What to do if your car is under recall, but the repair isn’t ready yet

LANCASTER, S.C. — A Lancaster woman is frustrated after getting a recall notice for her car months ago, but the company still doesn’t have a repair for it.

The letter came in February. A recall notice said the fuel pump on Charlotte Shocki’s Honda SUV may not work. It said the issue could “prevent an engine from starting” or the engine could even “stall while driving.”

“Not happy. It sounded like a serious recall,” she said. “[The fuel pump issue] could cause an accident, cause serious injury, not only endanger the person driving the car, but, as far as I’m concerned, also endanger other cars on the road,” she said.

What bothered her more was the letter said the fix wasn’t ready. “What am I supposed to do? Not drive the car from February until they get the part?” she said. “It’s really a Catch-22.”

Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke hears this a lot.

Here’s the problem: we want car companies to report safety issues as quickly as possible. In fact, this federal law says they have five days to do so.

“After that date, even the fastest recall repairs are going to require a month or more delay during which time the manufacturer may be developing and testing the recall remedy, possibly designing new parts, and getting parts and repair instructions to dealers,” said Michael Brooks, head of The Center for Auto Safety. “A certain amount of delay is inevitable.”

“There are more than a few recalls out there where there’s an issue identified, but there’s not a remedy in place yet for consumers to fix it and that can lead to a lot of frustration for consumers who want to get their car back to 100%,” CARFAX’s Patrick Olsen said.

Shocki says Honda mailed her another letter a few months ago. It implies the remedy is now available but on a limited basis. So, she’s hoping for a third letter soon, saying it’s her turn for the repair.

Honda emailed Stoogenke, “American Honda is working to resolve all replacement part backorders as soon as possible, and we regret any inconvenience that our customers may experience due to these delays. Since each delayed replacement part may face different supply challenges, we recommend working directly with local authorized Acura and Honda dealers to ensure that appropriate priority is placed on critical part orders. If a customer has concerns beyond the dealer’s immediate ability to respond, then customers are encouraged to contact Acura Client Relations (for Acura owners) or Honda Automobile Customer Service (for Honda owners) to determine if any additional assistance is possible. Each customer inquiry will be addressed by our customer service professionals on a case-by-case basis appropriate to the circumstances.”

Brooks says if you’re worried:

- Ask your dealer for a loaner. It doesn’t hurt to try.

- Depending on the recall, there may be a safe solution while you’re waiting for the remedy. For example, if the problem only impacts 4WD vehicles, maybe you can switch modes for the time being.

- You can always stop driving your car. But that’s probably not practical for many of us.

It’s easy to find out if your car has an open recall, just go to nhtsa.gov/recalls. After all, the fix is free.

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