The Motor Ombudsman has recorded a substantial 80% rise in the usage of its online Vehicle Recalls tool.
The easy-to-use search function on its website allows motorists to find out quickly whether a participating car manufacturer has recalled a specific make and model under the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA)’s safety recall scheme.
Manufacturers make every effort to communicate a vehicle recall to owners, and to get cars back into their franchise dealer network for repairs, but in some cases, these can slip through the net if they have been sold on or customers do not respond to a notification.
First introduced in 2015 as a voluntary initiative by the motor industry to increase the safety and peace of mind of UK consumers, The Motor Ombudsman’s Vehicle Recalls portal logged 109,000 page views between 01 January to 30 April 2017, equating to a 60,000 rise in traffic compared to the same four-month period in 2016.
It is therefore on course to surpass the 240,000 views seen during the whole of last year, and has become one of the most frequented pages on The Motor Ombudsman website alongside its Garage Finder.
In the unlikely event when vehicles are recalled, over 90% are repaired, which is one of the most successful compliance records anywhere in the world.
To find out whether a specific car is subject to a recall, users simply need to enter information into the Vehicle Recalls tool, including the unique 17-digit Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).