Can A Dealership Sell You A Car With An Open Recall?

Last year, more than 29 million cars were recalled in the United States, and while this year is trending better, with "only" 10.8 million or so recalls through the first half, that's still a lot of vehicles. In addition, some automakers are struggling more than others. Ford broke the annual safety recall record back in July, and Ford's record-setting year of recalls has rolled on: By September 4, the number had reached almost 7.9 million vehicles, and the Blue Oval was dinged with two more recalls of more than 100,000 cars each a few weeks later.

And it's a serious issue for drivers. As we've reported, the auto industry knows the current recall system is leaving dangerous vehicles on the road. In fact, some dealerships continue to sell cars with unfixed, open recalls to unsuspecting shoppers, and it's perfectly legal. Dealers don't even have to mention it.

Now, to be clear, that's for used cars. Federal law prevents dealers from selling new cars with open safety recalls, and rental companies are required to fix their used cars before renting or selling them, but there are no similar legal requirements for dealers selling used cars. It's not all bad news for drivers, however, since transactions involving pre-owned cars are still covered by laws governing consumer fraud, negligence, and whatnot. Basically, states can make it illegal to knowingly sell unsafe products to the public, and that includes cars. Of course, it's still a good idea to take an ounce of prevention here.

One positive outcome from all the recalls is that increased awareness of the issue has seen the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the automakers make it much easier to see if a specific vehicle has been recalled. NHTSA has online lookup tools so you can check cars by their vehicle identification numbers (VINs) and, separately, research recalls by manufacturer. You can even see how well the automakers are doing at completing open recalls and check out further resources for deeper dives.

The ability to search recalls by manufacturer can be particularly important since it can provide information about completed recalls. Unlike searching by VIN, which is limited to open recalls, the dashboard for manufacturers has historical recall data, and you can search by model for past issues there.

Most manufacturers, meanwhile, put links to recall-lookup tools on their brands' retail landing pages, usually under heading for "Owners" or "Support and Service." When you don't own a car yet, but are thinking of buying it, you can often still use an automaker's online recall features because many let you search by VIN. Carfax vehicle history reports include a section for open recalls, too, with that company reporting over 58 million cars had unresolved safety recalls at the start of the year — a jump of 16% over the same point in 2023.

The idea of some unprincipled salesperson hiding an open safety recall from a customer sounds like yet another way greedy dealers make everything worse. You don't want to find out your ride is subject to the big Takata recall only when you get a face full of shrapnel — and yes, Takata airbags are still killing people.

But buying a used car with an open recall can actually be a way to save money. After all, not all safety recalls are equally dangerous. In 2024, for instance, Toyota recalled 33,000 vehicles for having the wrong sticker detailing their load limits. True, that could cause a major problem if you overload one of those Toyotas and crash as a result. But if you're buying one of those vehicles used and it still has the wrong sticker, you can use the situation as a bargaining chip during negotiations. Some dealers would rather give you a discount than try selling the vehicle to someone else, knowing some people consider it a major red flag and won't even look at a used model with an open recall on its Carfax report — or that it may take time and hassle to clear the recall before selling it. 

Obviously, the same holds true for other open recalls, although your comfort level here may vary. Jalopnik does not advise you to drive an unsafe vehicle.