NHTSA Launches Online Recall Info Tool

There have been approximately 40 million cars recalled this year, and 70 million in the last two years. Knowing which vehicles are and are not being recalled can get complicated.

On August 20, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) unveiled its new online search tool that allows the public to easily discover if they’re vehicle needs to take a trip to the dealer.

Those wanting to know can simply go to www.safercar.gov/vinlookup and enter their Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). All major light vehicle and motorcycle brands can be searched.

Determining whether there is a recall that consumers need to take action on is easy. After entering the VIN number into the field, results will appear if the consumer has an open recall on their vehicle, and if there are none, owners will see "No Open Recalls."

Not only is the tool available at NHTSA’s website, automakers are required to make the same type of tool available on their websites for their vehicles.

"This new tool is a significant step and enables owners to accurately find recall information on their vehicle," said General Motors in a statement. "We will actively work to upload GM product VINs into the database in a timely manner. We also provide GM customers the ability to find more information on GM specific recalls by entering their VIN on our site, recalls.gm.com. Whether through the NHTSA site or our own, we want vehicle owners to easily find the information they need."