How to inquire about car recall information? I won’t inquire, I was taught by the auto mechanic!
One day last week, when I first arrived at the automobile specialized shop, I saw two masters disassembling the tire of a Buick Angkewei. Before I could speak, the master asked me, do you know how to check the recall information? I replied, I don’t know how to check, after all, my car has not experienced it.
The master told me that this Angkewei was repaired because of the recall. I will teach you how to inquire whether the car needs to be recalled. It is a good thing for you to share this process and provide valuable information to the majority of car owners. Thus, this article was born.
Let’s start with the basic information of this Buick Angkewei, the 2017 two-wheel drive luxury model. The production date is January 2017, which is more than six years ago. At present, there is nothing wrong with the vehicle. In the original words of the owner, this car is a little high in fuel consumption, and everything else is ok.
According to the master, the recalled brake oil pipes are the ones. As shown in the figure below, the production dates of four new brake oil pipes are relatively new.
So, how do we know that our car needs to be recalled? The master said that under normal circumstances, it is not necessary for our car owners to find it themselves. A manufacturer or a staff member of the 4S shop will inform the car owners, introduce the recall information of the vehicle in detail and make an appointment to go to the store for maintenance.
If the number of vehicle recalls is large, the owner will receive the information later. If the owner wants to know whether the car needs to be recalled earlier, there are two convenient ways: First, the owner directly calls the 4S shop, and the 4S shop will help the owner to inquire according to the vehicle VIN code; The other is that the owner of the vehicle searches online by himself, which is also very convenient.
How can the owner inquire about it online? The master said, search the car recall website directly, and the page after login is as shown in the figure below. Enter the 17-digit VIN code of the vehicle at this position.
Take this Buick Angkewei as an example. When I enter the VIN code, the following messages appear. As shown in the red box, the vehicle is being recalled, and there are two recall messages.
It should be noted here that if our vehicle is not recalled, a pop-up prompt will appear and no results will be found.
Let’s continue to look at the query results of this Angkewei. First, click on the recall in 2018, and we can see very specific recall information, such as the specific recalled models and production time.
We continue to look at the recall information in 2018, that is, there is a problem with the bushing of the lower control arm of the vehicle, which is prone to "ankle" of the vehicle due to the bushing falling off, that is, the half axle will be pulled out, and the maintenance measure is to replace it with an integrated bushing structure.
Since the recall in 2018 has been completed, we can only find the photos of the former owner replacing the bushing from the Internet. As shown in the following figure, this cast iron bushing weighs two kilograms.
I saw the installed bushing on this Angkewei, as shown by the arrow in the figure below. The improved lower control arm bushing has been recalled.
The installation of this bushing greatly enhances the risk that the bushing of the lower control arm will fall off. It can be said that since the bushing of the lower control arm was installed, there has basically been no "ankle sprain".
After reading the recall information in 2018, we can click on the recall information this time. We can see that a total of 649,357 vehicles need to be recalled this time, and the recall time is from December 31, 2020 to December 30, 2023.
In other words, it has been more than two years since the release of the recall information and now the owner has entered the store, and it is overdue for more than one month! If the owner contacted the store for replacement as soon as he learned the recall information, he would not have used the car for two years with hidden dangers!
To put it simply, there is a risk of leakage of brake fluid from the brake oil pipe, which may affect the braking performance. The maintenance measures are: replace the improved brake hose free of charge.
However, we can also see that after February 11, 2018, the manufacturer improved the brake tubing of the new vehicle, and it was not until November 27, 2020 that the recall information was announced, which was more than two years.
At the same time, we can see the complaints, including 6 defect reports and complaints, and 179 warranty or claim cases. It may be because of this information that the manufacturer found the problem and started the recall. After all, the brake problem is definitely a big problem and is closely related to driving safety.
Let’s take a look at the defect description and maintenance measures: replace the improved brake hose for free.
Look at this Angkewei under maintenance. Its four brake hoses are not in trouble for the time being, but there are design defects, which has a certain probability. As shown in the picture below, this is the old brake hose removed by the master.
As shown in the figure below, the new and old brake hoses are compared.
As shown in the figure below, this is another brake hose and its installation position.
When the brake hose is replaced, brake oil will definitely flow out, so after replacing four brake hoses, the master adds brake oil to the brake oil pot in the engine compartment.
After that, lift the car, exhaust the air from the four brake cylinders, and finally flush the place where the brake oil flows with water. Because brake oil is very corrosive, but it is easily soluble in water, the best way to clean up the traces of brake oil is to wash it with water.
On the whole, if our car owners want to check whether their cars have been recalled, they should first write down the VIN code of their cars, which is located at the lower part of the main driver’s external windshield or open the co-pilot door to look at the nameplate on the B-pillar, and then check it on the car recall website.
One thing to note is that car owners should never think that their cars can’t be recalled if they haven’t been maintained in a 4S shop for a long time, and they can still have the right to be recalled for maintenance if they don’t.
You know, the recall of a car is caused by the design or material problems of the vehicle itself when it leaves the factory, which belongs to the quality problems of the vehicle itself and has little to do with whether it is maintained in a 4S shop.