Has Your Car Been Recalled?

It is possible that as many as 1 in 4 cars on Ontario roads have an issue serious enough to warrant a manufacturer recall. Some of these issues are little more than annoyances while others are life-threatening. But what is a recall? If your car has been recalled and you didn't get the word, how much danger might you be in? And what should you do?

Product recalls affecting cars have existed for decades.

In 1978, both Cadillac and Ford issued recalls of their vehicles. In the case of Cadillac, some cars made between 1959-1960 were recalled to solve a problem that could cause a loss of steering control while Ford recalled 1.5 million Pinto and Mercury Bobcats due to the possibility of the fuel tank catching fire after being rear-ended. Perhaps the most famous recent recall was the GM ignition recall of 2014, where 2.6 million cars were found to have a defect that would cause it to turn off while being driven – a scandalous situation that caused at least 124 deathsthat