Charlotte ranks 16th in US for open vehicle recalls, impacting nearly 1M cars

CHARLOTTE — Cars with safety issues can be dangerous for the people in the vehicles as well as others on the road around them.

Summer Pethel owns a 2018 Honda Civic. Action 9 investigator Jason Stoogenke checked her VIN and here’s what came up: an open recall for a fuel pump. It says the car may not start or can even stall while driving.

She says that’s what happened to her. “Driving it down the road, all of a sudden it just stopped, shut down, completely cut off,” she said.

MORE ACTION 9: What to do if your car is under recall, but the repair isn’t ready yet

Pethel says she tried to get her car fixed, but for a variety of reasons it’s still on her to-do list. “I don’t feel comfortable driving it,” she said. So she’s not. “If I didn’t have another car, I don’t know what I would have done.”

Honda says it’s working on her case to try to get that fuel pump sorted out.

Carfax released their latest numbers on open recalls.

Vehicles with at least one open recall:

Charlotte: 963,000

CLT rank: 16th worst in U.S.

North Carolina: 2 million

South Carolina: 1.2 million

Vehicles with two or more open recalls:

Charlotte: 230,000

CLT rank: 17th worst in U.S.

N.C.: 477,000

S.C.: 291,000

“Addressing recalls isn’t just smart for your car and your wallet. It is essential to protecting lives,” said Em Nguyen from Carfax. “As we see more open recalls start to pile up on a singular car, that can significantly raise the risk for the driver, the passengers, the family members in the car, and, of course, others on the road as well.”

Remember:

- A recall fix is free so there’s no reason to put it off.

- It’s easy to find out if your car has an open recall. You can use these websites to check:

nhtsa.gov/recalls

carfax.com/recall

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 not practical for many people.

VIDEO: ‘Complete news to me’: Is your car one of many on road with open recall?