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:
My wife’s former CX9 had a recall for the middle row seat rail, it took a couple of hours, but the sales team tossed me the keys to a ND to go drive around. Not really a recall but my Civic Type R had an extended warranty on the A/C condenser that failed last summer. However, that didn’t cover the compressor that got hot and melted after all of the freon came out of the condenser. So I was out of pocket on that one which hurt. It was a very expensive week at the dealer because when we dropped my civic off, we test drove a 2025 Pilot, and one came home with us when we went to pick up the Civic.
A couple for me:
My 1985 300ZX had a recall that I got done in the 90s for something to do with the fuelinjectors. They took the car and rewired the injectors. They flubbed it. It ran way better after I fixed it.
My Sonata has a recall on the little wind blocker for the sunroof. It’s poorly glued and has failed multiple times. BUT: it’s a safety recall so they have to fix it for free. Every. Single. Time.
Lastly, I had the front subframe of my Mazda 6 rot out. There wasn’t an official recall yet — there was definitely one coming –but Mazda took care of everything and gave me a rental (Chrysler 300S!) for a couple of months. They probably spent more on the rental than my car was worth.
When I picked up my car, I asked them what was the longest they had a car waiting for a subframe. The guy said they hadn’t started making the new subframes for the V6s yet, so there was one on the lot waiting for 147 days and counting.
So, yay Mazda.
Common thread here. Two words – Takata airbag. For a 2006 Honda Accord. If I remember correctly, I added it to the dealer’s list of things to do along with annual PA state inspection one year. No issues.
Wife’s Optima fell under the massive engine failure recall for Theta II engines, so when it started knocking like a door to door sales rep at 120k, we drove it to the dealership for a new engine.
Was very hassle free.
Currently waiting for my local Ram dealership to get parts in to complete the recall on my one out of 450k Rams with a tow module that can suddenly fail, disabling trailer lighting and trailer brakes. Hopefully they get this sorted before summer camping season starts! I’m eager to start haulmaxxing and towmewing.
I took my 2013 Scion FRS in for its valve spring recall, well aware of the fact that it will probably either blow up if I don’t do the recall and will probably blow up if I do the recall, as the FA20 is a POS. Well low and behold I did the recall and a few months later it caught fire on the highway and burned to the ground. Not saying it’s Toyotas fault but if you look up FRS recall fires it wouldn’t be the first time …
My experience was a bit different…
I didn’t go in immediately after the recall because of the issues people were reporting. But I took it in a couple months later.
Did the valve springs, did the spark plugs for only the cost of parts while the engine was dropped, and got a free coolant flush and oil change out of it. Overall solid experience.
So, uhhhh, 50/50 on the burning down.
In 2022 my 1998 E36 BMW 323i received a recall for a component in the steering column.
When I got it back the steering wheel was about 160 degrees out and when I asked about getting the tracking done they replied “that would be £120 + VAT, sir”
So I took it to a chain tyre shop and got the tracking done for less than half that.
0/10 would not recommend the BMW dealer in Stirling.
The next owner of my Subaru even changed the steering wheel himself so the recall work was meaningless, haha
My Elise had a (20 year!) outstanding recall on the oil cooler fittings backing off and causing fires, and it went sweet. They had to take the front of the car off anyway to do the recall, so they offered to do some maintenance work that has been common problems for the car over the subsequent decade+ with the (wire corrosion, radiator plastic endcap failures, stuck HVAC vents) while they already had it off; and even if they hadn’t I got a free oil change of the oil that’s ordinarily really hard to get out of the car when changing it.
All that work wasn’t free, but I saved a couple grand over if I had had it done separately.
Shortly afterward I took delivery of mine back in 2005, threads discussing the rear oil cooler lines rubbing started appearing and as soon as I read them when I did my very next oil change I zip tied them apart so they wouldn’t chafe over time.
I ended up doing the HVAC blower motor resistor pack recall myself (since the car was out of warranty by then). I went pretty smoothly once you work up the guts to take the front clamshell off.
