Are you invalidating your automobile’s insurance coverage as a result of you have not had it mounted?

Nearly three quarters of cars recalled for safety or mechanical issues have not been fixed – and if owners cause a crash due to an unresolved issue they could be held liable.

A review of UK vehicle history reports from January 2023 to September 2024 by specialist CarVertical found that only 28 per cent of recalled vehicles in the UK had the defects addressed.

Many of these recalls involve critical safety components fitted at the time of manufacture, such as airbags, brakes, and electrical systems.

While many of these factory defects are minor, some can pose major threats, making it inadvisable to drive the vehicle – and could invalidate insurance claims if drivers have an accident after the manufacturer issued the call back.

The incredibly high percentage of unresolved vehicle recalls is said to be a result of them becoming more common as cars are fitted with increasing levels of technology that’s vulnerable to faults. 

However, the study also found UK drivers have one of the worst records across Europe for actioning recall notices.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, responsible for overseeing car safety recalls in Britain, recently incorporated outstanding notices into its digital MOT system. This advises owners if they need to have their motor repaired on request by the maker.

While it says this measure is increasing the number of remedied vehicles, it refused to rule out incorporating recalls into the MOT test when asked by This is Money.

Experts have warned the high volume of cars with unresolved recalls, which could amount to five million vehicles in the UK, could be used to automatically trigger MOT fails in the future.

An investigation last year revealed the rate of vehicle recalls has surged tenfold in the last 30 years.

Almost 1.1 million cars (and almost 1.2 million vehicles in total) were recalled by the DVSA in the first eight months of 2024.

Latest figures show that almost 250 car recalls were issued by the end of the previous calendar year, affecting up to 2.3million UK vehicles in total.

In comparison, just 27 passenger car recalls were issued in 1994, according to DVSA records.

Cars make up the vast majority of UK vehicle recalls, which also include vans, trucks, buses, motorcycles, motorhomes, trailers, and even individual parts, like seats.

Matas Buzelis, of CarVertical, said: ‘As cars become increasingly modern and incorporate more electrical components, recalls are becoming more common. 

‘Fortunately, these issues are usually resolved during regular vehicle maintenance, causing minimal inconvenience to drivers.’

The vehicle history provider says that 3.1 per cent of cars on the road are recalled at least once in the UK. 

This is the lowest recall rate among the 26 European countries it analysed, with the highest seen in Portugal, followed by Greece and Spain. 

However, it suggested that many UK drivers are unaware of their vehicle’s recall status, or the importance of addressing these issues.

This is because cars commonly change hands with outstanding recall notices on them.

Manufacturers will always contact owners to inform them of the recall. The company also covers the cost of the repairs. But a major problem arises if a vehicle has been sold on and owner records not updated, which makes it extremely difficult for car firms to track down the keeper.

In the eyes of the law, it is the legal responsibility of vehicle owners to ensure their cars are safe to drive and therefore do not have outstanding safety recall notices. 

As such, some cars with defects posing serious consequences are likely still used on the road today.

This includes the infamous Takata airbag scandal in 2014, which saw 28 people killed in the US when defective airbag inflators exploded, sending shrapnel into bodies of drivers and passengers in vehicles.

More than 20 car brands were affected and 100million airbag inflators recalled globally.  

Despite extensive efforts by manufacturers including Ford, Honda, and Toyota, CarVertical believes vehicles with these dangerous airbags still appear on the used car market today.

BMW, for instance, was still issuing recalls last year as part of the Takata airbag fallout. 

CarVertical says unresolved recalls are causing a particularly high road safety risk in the UK, because almost three quarters of car owners have not acted – one of the worst examples across Europe.

In contrast, half of Greek car owners resolved recall notices over the same period reviewed. In Germany, it was 49 per cent, in Bulgaria 43 per cent and Spain had a 42 per cent recall response rate.

‘The fact that 72 per cent of recalled vehicles in the UK remain on the road with unresolved defects is troubling,’ Buzelis added. 

This isn’t just a statistic — it represents a significant threat to road safety. Ignoring recalls is a risky gamble.’

Ignoring a recall? It could invalidate your insurance

By law, it is a car owner’s responsibility to ensure their vehicle is in a roadworthy condition.

