Car recalls in South Africa – what you should know
Recalls form an essential part of every manufacturer’s aftersales package, and serve to improve the ownership experience as well as maintain mandated standards. We highlight some of the lesser-known details about car recalls, and explain how they may relate to you and your car.
Many of our readers are aware of the massive Takata airbag recall campaign: The largest automotive recall in history, and still ongoing at the time of publication.
Not all recalls are as public and dramatic (Takata eventually went bankrupt) as this extreme example, though – in fact, there’s a good chance that your car already had a recall of some description executed without you knowing, or even before it was delivered to the dealership in the first instance!
Related: How to check if your Toyota is affected by the airbag recall.
Technical Service Bulletins (TSBs)
Different manufacturers have different names for these bulletins, but they all boil down to the same thing: TSBs keep OEM dealerships updated regarding changes, replacements, and modifications required on specific models. These instructions are issued as improvements or changes come along, with the dealer usually enacting them as supplement to a routine service.
This keeps the car up-to-date with the latest control software, and allows the technician to fix any potential mechanical maladies before they actually get nasty. A classic example can be found at BMW, where N54-engined cars would routinely receive a new (redesigned) high-pressure fuel pump and new software, injectors, coil packs and even turbochargers when visiting the dealership for its first service, around 2011.
This was all in an effort to improve reliability, which was shown to be severely lacking in early examples of this engine, and prompted BMW to issue uprated hardware and servicing procedures for these cars every so often. If your 335i took 3 days to service back in 2011, now you know why...
Safety recalls
This is a big one, and it’s usually mandated by law. Safety recalls involve any potential defect that could (a) lead to a loss of full control over a moving vehicle, such as the Toyota floor mat recall of the mid-2010s; or (b) potentially injure occupants or other road users, with the Takata airbag saga as an example of the latter.
In South Africa, manufacturers are encouraged to issue safety recalls on their own initiative as needed, but the National Consumer Commission (NCC) can also instruct a manufacturer to issue such a recall if this hasn’t already been done, when evidence points to a previously-undetected defect.
Owners of affected cars will be notified of a safety recall either electronically, by mail, or by phone. The dealership will arrange to get the repair work done, and inform the owner of any further, relevant instructions.
Related: Interview with Neale Hill of Ford SA, in the aftermath of the burning Kuga recall.
What happens if the dealership doesn’t have your details?
If you’re the proud second- or third owner of an ageing car, and don’t have it serviced at the dealership anymore (because its service plan and warranty have both expired), the chances are that the manufacturer will have no way to contact you directly when a recall is issued.
In extremely urgent cases, the OEM may be able to trace the vehicle to you via its VIN number and registration records, but this course of action is highly unlikely to ever be used – there are a lot of legal hurdles to overcome before this becomes feasible.
And, unfortunately, unlike some other countries (such as the USA), South Africa doesn’t have a centralised database of vehicle recalls, so there’s no way for an owner to know if their car is up to date with recalls, other than to contact the dealership or go hunt down the recalls page on the OEM's local website.
Keep up to date with current recalls for your car by visiting your car’s manufacturer’s local website, and then look for “recalls” on their web page – it’s usually under the aftersales service (or a similar ownership-related) banner. Follow the relevant link, which will ask you to enter your car’s VIN number, after which the system will display any outstanding recalls on your vehicle.
What happens if I don’t act on a recall?
The South African case is different from, say, the EU or the USA, because our legal system doesn’t put any pressure on car owners to act on recall notices. Some other regions legally require all recalls related to safety and exhaust emissions to be executed within a 2-year timeframe, with penalties for the OEM and/or the owner in the event of such a recall being disregarded in the most-stringent countries.
However, if you find out that your car has an outstanding recall notice from the OEM, you can contact the dealership to have it performed, regardless of its warranty status. Recalls also shouldn’t cost you money, as their costs are absorbed by the OEMs as a matter of course. Once again, your dealership will be able to provide more details related to your specific car.
