the importance of vehicle recalls

I shared with you guys back in March how we sold our SUV and purchased an older one. When we were looking for used vehicles I did a lot of research on recalls to make sure we were aware of any so we could address them. There are recalls on vehicles all the time and the dealer will fix whatever needs fixin’ at no cost to you. For instance, our other vehicle, the Honda Fit had a recall on it two weeks after we drove it off the lot. It happens. It’s for our safety.

So after we bought the Pilot I made an appointment with the dealer to get the recalled items taken care of. They said it would take about two hours so I popped over to a Starbucks and worked from there for the few hours. Well, SEVEN hours later we got the car back.

Turns out one of the recalls that they were taking precaution by fixing in this vehicle model actually happened to ours so it was a much bigger problem. There was a wiring issue with the headlights and it could start a fire. As you can see, ours had already started a fire.

I didn’t realize how bad it was so I tried to convince the mechanic that I would reschedule and come back to get it fixed. He said no, that the car was not allowed out of the shop until it was fixed because of the severity of it. It posed a safety risk and they weren’t going to be liable for it. I had already over stayed my welcome at Starbucks so I headed to Noodle’s for lunch. Oy vey.

He said that it had already started a fire within the contraption and that it was moments away from basically lighting the car on fire. They ordered the part, replaced it and sent me on my way.

I mean holy crap, right?! I asked to take the part home to show Al. It was pretty wild, there was actually a fire in the little thing. I’m really glad that I took the time to research the recalls and addressed them immediately.

To Find Recalls On Your Vehicle

Simply google “recalls on year, make and model of your vehicle.” To find if any pertain to your specific vehicle you’ll likely need to input the VIN. Safety first people, safety first.