I personally don’t have an Autopian Answer to today’s Autopian Ask, but that’s OK. I have received recall notices, mind you, but they were so minor that I either fixed the thing myself (I believe one was “loose battery strap”) or I just decided I wasn’t worried about whatever the recall was for. I admit, the bar I set for when to worry is pretty high; if a recall says my car might catch on fire, but it sounds like it will ignite slowly, I’m probably gonna put that off way too long.
Let’s check in with the gang …
The Bishop
I just got another recall notice!
When I take the car in, they always find “other stuff.”
So I never leave for less than around $1500 for the “free repair.”
Mercedes
You people bring your cars in for recalls?
My 2016 Smart has a recall because the headlights have a lateral adjustment screw that’s non-compliant with FMVSS. The recall blocks off the screw so the headlight cannot be adjusted laterally.
Pfft, I’m not deleting a feature from my car!
Matt
My not-so-beloved Forester had to be recalled three times, including for a battery recall, the sunsetting of 3G, and something to do with the brake pedal. All I remember is they left an extra bolt in the footwell, and I had to text Bozi to double-check that I didn’t need that bolt. [Ed note: Yeah, but free bolt! – Pete]
Antti
I’ve only ever had recalls done on cheap beater cars. Takata airbag on my 1.5-liter JDM Impreza and the ignition switch on the Demio
On both counts, it was hilarious to take old, 1000-1500 euro cars in for recall work.
Brian
I actually brought my M5 in to get the air conditioning fixed in like 2017, expecting to have to go without a car. But they were like, “Oh your car has a recall we need to do, here’s a free X3 for a week.”
Which was nice.
Stephen Walter Gossin
Upon receiving the Takata Airbag recall notice for my ’04 Durango in the mail a few years back, I immediately knew I had to take action. I had been following the international, wide-spanning effects and reach of the issue with those problematic (and deadly) airbag units for years as a voracious consumer of automotive media. I didn’t want to roll the dice with potentially having shrapnel launched into my face while driving.
Taking the car to the local Dodge dealer was actually wicked simple and easy. I dropped it off after work and placed the keys in the late-hours Dropbox. The next afternoon, I got a call back from the service advisor inviting me to come get the truck. It only cost me a nominal amount of time and effort to gain a massive amount of peace of mind.
Your turn:
Went through a few unremarkable ones with a 2019 WRX STI, with the most interesting being the big, brand-wide, battery-eating DCM module recall. While it was annoying to deal with random rapid battery drain for a few months until the recall was expanded enough to cover me, it did at least provide the opportunity to fully opt-out of having a “connected” car afterwards, so I’d call that a win.
Much less of a win though was my partner’s FR-S, taken in for the valve spring recall on early model-year vehicles. This process includes R&R of a front timing cover, and that second R happens to involve some delicate, manual reapplication of RTV around a number of holes where vital engine fluids pass. This little detail will become very relevant in a moment.
Right around the time of having the recall completed, COVID was just hitting its stride. Our jobs went remote and its regular (SCCA SSC class) autocross activities were placed on hold for several months, so the car didn’t see a whole lot of miles for a while. About a year later, we took the car out to an autocross event where it started to sound off mid-run for all of 5 seconds before going pop. One long tow and an engine teardown at a trusted indie shop later, we were treated to the sight of several little slivers of RTV ingested into the oil pickup and beyond.
The best theory the shop could come up with was that Toyota’s techs did the job *just* badly enough to fly under the radar during the infrequent, mundane usage it saw during the peak of the pandemic, but then starve out oil flow when it could finally be pushed for a longer period of time. The final cause of death? Busted rod busting a hole in the block. Unfortunately, given the amount of time that had passed and the local dealership being very aware of the car’s autocross usage (despite no engine mods), our requests for repair compensation from Toyota were repeatedly met with requests to go pound sand.
It didn’t quite feel worth the risk to try and fight a legal battle here, so we bit the bullet on a fresh bottom end and rebuilt valvetrain. While painful to the wallet, it did at least give the car roughly 75% of a new engine, and it’s been happily doing its thing ever since (now at 130k+ miles and counting).
Ah the famous Sprinter diesel recall – I was contacted by .. probably some representative of the class action lawsuit, and because that specific sprinter was a freightliner rebrand it resulted in a little bit of a nightmare.
The letter sounded very nice, like you get 1500 compensation, and additional 2000 or so worth of work from the dealer.(the catch was that you have to perform the recall before a certain date
The reality is that mercedes claimed they don’t have the parts until the deadline passed, so I don’t think anyone got their $1500 compensation.
