Recalled Cars Out In Some South Florida Showrooms
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Millions of cars under recall in the U.S. might be out on the car dealer showroom and some buyers may not even know it.
One of the largest vehicle safety recalls ever involved was that of airbags manufactured by Takata. They were installed in tens of millions of vehicles and recalled due to a safety defect that could cause their inflators to explode and cause serious injuries or deaths.
In April, Nissan recalled four million cars with faulty seat belts and airbags that may cause them not to work properly during an accident.
Thirteen Nissan models are affected. About 3.2 million of them have a sensor issue that disables the front passenger airbag.
Another 620,000, 2013 to 2016 Sentra's have a seatbelt bracket that can become damaged or bent out of shape when used with a child seat restraint system.
You would think that car dealerships would yank those cars off the showroom sales floors but, according to AutoNation, the largest retailer of new cars trucks and SUVs in the country, that's not the case.
Maylett Gonzalez, like many car buyers have no clue and assume if dealerships have them out with stickers in the window, they're safe.
"That's bad, really bad," said Gonzalez. "I think I have to ask him - what happened to the car over there."
AutoNation owns 368 new vehicle franchises from coast-to-coast and they aren't taking any chances.
"We just don't think it's the customers job to know what open recalls are so that's our job to identify that. So if a car does have an open recall, we set it aside, we put a 'do not sell' sticker and we hold that vehicle until it's been remedied," said AutoNation Regional President Benny Dominguez.
Dominguez said there's no way for consumers to know about all the open safety recalls out there and shouldn't have to. If you'd like to know whether a specific vehicle is on a recall list, click here and enter the VIN number in the box, hit enter and all the information you need will pop up.
