I purchased a Chevy Tahoe a few weeks ago from a local Chevy dealer. Today I was looking online and discovered there was an open recall for the Takata airbags since July 2016. I contacted Chevy directly and at first they tried to read info to me from the standard script. I had to keep reinforcing the fact that I just purchased this vehicle. Finally after about 15 minutes the lady realized what I was saying. She then stated she has to forward this to another to figure why they sold me the vehicle with an open recall on it. I googled my question and I got all kinds of hits. One was from a lawyer stating it's illegal and then there was one from what looked to be the government. It stated that it wasn't illegal but basically frowned upon. Is there a simple answer to this question? I was thinking about taking a ride over to the dealer and see what's up but since there's an open case now I don't if that's wise. My main concern is that online it states there's no fix available at this point. I honestly thought the recall only affected Japanese brands, didn't even know American cars were part of this.

 

When I was truck shopping I got denied a sale on a loaded 2014 F150 Limited due to the current open brake recall. Was told they couldn't legally sell the truck. Also, I think they had said they couldn't sell a vehicle with a safety recall with no fix available, since Ford hasn't found a permanent solution yet & is only replacing failed master cylinders with the same part until a new one is produced.
So, maybe it is legal to sell if there is an applicable fix available? Not sure on that part.

 

I've bought many cars with open recalls. Even my Cadillac has an open recall for the fuel pump. So yes they can.

 

My mom was trying to buy a new car and the market was tough, due to the airbag recall and them not being able to sell but that was just her experience.

 

New car... Absolutely not... No.

Use car... Yes.

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Act 49 USC 30120(i)(3)

 

Yea I did a little more reading last night and came to this conclusion. While shady it's not illegal. I'm working with them now to see how to fix this. Thanks!

 

I bought my 2016 ILX and it was listed on recall for the air bag too. I asked the dealer about it and they said they had done the repair already and said the recall system isn't real good about updating.

 

What they will do is what they've done to a lot of others'; they will simply take your vehicle back and place you in a loan car until the issue is fixed. Although, as 01 nailed it, the car should have never been released to you before the recall considering it's a huge liability against the dealer/manufacturer if you're injured.

 

dealers can and do sell used cars with open recalls. a honest dealer that is selling their own brand of used cars will typically do all open recalls before offering up the car for sale...it saves them the hassle of customers coming back to get the recall done and gives them a good image... Good dealers will also notify you of any open recalls on their models without you asking...

 

Just read an article about AutoNation (think it was them) and how they vowed to never sell a car with an open recall but that only lasted about 1.5 years. Now they are selling cars with recalls but put stickers in the window about it and such.

 

My GF was used car shopping this past summer. A 2nd gen Fit was one consideration, but all of them we found still had the Takata recall open (some even at Honda dealers)

We knew (from waiting to get my RDX airbag replaced) that it would have been a multi-month process. Sure, Honda was giving rentals, but who wants to buy a new car only to park it for a couple months.....

 

in the case of Takata recall, it would not be surprising that they did not do it yet. They are going to reserve parts for existing customers and then as the supply frees up, do the non sold cars. This Takata recall affects a whole lot of cars and it was not until September of this year that I was able to get my 2003 legacy done... until it was, no one sat in the passenger front...