Mine took 8-10 months from the initial date until it actually got fixed
See I do have a mercedes dealer right next to my place(like 12 miles or so). SO I made an online appointment they cinfirmed and all was good, I paid to have it towed there, only to find out that they wont take it in, despite the fact that they did accept the appointment.
Now the next part of the nightmare, I had to schedule with some idiots that were servicing freightliners. Now thinking that I will do better, I called to confirm the appointment, and this place didn’t even have an online option to do so, they gave me a date because supposedly they did not even have the part ready until a specific date.
Only to find out on that date when i sent the van there, that they have no record of my appointment. And the funny thing is that the recall letter came from them I think?
Also like the first time I called they gave me the same BS that they don’t have the part.
I only got it fixed the 3rd time, and apparently they do such a bad job for the recall and all this time I could have had mercedes pay for the towing and all that.
So this time they towed it and took it in, and it was sitting with them for a good few months, so I had to leave out of state.
Of course there is another twist – when they finished they told me that I have like 2 days to pick it up, I am like you guys had almost 6 months, and you could not figure it out to give me more heads up? … and that’s not the worst of it, I talked them down to keep it for like 5 more days so I can arrange a flight and be ready for it, and everything was fine except it wasn’t.
while they kept it for those 5 days they parked it illegally, and got 2 parking tickets.
Somehow that is my responsibility….
2016 Mazda6. Recall:
2015–2016 Mazda6 vehicles are recalled because passenger seat frame welding debris can damage the occupant classification system (OCS) wiring, causing a short. This defect may deactivate the passenger airbag and cause a loss of power steering assist. Dealers will install protective pads and repair wiring if necessary, free of charge.
Took about 20 minutes. The dealership put a piece of Velcro over the weld area that was rough with debris and gave the car back to me. Worked for me. As long as the wires wouldn’t rub.
None of my cars have ever had recalls.
Just lucky I guess.
Why wouldn’t you bring it in? It’s free and it’ll make your car better/safer. I’ve even done the quiet recalls. Got a new dashboard out of it.
A 2022 VW Atlas is the most recent. It was recalled a couple of times, the last one because of potential metal shavings left in the block. Volkswagens first class method of dealing with that was to take the car, put on a fresh oil filter, and for the tech to take it out and drive it up to the red line 10 times. Return to the shop, remove the oil filter, cut it open and look for metal bits. If not were found, put on another new oil filter and send the owner on his way. If shavings were found, it was time for a new engine. And engines were on a 6 month back order. The whole thing just seemed half assed. The car was a company car lease and I was glad to be rid of the thing.
2001 Dodge Dakota V8 – recall on some suspension or something bushing; handled quickly and efficiently by local Dodge dealer.
2010 Dodge Ram 1500 – some recall on steering rack IIRC; again, handled quickly and efficiently by local Dodge dealer.
2011 BMW 328 – multiple recalls on variety of things over a very long period of time (owned the 328 for 14 years); handled quickly and efficiently by local BMW dealer when the parts were available which took, at least for the driver’s airbag, several years. Thanks Takata!
I know BMWs get a bad rap – I’ve owed 4 – and perhaps that is well-deserved given the stupid engineering decisions BMW has repeatedly made – PCV anyone?? oil pan gaskets?? – but their dealers that I’ve worked with – BMW of Anchorage and Knauz – are absolutely fantastic.
Also, Dodge also has history of bad decisions but my 3 Dodge trucks were absolutely rock solid. Maybe because all were made at the same Warren Truck plant and not on a Friday afternoon or a Monday morning? I miss my 1991 Ramcharger despite it’s piddling 170hp from a 5.2l V8 engine that barely got the truck up to 55mph. The 2010 Dodge Ram still going strong at 250,000 miles – now my friend’s teenage son’s truck.
I’m pretty sure we took my SO’s long-ago X1 in for the Takata recall. Per a VIN check, my current E39 had the airbag recall taken care of before I got it, but oddly enough, the first time I removed the steering wheel a couple of years ago, I found a parking receipt from 2007 tucked behind the airbag, so how that managed to escape the notice of whoever (allegedly) did the recall work is beyond me.
Funny thing about that receipt, though: I live in Oakland, but bought the car near Seattle back in 2023. That 2007 parking receipt…was from Oakland. I knew that the car had been sold as CPO by BMW of San Francisco in 2006, but it’s funny to think I brought it back to a place it had been before.
What was the question again?
