QOTD: Ignoring That Recall?

Matthew Guy
by Matthew Guy

Yesterday, young Mr. Posky brought us news that Honda has recalled a number of Odysseys for problems with their second-row seats. Now, reading into the details, it seems to be more of a user problem, rather than a design flaw. Nevertheless.

I’ve had my own share of recalls hurled in my direction, all of which were attended to with varying degrees of urgency. Our question for you: have any of your cars been recalled? How quickly did you bring them in?

The Takata debacle ensnared cars ranging from popular old Hondas to Audis to Ferraris and just about everything in between. Not everyone has been dutifully bringing their vehicle in for repair; according to Bloomberg, nearly two-thirds of American vehicles with Takata airbags are still not fixed. As of mid-September, they report, 20 million of the things are still out there, a full 64 percent of the 31.5 million recalled.

Of course, there’s more than an outside chance that a few of those which haven’t appeared for fixin’ have simply dropped off the automotive radar. After all, when Uncle Morley’s knacked ’01 Accord hit 400,000 miles and developed a rusty subframe, he simply gave it to his nephew for the derby. This is a fictional example. Yes. Purely fictional. Point is, someone’s probably counting that Accord in the Takata totals somewhere.

Other huge recalls include the ignition switch saga at General Motors and Toyota’s challenges with floormats. On a smaller scale, we see recalls such as the one for wayward minivan seats at Honda.

Have you had a recall card show up in your mailbox? Did you attend to it or did you pull an Uncle Morley? We recommend getting recalls attended to at the first opportunity. Whether the parts are correctly installed, though, that’s a different story.

Matthew Guy
Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

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  • Bill Bill on Nov 20, 2017

    I ignored the ignition switch recall on my old '98 Malibu. All they were going to do was put inserts in my key to center the keyring. I only have my house key and car key, and I had already replaced the ignition switch about a year before that with an aftermarket one to fix an electrical problem so I didn't see the point of wasting time to go to the dealer. Plus I would have to deal with the annoyance of them doing a "complimentary inspection" and trying to upsell me stuff while I was there.

  • Justice_Gustine Justice_Gustine on Nov 20, 2017

    Totaled 06 Monte Carlo went to the crusher with about 7 postcards for the ignition switch recall in the glovebox. Wonder if they could not get the title transfer without getting the recall done, it's coming to that, eh?

  • Kjhkjlhkjhkljh kljhjkhjklhkjh I'd rather they have the old sweep gauges, the hhuuggee left to right speedometer from the 40's and 50's where the needle went from lefty to right like in my 1969 Nova
  • Buickman I like it!
  • JMII Hyundai Santa Cruz, which doesn't do "truck" things as well as the Maverick does.How so? I see this repeated often with no reference to exactly what it does better.As a Santa Cruz owner the only things the Mav does better is price on lower trims and fuel economy with the hybrid. The Mav's bed is a bit bigger but only when the SC has the roll-top bed cover, without this they are the same size. The Mav has an off road package and a towing package the SC lacks but these are just some parts differences. And even with the tow package the Hyundai is rated to tow 1,000lbs more then the Ford. The SC now has XRT trim that beefs up the looks if your into the off-roader vibe. As both vehicles are soft-roaders neither are rock crawling just because of some extra bits Ford tacked on.I'm still loving my SC (at 9k in mileage). I don't see any advantages to the Ford when you are looking at the medium to top end trims of both vehicles. If you want to save money and gas then the Ford becomes the right choice. You will get a cheaper interior but many are fine with this, especially if don't like the all touch controls on the SC. However this has been changed in the '25 models in which buttons and knobs have returned.
  • Analoggrotto I'd feel proper silly staring at an LCD pretending to be real gauges.
  • Gray gm should hang their wimpy logo on a strip mall next to Saul Goodman's office.
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