Tennessee drivers need to beware of unfixed auto recalls

It is a scary thing to even think about, but there are probably plenty of Tennessee drivers who are driving cars with unfixed recalls. These recalls can range from everything between an airbag not working to sudden acceleration problems. In some cases, these issues will not be noticed until it is too late and there is an accident.

Chris Basso, of Carfax, said last year there were 659 recalls. These recalls literally affected million of cars, trucks and SUVs. However, a number of owners, while they did receive the notices about the recalls, put off bringing the vehicles in to get fixed.

According to Basso, last year alone there were 2.1 million cars for sale online that had unfixed recalls.

In looking at why someone would not just bring in their vehicle to get fixed -- considering the fact that it is free -- car experts say the issue is that people get so much information mailed to them about their car that it is hard to distinguish between what is important and what is just promotional materials. This means sometimes the important stuff ends up getting thrown away with the junk mail.

In other situations, people do realize that their vehicle has been recalled, but just keep putting off bringing their car or truck in until they eventually just forget. Some also end up selling this cars or trucks without ever even mentioning the recall too.

For buyers, this becomes an issue when they are sold a vehicle they do not even realize has been recalled. Of course, this can be rather problematic when there is an accident and the airbag does not inflate properly or the seat belt does not work as it should.

In the end, the advice for car owners is to just bring in a vehicle as soon as there is a recall. For buyers, the best advice is to really do the homework and research before buying a car.