HARRISBURG, Pa. — Every time you drive, you're likely sharing with road with cars that are under some sort of safety recall.
"Much like medical problems, ignoring a recall doesn't make it go away," said Mike Lavigne from Carfax. He looked into the data and found that more than 180,000 vehicles in Pennsylvania have urgent recalls. That's a 70% increase from May of last year.
A lot of those cars are under a "park outside" recall. Those drivers are told to park away from any structure because fires can spark even when the car's engine is off.
"For example, there's a Hyundai model with an anti-lock brake fluid leak. That in and of itself is really no big deal, until you see the leak can slowly cause a short. When the short happens there's a serious increased risk for fire and that's not something you want parked in your garage at 2 o'clock in the morning when you're thinking it's just fine and dandy down there," said Lavigne.
According to Carfax, Hyundai, Kia, Jeep, and Lincoln have the highest number of open park-outside recalls in Pennsylvania right now. These recalls are pretty rare. Carfax reports fewer than 10% of all cars recalled in the U.S. have one of these, but that number is increasing.
Lavigne said, "Manufacturers issue these recalls and then don't have an immediate fix. Then when you don't have an immediate fix on one model and model year, add 2 or 3 or 6 more models and model years and that's where you see that incredible number start to come out."
That snowball effect means it can take months before a recall can be fixed.
Another reason for the increase? Cars are staying on the road now longer than ever before.
"The average used car has about 12 years on the road and has anywhere from 2-4 owners," said Lavigne.
That means it can be harder to reach the person who actually owns the car now.
"I sold a Ford Explorer about 3 months ago and I got a recall notice in the mail 3 weeks ago," Lavigne explained. "There is a little bit of a gap space there where it isn't easy to get that recall notice in the hands of the current owner."
However, Lavigne does say there is a positive to take away from all of this. "I think the increase in recalls is actually a sign of responsibility of the manufacturers," he told FOX43.
As of the date of publication, here are the vehicles currently under a park outside recall, according to the NHTSA:
HYUNDAI ACCENT 2012-2015
HYUNDAI AZERA 2012-2015
HYUNDAI ELANTRA 2011-2015
HYUNDAI ELANTRA COUPE 2013-2015
HYUNDAI EQUUS 2014-2015
HYUNDAI GENESIS COUPE 2011-2015
HYUNDAI SANTA FE 2013-2015
HYUNDAI SANTA FE SPORT 2013
HYUNDAI SONATA HYBRID 2011-2015
HYUNDAI TUCSON 2010-2013
HYUNDAI TUCSON FUEL CELL 2015
HYUNDAI VELOSTER 2012-2015
HYUNDAI VERA CRUZ 2010-2012
KIA BORREGO 2010-2019
KIA CADENZA 2014-2016
KIA FORTE 2010-2013
KIA FORTE KOUP 2010-2013
KIA K900 2015-2018
KIA OPTIMA 2011-2015
KIA OPTIMA HYBRID 2011-2013
KIA RIO 2012-2017
KIA RONDO 2010-2011
KIA SORENTO 2011-2014
KIA SOUL 2011-2013
KIA SPORTAGE 2010-2013
JEEP CHEROKEE 2014-2016
LINCOLN MKC 2015-2019
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