4 times across 3 RX8’s. One was for a manufacturing defect in the cast lower A-arm identical to the one you had about the Ford GT recall (https://www.theautopian.com/i-made-a-huge-engineering-mistake-on-the-2005-ford-gt/) and the other was the Takata one. Think they both came out right around 2008 but don’t remember the order. Was offered a loaner but didn’t take it and 1-2 days later the car is ready and fully detailed.
I later built 2 lemons RX8’s and took them both in for the lower A-arm recall. One was fully race ready with a stripped interior, cage, etc. and they did it without any issues. We did this mainly so that we’d get a free alignment after they replaced the arms. The second one we had to tow in before we ever got the engine to work as there was a seized bolt that fused with the arm that even after breaking off both ends of it we just couldn’t figure out how to remove. This car was only about 1/4 stripped at the time so we had to get the Takata recall done even though it was obvious to everyone that in a week or two it was getting ripped out and this car was never going to see a public road ever again.
My 03 Accord was part of a certain airbag recall. Normally you get a call or a letter, all normal. But not this time.
I bought the car from my aunt, who received the call(or letter, i dont know what) from the local dealer it was purchased from. “Oh no, I dont own it anymore. I sold it to my nephew.”
Next step would be they call or write me. Right? No. I get a facebook message from the service scheduler. Not from the dealer, not from honda relations, the schedulers personal facebook. Who explained this and got me in.
My vibe 7 years later was also part of that recall. But I just got a letter that time.
I also had to have the torque converter replaced in my 2017 accord last winter under a TSB extended warranty. The new swaybar endlinks i installed were mysteriously bad. When I told them not to do it, they had already cut/torched them off. And broke a bunch of plastic clips that they replaced with zip ties. Screw you Lia Honda- not only did you buy my dream house out from under me, you busted up my car.
My 2012 GT86 got recalled for valve spring replacement. My local Toyota dealer dropped the engine out and rested it on a tyre on the floor under the ramp my car was on. This is not a clean environment to take the cam covers off an engine.
Anyway, they set the timing wrong, so it had to go immediately back for that.
At some point during this process some idiot screwed a long bolt in to a short hole, and broke the end of the bolt boss off inside the RH cam cover.
A few hundred miles after that a cam hit that lump of casting just right and punched a hole in the cam cover, through which the oil escaped.
I was deeply unhappy with the whole experience, obviously.
Toyota fixed it for free, or put another way, Toyota broke it for free and then kept my car for weeks.
I have a 2025 CBR600RR that has an engine recall looming. If the fix means a dealer rebuilding my engine I’m going to lose my shit.
I’ve done several recalls over the years, and all have been handled well. For the Takata airbag recall on my ’08 Ford Fusion, they didn’t have parts but also instructed owners not to drive the cars. So, I had a rental car at my disposal for an entire summer paid by Ford until the part came in.
Austin Infiniti was horrible about that on my ’03 G35. I’d just have them do the recall work and ask for the list of other things they recommended. Then I’d either fix myself, have an independent garage do the work, or decide it was unnecessary and ignore it.
For my ’16 Volvo S60 otoh, both Volvo of Austin and Premier Volvo and San Antonio were great about doing the work and not trying to upsell additional work. Only issue with the Austin location was a two month wait to get an appt. San Antonio Volvo was able to make appts the following week. Recall #1 was a seatbelt attachment replacement, done by Austin. Work done in a couple of hours, but I got it home and wife noticed the plastic cover over the seat belt retractor was all wonky. Fixed it myself.
Recall #2 was actually a technical service notice for engines burning oil. I was already having to add 1+ qts of oil between changes, so I jumped on this offer. But used San Antonio due to ridiculous wait for Austin appt. Annoying since it involved them changing the oil and then putting tamper seals on the fill cap and drain plug. Then driving for a month and returning for them to check oil consumption. Mine didn’t even make it 2 weeks before the add oil warning came on. So I got an engine rebuild for free and now there is no oil consumption between changes.
Additional props to S.A. Volvo, they made a video of them performing various checks on the car. Instead of “You really should have blankety-blank checked soon!” it was, “everything checks out, you’re good to go!” So big recommendation for these guys if you are in central Texas and need your Swede worked on.
First recall – 2005 Prius. It was useless as they just cut off the bottom of the accelerator pedal because some people had giant aftermarket floor mats that cause “unintended acceleration”
The 2017 Bolt got a battery swap – that less than a day but they put the recall sticker on crooked. (I’m irrationally upset about this to this day). On the positive side I got a 10% bigger battery and a new 8 year warranty.
The Bolt was also recalled because the seat belt tensioner could start the carpet on fire.
Right now I have an open recall for my Express 4500 that says some wiring could cause a fire. Hasn’t in 15 years but I’ll eventually take it in.