When I had my car in for inspection at the dealer two recalls were performed:
We took my wife’s 2010 Forester in for an airbag recall. Got it back with the HVAC inoperable. I called the dealership after my wife said she didn’t have heat after we picked the car up. They had the audacity to ask if my wife knew to let the car heat up.
We were leaving for a weekend trip the next day and I told them there was no way I was going on a trip in a midwestern winter with no heat. They said it wasn’t possible to get it in to diagnose the problem before we left. I told them it was unacceptable. I was taking my car with heat or a loaner from their lot or a rental on my trip. Magically they got it right in and the HVAC controls were left unplugged.
We received no apology for Their mistake, for wasting our time or treating my wife/myself like idiots.
Takata recall. And maybe seatbelt tensioners. I remember nothing about it. Drive to dealer, get car back at some point, that’s it.
Takata in the 04 Sentra. Took an hour, no big deal.
There’s one out on the truck right now, where the transmission can apparently spontaneously shift into first gear, causing fiery death.
Takata in a Subaru. Twice. Both driver and eventual passenger were the same story. Dropped it off, got a free loaner, picked it up when done.
Elantra Touring — Takata airbag — Hyundai standalone service center — smooth as silk. Left a black smudge on my grey headliner.
Wrangler JLU — some software thing where the backup cam could miss coming on when it supposed to or something — CDJR dealer — 3 hours to flash my RAM???
What I find very weird about this comment thread is that there were still people getting Takata recalls after roughly 2010-2015. I thought it was a known problem before then and everybody took care of that quickly, but it seems only a few brands did right away.
My 2022 Maverick Hybrid had to go in for recall when the connection from the under-seat mounted 12V battery stopped connecting to the engine compartment. I had to limp it home from WI to VA by drifting straight through and never shutting off the truck. They had it for 3 weeks. I took it out of the dealer for a weekend road trip, jumping it once when I left and once when I came back. They had it another week before it was fixed. Thank yea gods there was am Aldi within walking distance!
Stinkin’ Takata airbags burned me for multiple cars. The Honda Fit took months where they said, “sorry we don’t have the parts yet and oh, hey, don’t have anyone in the front passenger seat”. The Suburban was pain free for the airbag part, but I had been hoping for them to also repair the cracked dash – they only wanted $1500 to do the job. Uh, no, and thanks for reminding me why I only go to the dealer when required.
What’s absolutely crazy is that for all the jokes about horrible Ford build quality I don’t think my 2018 Fiesta ST has ever been recalled, nor have I ever had a problem with it and let’s just say my driving has been, uh, spirited.
In 2020 there a recall for my 2007 Hyundai Elantra, Lola, something about the ABS module needing additional fusing. I took it in, they said I could wait for it. A couple hours later, the guy comes back and tells me it’s done, but, he says, the radio antenna broke off in the car wash, so they’ll of course replace that.
I said it was no problem, so we go to the shop to get the paperwork and he adds, “Oh, and the porter backed your car into an SUV.”
Blink. Blink.
Crunched the left corner of the bumper in and broke the taillight. Thankfully there was no sheet metal damage. I drove a new Elantra for 24 hours and then picked up Lola, good as new.
Main one was the Takata air bag on a 2006 SAAB. They sent us to a Buick dealer and no one tried to upsell anything. We had breakfast out and the car was done.
When my cars were newer, I would do factory service. They would fix any recalls or service bulletins at that time.
We recently received a recall notice for something minor in our RAM van (RV.). It said that there was currently no known fix at this time. Wonderful.
Yes I have. No, it didn’t go well.
Five years ago I took my 540 wagon in for the Takata airbag recall. Of course the BMW service advisor suggested a gamut of other services, but I’m a cheapskate and whatever work I didn’t do on that car was handled by an independent shop so close to home I could almost push it there. “Alright,” he said. “Just the airbag.”
It was ready to pick up in a few days. Happily relieved of the wretched 228i loaner I got (an AWD sedan that drove like a FWD convertible), I sat down and gave things a look.
