially unsafe vehicle.

 

There are approximately 900,000 inspections per month in New York State.  By law, your car must be inspected annually.

 

Other online resources to get vehicle recall information include NHTSA’s Recalls and Defects page, NHTSA’s Recalls.gov page and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recall listing.

 

Additional driver safety tips and information are available by visiting the DMV's website and the GTSC website.  A link to the NHTSA's Safety Issues & Recalls website is also now provided on a page on the DMV website. 

 

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