The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) recently announced several new tools for dealerships AND consumers aimed at increasing recall completion rates.
CarFax, the IHS Markit unit that provides vehicle history reports, in partnership with the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of Global Automakers, has built an online portal that will allow dealerships to conduct free bulk searches of up to 10,000 vehicle identification numbers (VINs) at one time. Dealers have to currently enter VINs one at a time to check for an open recall on the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration’s (NHTSA’s) website (www.safecar.gov). The new tool greatly simplifies the process.
According to Carfax, there are 57 million vehicles currently on the road with unrepaired recalls and dealers want to see every single one of them fixed at no cost to the consumer. As dealers can more easily determine what vehicles have an open recall, they can communicate that information to vehicle owners and encourage them to schedule a service appointment to address the safety concern.
For consumers, the National Safety Council and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles also launched a “Check To Protect” public awareness campaign and website (http://www.checktoprotect.org). Dealers can place the bright yellow “Check To Protect” button on their website. It links consumers directly to the NHTSA website, where they can enter their VIN and check for an open recall. More than 112,000 vehicle owners have checked their VIN since the “Check To Protect” campaign was launched and that number will increase as more dealers include the link on their websites.