2.5 million vehicles with 'urgent recalls' remain unrepaired in US

ST. LOUIS (KTVI) – According to data from CARFAX, more than 2.5 million vehicles tagged with “do not drive” or “park outside” safety recalls remained unrepaired as of May 1.

“I worry there is recall fatigue. People have been hearing about recalls a lot for the last 10 years,” said Patrick Olsen, editor-in-chief at CARFAX.

Olsen is aware of some 200 vehicles from various automakers over multiple model years currently under recall. Just this week, nearly 220,000 Jeep Cherokees were recalled due to fire risk. Two weeks prior, BWM issued a “do not drive” warning due to recalled airbags, and in late April, General Motors issued a “park outside” warning on 40,000 recalled pickup trucks.

“These are more serious, more urgent recalls than most because they require drivers to do something unusual,” he said. “Either do not drive it, or in the case of a lot of these cars, they get a park outside order, which means don’t park it in your garage, don’t park it next to your garage. If you can, park it away from a building because the risk of fire is just that great.”

Olsen believes there are several reasons drivers don’t always heed recall warnings.

“A lot of people, when they get notices like that, they think it’s a scam. They think somebody is trying to sell them something, and I think they overlook it,” he said. “But I do think there’s a significant portion of people for whom their car is their livelihood and who feel they can’t be without their cars for a certain amount of time.”

Of the more than 2.5 million vehicles with “do not drive” or “park outside” orders, Illinois ranks eighth in the country, with 92,000 recalled vehicles. Missouri accounts for 42,000, with more than half of those recalled vehicles located in the greater St. Louis area.

“Automakers want to get these recalls fixed. They don’t want them lingering. They want to make sure everyone who is driving their cars are safe,” Olsen said.

Olsen urges consumers to take recalls seriously and to contact their automaker to get the problem fixed.

“These are things that can injure you. They can injure your community. They can injure your family. You’ve got to get the recalls taken care of,” he said.

There are about 200 separate models from various automakers, over multiple model years, for which “do not drive” or “park outside” safety recalls have been issued.

Consumers can check — for free — to see if their car has any open recall at Carfax.com/recall.