More than 6.5 million vehicles on Canadian roads deemed ‘unsafe’: Transportation Department

More than 6.5 million cars currently on Canada’s roads — about one-fifth of all registered vehicles in the country — are considered “unsafe” due to unresolved recalls, the Department of Transportation says.

The department wrote in a recent “Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement” that most owners of these vehicles are unaware of the safety risks they pose, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

“It is estimated that one in five vehicles in operation on Canada’s roads has an unresolved safety recall,” the department wrote in the June 17 statement.

“Based on the 33.3 million registered vehicles in 2019, this means that there are still approximately 6.6 million unsafe vehicles on Canada’s roads, which could endanger not only occupants but also other road users.”

The federal Motor Vehicle Safety Act requires automakers to notify all their auto dealers and buyers of relevant recalls. Despite the mandatory notices, the transportation department said many recalls “are still unresolved.”

“Older vehicles are more likely to have unresolved recalls,” it wrote. “This could be for a variety of reasons, including a change of address that has not been updated in a company’s database or the fact that older vehicles with expired warranties are less likely to receive regular maintenance.”

The department also acknowledged that many car owners “may not know how to access safety recall information that affects their vehicles or vehicle equipment.”

Motor Vehicle Safety Act

In 2018, parliament approved it Bill S-2or “An Act To Amend The Motor Vehicle Safety Act,” which gave the transportation department extensive powers to “order companies to correct a defect or non-compliance” in vehicle recalls or risk potential fines of up to $200,000 per day.

The Transportation Department said last June that it will introduce more changes to the Motor Vehicle Safety Act in the future, but has not specified a timetable for this.

The department said the changes would give it the data it needs to “modernize, identify and analyze potential vehicle and equipment safety defects, and how recalls are issued,” and would also require automakers to “collect vehicle-specific information , maintain and share”. with the federal government.

The department further said it plans to improve the Canadian public’s access to automakers’ recall information by requiring companies to post the relevant information online and provide a “recall search.”

“This would help the public check if their vehicle has been affected by a recall,” the transportation department wrote in June 2022. background titled “Updating Regulations to Modernize and Strengthen Motor Vehicle Safety for Canadians.”