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Tempe Body Shop Reviews Recall on Warning Lights

This past year has been a crazy one when we think about the sheer number of recalls the auto industry has issued. In fact, this year alone our Tempe body shop can recall (pun intended) issues with airbag deployment, ignition switches, and headlight glitches. These coupled with some serious confusion over whether a vehicle and its defective part is being recalled has led some politicians to decide to take legislative action over protecting their constituents.

This Tempe body shop learned that last week, some members of the Senate announced a surprising bipartisan push to increase the safety of automobiles, especially in terms of announcing and notifying consumers about issued recalls. However, the bipartisanship may not be as united. Senate Democrats, for instance, have proposed requiring automakers to install a small light or other device to the dashboard that would notify the driver of a recall and encourage them to take their vehicle to a repair shop immediately. This would ensure that consumers are aware of the recall and take action. The Republican proposal would require by law that customers are to be informed if a recall is issued when they bring their vehicle in for a repair, service, or even when renting. Although this is a common practice by your local Tempe body shop and is a requirement from automakers, it is a practice not required by law.

Both seem like reasonable measures to keeping the public informed on auto recalls but the idea that is of most interest to our Tempe body shop is installing the notification device in vehicles. If the bill were to be supported and passed by the Senate, one of the requirements is that all vehicles would need to be connected to a network of sorts–run by either the federal government or through automakers–that would be capable of issuing recall alerts to specific vehicles. This seems similar to current in-vehicle notification systems that alert drivers to engine checks, low tire pressure, and open doors, but on a much grander scale.

Its critics, however, claim that the notification device would be an expensive addition for new and used vehicles, plus that it may infringe on a person’s right to privacy. These seem like legitimate concerns, especially since in order for the device to go off, it would require the device and the vehicle to be connected to a federal communication system and a number of Americans would not appreciate this no matter how well intentioned the proposed ordinance may be.

Unfortunately, it seems like despite these efforts to move forward in improving the recall notification system that currently exists, the bills may not move forward at all. Although these have been proposed as bipartisan efforts, the majority of the backers are Senate Democrats and, with the state of the Senate today, the bill may be rejected by Republicans before it can gain any major traction. In the mean time, our Tempe body shop is waiting to see what happens with the bill in the coming months.