Manufacturers will contact you if your call is involved in a recall.
/ KTVO's Kate Allt
FAIRFIELD, IOWA -- For Tuesday's Facebook Story of the Day, you wanted to know how to find out if your vehicle is on a recall list.
Generally, a recall will involve small parts with problems that have become frequent enough to warrant checking into. It is the manufacturer's responsibility to let car owners know about a recall involving their vehicle.
"The easiest way is just to wait. The manufacturer, whether it be GM, Ford, any of the name brand manufacturers, if your VIN number of your vehicle, your vehicle identification number, is on a list, they've got to contact you," said Brian Starnes of Fesler Auto Mall in Fairfield, "They send you a mailing. Sometimes the dealership, we will get an effective VIN list of vehicles that have been in our service at some point in time and we will send out extra phone calls, but the manufacturer, it's their obligation to let you know."
If you have not been notified of a recall that you suspect your car is included in, you can contact your local franchise directly to run your VIN number. The actual process of a recall is fairly simple.
"The manufacturers do a nice job nowadays making it a pretty easy process, they take care of everything, there's no charge involved in factory recalls, factory defects," Starnes said. "I don't know what the actual statute of limitation is, they cover them for a long time. We had a 1994 Ford F-150 in this morning getting a recall done, they stand behind their products for quite a long time now."
Recalls vary from year to year, but Starnes said this year, the most common ones have involved gas tank straps and the cruise control function.
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