More than 1.3M Arizona vehicles have unfixed recall issues

PHOENIX — Over a million vehicles across the state of Arizona have unfixed recalls.

According to Carfax, Arizona was one of the worst in terms of open recall rates.

“Across the state there’s more than 1.3 million vehicles with unfixed recalls that are on the road right now and over a million of those are right there in the Phoenix area,” Christopher Basso, public relations manager for Carfax told KTAR News 92.3 FM. “Nearly one in every four vehicles in the Phoenix area has an unfixed recall on them.”

Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico and Alabama joined Arizona as the states with the highest open recall percentages.

There were more than 57 million vehicles across the country that have gone unchecked for recalls, according to Carfax.

One recall has centered around airbags.

Nineteen different car companies placed recalls on Takata airbags.

During a crash, the airbag’s inflation device can become damaged and can cause an explosion that results in metal shards sent throughout the vehicle’s cabin.

Cars from model year 2002 through 2015 were primarily installed with the airbags.

And while there were a high volume of cars on the road needing recalls, there were only a few reasons as to why these go unchecked.

“There’s two reasons, mainly. Either people don’t know or aren’t taking advantage of the resources that are available to tell them about open recalls on their vehicles or they know about it but for some reason or another haven’t prioritized getting that recall fixed, which can impact the safety of their vehicle,” Basso said.

When asked what the most common recall was, Basso pinpointed two problem vehicles.

“There are hundreds of recall campaigns affecting millions and millions of vehicles that affect the safety of the car,” he said. “What we found in our research is that minivans and pickup trucks most often have unfixed recalls on them.

“So while any of these recalls can affect the safety and should be taken seriously, you need to pay particular concern if you have a minivan or a pickup truck that you’re driving, chances are that car is going to have an unfixed recall on it.”

Carfax makes recall information that it gets directly from the manufacturers available for free.

To find out if a vehicle has an open recall, motorists can also visit the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, here.

KTAR News’ Jeremy Foster contributed to this report.

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