How do you know if your car was a part of a re-call before buying it used? It was bought with 50,000 km (metric) so probably 30,000 miles. It is an 04 model. How do I know if I has been part of any re-calls since it's release. I am the second owner and I know this car was bought new from the dealership.

 

Take it to a dealer and ask. Their computers ought to be able to determine this from the VIN—in the US, anyway, normally when a recall repair is performed, they have some way of updating the record so that any dealer can find it, not just the dealer who performed the repair. That way the customer can't get the work done twice for free, and it also ensures that if the owner didn't get the work done and sold the car to someone living elsewhere there's some way to determine that the work wasn't done. In my experience normally when you take a car in for servicing they'll notice if there's an outstanding recall and they'll recommend you have it fixed.

I assume the same is true in Canada.

 

there is an acura care canada, iirc their number is 888 -9 acura 9
ask the dealer to be sure-
there is also a canada only website you can register on same as usa- store the radio code there and have direct access to your cars history of warranty and recall work

fastest way for right now is give the service manager your cars VIN number and they enter it in the computer- that runs it- its free- they want to get the recall stuff done as its safety issues
Any extended warranty info would come from acura care

try an internet search for it

 

You can try this site and enter your VIN in. I entered my and it said there was one recall and that it had already been fixed.

http://owners.acura.com/recalls/

 

the usa site does not accept canada car vins
each country has its own site and 800 phone number

 

Thanks everyone

 

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recalls/recallsearch.cfm

 

The OP is from Ontario. Will a US database help him? I'd suspect not, based on the other comments above (though it seems that it would be logical for Acura-USA and Acura-Canada to share info).

 

Especially for those that buy in one country and bring the car into the other.

 

If I'm not mistaken when you register your car at Acura's website, they'll tell you if need any recalls done that haven't been done on your VIN yet.

 

thats correct- when you register by vin with acura.com owners you can look up your cars recall history and status on each one- there are a few on gen3

The situation here is : who has the canada web address?
iirc the phone is 888-9 acura 9, they can give web address hopefully as well as register and recall ck for you ziners to the north

usa cars acura registration 1-800-238 3382 x5

Import a car and think they will cross border warranty? good luck on that

No, usa and canada do not share a database as they are seperate entities
with different warranty and recalls

 

Oops! Sorrry, missed that.


The US database will help in the sense that he'll know what recalls were issued for a particular year in the US, i.e. an idea about what to look for.

Other than that info, no, I don't think the US database will help. I don't know what the recall process is in Canada or which gov't agency manages such things there.

 

they have most if not all of the same recalls-
acura canada handles them same as usa does- dealer fix for free

I heard the usa website wont take a canuk VIN-
but also doesnt refer you to the correct site- that would be good customer service~