Vehicle recall – two words that can strike fear into any car owner. What’s wrong with my car? Is it dangerous? Can I still drive it? How soon do I need to have it fixed?
You may be surprised to find that vehicle recalls are actually very common. Here in the UK, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) issues hundreds of recalls every year, potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of vehicles. On top of that, car manufacturers will regularly issue their own recalls or ‘field campaigns’ to fix known problems – often without telling the customer.
It’s also a growing issue. The DVSA records on its website go back to the early 1990s, when about 50 recalls were issued each year for cars, vans, trucks, buses, motorcycles and other vehicles in the UK. In the last few years, that number has ballooned out to several hundred recalls every year.
Vehicle recalls are a big issue for car buyers and owners, so we’ve started adding DVSA recall information to our award-winning Expert Ratings for each model of car. That way, you can see which recalls have been ordered for your car and check to see whether the work has been done. This is essential information for every car owner, and it’s work that you definitely want to have done before you buy a used car.
Recalls are handled differently in different countries around the world. Here in the UK, the DVSA has strict guidelines for issuing recalls, which are only done for safety matters rather than for other issues of legality or functionality.
In this article, we explain in detail what recalls are, how they work and how to find out if your car is affected.
What is a vehicle recall and who oversees it?
A recall is when a car manufacturer notifies all owners of a particular vehicle built between specific dates that they should take it into a dealership to have a fix applied – free of charge. Usually, these are preventative measures taken to ensure a known fault does not develop. Often, thousands of cars may be recalled because of a problem that has only affected a very small number of cars.
The fault in question can be down to the way the car was designed, how it was assembled, problems with a particular component, or – increasingly – a software issue in an electronic system.
Cars are made up of tens of thousands of components from suppliers all around the world, and a fault in one component from one supplier can trigger a recall in multiple models from different manufacturers.
The DVSA is the government-appointed authority in the UK responsible for product safety in the automotive sector – and also looks after driving tests. Formed in 2013 to replace the previous Vehicle and Operator Standards Agency (VOSA), the DVSA has responsibilities to monitor and investigate issues that affect automotive product safety. It has about 4,500 employees including the Market Surveillance Unit (MSU), which has a team of 20 investigators and engineers concerned with recalls.
The DVSA decides whether defects should be considered as safety defects, agrees rectification action with vehicle producers (as it calls manufacturers), plans to deal with them and enforces the law around General Product Safety Regulations with regard to the automotive sector. GPSR also covers aftermarket parts and accessories.
Evidence that can lead to a recall comes from different sources: complaints from car users; warranty or vehicle repair data trends; reports from dealerships or other garages; defect reports passed on from the DVSA and component suppliers or car manufacturers. The public can report defects to DVSA directly, but it generally encourages users to go to producers or distributors in the first instance.
The MSU reviews every report it receives from vehicle owners and evaluates the evidence available to establish if an investigation is necessary. It then takes an evidence-based approach to determine if recall action is required. It says that although a high volume of reports does not usually trigger a safety recall in isolation, the availability of useful and verified evidence from these reports does have a significant impact.
When a manufacturer notifies the DVSA itself of the defect, it’s expected to have conducted a recognised risk assessment. This includes the risk to the vehicle occupants and others, how the vehicle would be affected and how likely this is to happen.
The Market Surveillance Unit works with producers and distributors to ensure that their processes for detecting and resolving safety defects are effective. It says that most safety recalls are not launched as a direct result of the DVSA’s intervention but are instead voluntarily set in train. However, the MSU still reviews all recall notifications to ensure that appropriate action is taken and continues to ensure effective management of a recall.
How do I know if my car, or one I’m going to get, has had a recall?
Updated each month, the DVSA’s ‘All recalls since 1992’ link gives a spreadsheet with details on all recalls. This isn’t limited to just passenger cars, so you’ll also find recalls for motorbikes, trucks, buses, vans and other motor vehicles.
The DVSA has also started including recall advice on MOT documentation to help raise user awareness and reduce the risks to road safety. You can enter the car’s registration number to check MOT status as well as any outstanding recalls for the vehicle.
With every Expert Rating we aim to detail relevant recalls and link to the easy to use the gov.uk checker for cars with or without registration numbers here.
How serious a fault does it have to be?
The DVSA defines a safety defect which can be ‘of a physical component or software and could occur at any point in the life of the product. In the case of aftermarket components or accessories the defect may be one of compatibility with a vehicle for which it is promoted’.
Deciding on whether to hit the recall button, the DVSA categorises faults in terms of seriousness. The least serious would be taken care of by an amendment to maintenance /servicing requirements, the most serious is a ‘Stop Drive’ safety defect where there is an immediate threat to safety so the vehicle must not be driven. There’s also a non‐safety recall where it would still be in the customer’s interests to have the work done.
How many vehicle recalls are issued each year?
There have been 197 so far in 2024, affecting 396,000 vehicles. Most recalls are for passenger cars, but those numbers also includes vans, trucks, buses, motorcycles and other vehicles.
In 2023 the MSU processed over 430 separate recall notifications. For the car market alone, this included around 300 new safety recalls and affected over 1.5 million vehicles.
The oldest year on the DVSA database is 1992, and there were only 38 recalls that year.
Recent recall campaigns as of August 2024
Recall numbers have increased dramatically over the last 30 years. Why is this?
The DVSA couldn’t give an accurate answer for this but says that the number is likely to be affected by changes to the numbers of vehicles on the road, changes in shared component volumes and/or new technologies coming to the market.
