Is your car safe? State DMV urges drivers to check for recalls on their vehicles

Drivers statewide are being urged to make sure their vehicles aren’t subject to any recalls as part of an annual push to keep the roadways safe, the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles announced this week.

One out of every five vehicles on the road had an open recall in 2024, with more than 2 million of those vehicles in New York State.

Light trucks had the highest recall rate, with 24% needing repair work, the state DMV said. Minivans had the second highest recall rate, with 23% needing repairs, followed by 21% of cars on the roads, the DMV said.

"Vehicle Safety Recalls Week [March 2-8] is a great reminder to check whether there are repairs needed on your vehicle and its safety features," Mark J.F. Schroeder, DMV commissioner and chair of the governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, said. “It only takes a couple of minutes to check for recalls, but doing so can potentially save your life or the lives of others on the road."

Last year, nearly 1,000 vehicle and vehicle equipment safety recalls were issued, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Over 29 million vehicles were recalled in 2025, the administration said in a news release on Tuesday.

Over 1.1 million pieces of vehicle equipment, 745,000 car seats and over 145,000 tires were also recalled last year, the federal agency said. 

Recent recalls

In late January, Japanese automaker Toyota announced a recall of 162,000 pickup trucks in the United States after discovering that the multimedia screens in their 2024-2025 Tundra and Tundra Hybrid vehicles would malfunction when reversing.

In December, Ford recalled more than 270,000 electric and hybrid vehicles sold in the United States due to a malfunctioning parking mechanism that could cause the vehicle to shift out of the park position, according to the Detroit-based manufacturer. The recall impacted Ford's 2022-2026 F-150 Lightning BEVs, 2024-2026 Mustang Mach-Es and 2025-2026 Maverick vehicles.

Ford also recalled over 290,000 F-250, F-350 and F-450 vehicles, model years 2020 through 2022, over rearview camera issues that were faulty under certain lighting conditions, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported in October.