The airbag is surrounded by a two-piece bezel. The bottom half was a bit scuffed up, so I wasn’t too worried about it. The top was pristine though. Or at least it had been. Now there was a nice deep gouge in it. Thankfully I had pictures of it from earlier and went back in to let them know they’d screwed up a part of the car that’s right in front of me all the time.
The pictures didn’t quite work. Only once I told them that I wanted to replace the scuffed lower half on my own dime did they agree to cover the part they damaged plus labor.
I still go there for parts if the owners’ club discount makes the price favorable, but they knew from the jump that I wasn’t ever going to be bringing in much repair revenue and treated me accordingly.
I got the Odyssey recall to address the sliding middle seats issue. The fix was to bolt a little bracket in place to prevent the seats from sliding side to side. Now it’s just harder to put the seats back in whenever I take them out.
My favorite recall was on my Accord. The Takata airbag was going to kill me according to the dealer. Fortunately, my seat belt sensor was bad which disabled the airbag, so I guess that made it safer? Got them both fixed at the same time.
I’ve a 10 month old Maverick. We really like the truck. Even though the 22-24 models were plagued with recall after recall, we were hoping by now FORD would have the Maverick dialed in. NOPE! It’s already had 2 recalls and I understand another one is on the way!. Fortunately, so far the recalls have been painless. A local dealer sent a tech to my house (30 minutes away) to snap in some plastic bits to keep the passenger airbag warning light from falling out of the console, and recently sent a different tech to come over to the house with his laptop and reflash a module. Even though the truck was under recall, I did not experience any of the problems associated with them. Both visits were under 30 minutes and we done in the driveway. I guess I should be thankful.
FORD… Found Open Recall Daily.
PS… Our also months-old 25 Ford Escape Plug-in hybrid just get a recall letter today. DON’T CHARGE IT past 80% or risk battery fire! Having the all-EV range cut from ~40 miles to ~32 miles means we’re going to start using gasoline as we’re just under 40 miles on a daily commute. No cure yet so we’re stuck waiting for word on the fix.
Seriously, FORD needs to go back to square-1 and get their shit together.
So many I can’t even remember or count all.
The ford recalls were pretty funny they never seemed too serious and I would let them build up. I knew the service manager at a local dealership so he or one of his people would hand me the “recommendations” sometimes other times he would tear it up or just throw it away. He said they are basically auto generated and they so that’s nice warm and fuzzy feeling for people who trust service places and or dealers.
I took a few gms in for the ignition switch recall. They were more of a fight then I would have liked. With many of did you even look at this. While taking a “mechanic” and “service advisor ” out to demonstrate keys coming out of a running vehicle. Especially was funny taking saturn at a new Chevy dealer that somehow had Saturn blanks to make a new key that was part of the recall.
I’ve taken a few in for airbag recalls with different brands they seem pretty chill about those maybe because someone else is paying and it’s just a known thing.
I’ve had one Hyundai engine replaced under warranty I thought it would be a fight but they just kind of looked at me and I said it qualifies and they went yep and I had it back a few days later. Seems very hit and miss with those.
The mother of all recalls on my tdi I just took the money it was relatively painless just annoying. They did try to sell me something else and I replied really? And made a extremely low ball offer and ended up leaving.
I took a friend in for a Toyota frame recall that was pretty funny. They looked went yep see you in a week.
Took my ’06 330i in for the Takata airbag recall a few years back. They also found an outstanding recall for something in the HVAC so it was done at the same time. I’m convinced they either damaged something in the HVAC system or simply forgot to regas it after poking around in there, as the AC was never quite as good after that. I sold the car about a year later.
Our 2025 Rav4 Plug-in Hybrid had the HV battery grounding strap potential corrosion recall plus a couple of other minor ones. Since I can work anywhere there is internet, I took it in, connected, and worked for however many hours (about 5 I think) it took to do the various recall things it needed. Very simple and painless. Well, other than the seat I was in for those hours.