A number of recent recalls are related to driver assistance systems (features such as lane departure warnings, emergency braking systems, adaptive cruise control), which depend on front-facing cameras and in 2024 Toyota, Lexus and Subaru (same parent company) have front camera recalls, as does Honda. Less serious, there are a number of rear camera recalls.
However, on driver assistance systems the DVSA code of practice says that ‘in themselves non‐functioning of such systems would not normally be considered as a safety defect, as they are just there to assist actions the driver should be taking’ but if they develop a fault which would result, say, in rapid deceleration without brake lights showing, that would become a safety issue.
What kinds of problems do recalls deal with?
There’s a wide variety of recall issues, but they usually concern brakes, electrical and fuel systems or crash safety such as a risk that an airbag may deploy incorrectly. Based on recent years a lot are related to software issues or control modules.
As you’d expect, manufacturers that make cars in huge numbers figure most often (Ford, Volkswagen, BMW etc.), but no manufacturer is immune to recalls. In 2024, Rolls-Royce has a braking system recall (spreadsheet reference R/2024/039); on certain Aston Martin DBX models, oil cooler hoses could leak (R/2024/162); and, in 2023, the McLaren Artura had a fuel pump fault (R/2023/339).
How does a vehicle recall take place?
Where the most urgent of safety recalls is launched and a stop-drive notice is required, the Market Surveillance Unit expects a producer and/or distributor to immediately contact affected users to make clear this instruction. It then expects daily updates on progress.
For any recently sold car the manufacturer will have a database of customers (be they private buyers or fleets) and, working through the DVSA accesses the addresses of the current registered keepers through the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and writes to them.
Unless it’s a ‘stop drive’ situation, the fix will usually mean that you the owner have to go to a franchised dealer for that make for a while-you-wait replacement part or a fix which takes longer. The car’s service history (whether online or on paper) will then be updated.
You may find this a bit of a chore, but if it’s for everybody’s safety that can’t be argued with. On the other hand, the manufacturer may also view it as an opportunity (if they haven’t had a bad reputation for recalls). Because of long service intervals (even longer for EVs) a dealership may not see a customer again for up to two years. Bringing in the car for a small non-safety fix can mean the chance to give the owner a coffee and interest them in the next car.
When is a vehicle recall classed as finished?
According to the DVSA Code of Practice a recall is considered to be closed for reporting purposes when the producer can show that a high proportion of vehicles (normally 90%) believed to be in service have been rectified and the remaining safety risk is low. But all safety recalls remain open indefinitely.
This is to ensure that every unsafe product and its respective user, including any that may enter the market following the original notification (by import, further investigation etc), is notified of the safety concerns.
Do car makers face any penalties if they don’t comply?
There is a legal obligation for a manufacturer/importer to register a recall with the DVSA as part of General Product Safety Regulations (GPSR Regulation 9).
“DVSA’s priority is to protect everyone from unsafe vehicles,” Market Surveillance Engineer Nathan Harwood told The Car Expert. “Most manufacturers are committed to taking responsibility in recalling unsafe products when they do not meet the required safety standards.
“We can and will take action against any manufacturer or distributor which fails to act on safety defects.”
The DVSA says that it aims to help manufacturers comply with this regulation but if certain regulations are not complied with, there is the potential that offences may have been committed. These would be dealt with by the courts but in certain circumstances, the Market Surveillance Unit has the power to impose civil penalties.
The DVSA can make a manufacturer issue a second recall if it’s not satisfied the first one has worked. This happened in the most notorious UK recall of recent times, involving the Vauxhall Zafira (Zafira B 2005-2011), which would catch fire sitting on their owners’ driveways or worse while they were being driven. It affected around 47,000 cars.
In December 2015, Vauxhall issued a non-coded recall (short of a full recall) to replace fuses, but this escalated to a full recall the same month (R/2015/245 – entitled ‘risk of fire’). Vauxhall then said that the fires were caused as result of improper repair to heater blower motor resistors (i.e. the fault of garages).
More cars caught fire and after combined pressure from owners, including social media campaigning, in 2016 the DVSA told Vauxhall that a second safety recall was needed (R/2016/108). Vauxhall replaced the entire blower motor and cured a path for a water leak which had been making it corrode. The furore reached the Transport Select Committee whose report led to changes in the way recalls are handled and a criminal investigation (which was dropped).
If I am told my car needs recall work, can I ignore it?
The original Audi TT had a worldwide recall (R/2000/008) for high-speed handling issues that could cause an accident (there were a number of fatal crashes in Germany). The remedy involved cars being shipped back to Germany and given suspension changes and the addition of a rear spoiler, but many owners were unhappy with the way the car handled afterwards, and so others chose not to have the work done.
As you’d expect, the DVSA is not in favour of ignoring a safety recall, saying that ‘not only is it the responsibility of the user to ensure a vehicle is roadworthy when in use, choosing to ignore a recall notice could negatively impact insurance coverage and future saleability, as well as have far reaching consequences that may impact others and not just the user in question’.
Picking up on the saleability point, you could also argue that it is worth the effort of attending to a recall to satisfy the next owner of your car when you come to sell. They may ask you if a particular fault’s been fixed and it might be good to have an answer. For example, Alpine has had to issue a recall (R/2023/347) to have the fuel pump replaced on certain batches of A110s (which is a big deal as you don’t suddenly want the engine to cut out on a motorway). Buyers of used A110s are quite likely to be switched on to these sort of running issues and may well ask to see proof that the fuel pump was replaced.
What about imported cars?
One of the reasons recalls aren’t closed is to cover cars which have been imported into the UK and have missed a recall. With cars imported by an independent importer (grey imports), the DVSA code says that that importer bears the responsibilities of the producer, but if it cannot the DVSA will step in to contact the manufacturer.
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