While minor recalls won’t impact your car insurance, failing to act on a known safety recall could land you in hot water with both the police and your insurer.

A collision found to have been caused by a mechanical fault that you’ve failed to have remedied despite a recall notice could invalidate your insurance, warns the RAC.

BBC consumer champion Matt Allwright told Morning Live last week that ‘particularly if it’s a serious safety defect and it results in someone being injured or worse, then it could be on you’.

He added: ‘If it turns out that you didn’t take the car in for a recall when you were made aware of it, then your insurance company could say you weren’t entirely doing your due diligence on that car to make sure you knew everything about that car.’

The DVSA also points out that if police find you at the wheel of a car with a major safety recall you can be ‘fined up to £2,500, be banned from driving and get three penalty points for driving a vehicle in a dangerous condition’.

Will an outstanding recall trigger an MOT fail?

Currently, the status of a recall does not impact an MOT test result. 

However, the DVSA in August 2023, acting on its ‘responsibility to make sure fixes meet statutory relevant safety standards’ incorporated ‘live’ safety recall data into its MOT digital services.

This recommends motorists check if their vehicle has an outstanding safety recall on Gov.uk’s MOT History Service, MOT Reminders service, and the MOT certificate.

However, there has been talk that outstanding safety recalls could soon trigger an automatic MOT fail.

Auto Data Solutions (ADS) – a specialist automotive consultancy firm – says the previous government was working on bringing outstanding recalls into MOT testing criteria, and the new administration is ‘expected to implement the change, but timing remains unclear’.

If unresolved safety recalls were considered an automatic MOT fail, ADS fears that more than five million cars could suddenly be deemed unfit for the road. 

It says this would ‘overwhelm workshops and leave frustrated customers scrambling for repairs’. 

It reiterated the major problems car manufacturers face attempting to contact existing owners of recalled models, especially if the original keeper has changed address or the vehicle has been sold to another party.  

It claims that half of dealer databases typically contain outdated customer details.

ADS says that dealer database analyses consistently show that around one in five lapsed customers of this kind are currently driving cars subject to an outstanding safety recall.

This is Money contacted the DVSA to ask if outstanding safety recall notices could trigger automatic MOT fails in the future. 

A spokesperson told us: ‘Road safety is our absolute priority, and getting recalled vehicles fixed promptly has a huge benefit for all road users.

‘In the last year, we have made more safety recall information available to vehicle owners, so they can get items fixed as soon as possible. For some vehicle owners, this may well be ahead of when the MOT is due.’

They said it will ‘continue to monitor the effectiveness’ of its current strategy of providing live recall information, saying early indications suggest the process ‘encourages motorists to ensure their vehicle is fixed in accordance with any recalls’. 

However, the government agency caveats: ‘DVSA may consider if the MOT needs to change in the future, but only if existing measures are not successful.’

Who is responsible for recalls – and which brands issued the most last year?

Recalls, especially in the UK, are serious business.

That’s because the DVSA only forces the hand of car makers to issue a recall if there are safety concerns.

Any non-safety-related faults can also lead to voluntary recalls by auto makers, though it is up to the manufacturers discretion to do so.

The severity of a recall can vary, ranging from adjustments in maintenance schedules to ‘Stop Drive’ orders where a vehicle must not be driven until repairs are made.

And they can be very costly for car companies.

BMW Group’s most recent recall to resolve an internal braking system fault in around 1.5 million of its cars worldwide – including Mini and Rolls-Royce models – was estimated to cost $1billion to make the necessary fixes.

In a recent report by Auto Express, the German car giant was found to have issued almost 640 recalls in the UK in 2024 – the most across all manufacturers.

More than half a million of these recalls were notices regarding Takata airbags in an aftermarket ‘M sport’ steering wheel upgrade fitted to some cars.

Mercedes-Benz was second in the list with 340,000 passenger car recalls for various issues, some affecting cars up to six years old.

However, it’s not just brand-new or nearly-new vehicles that are at risk of a recall, the oldest cars recalled last year include Audi A4 models dating back to 2004 – cars built 20 years earlier.

Below is the order of brands by volume of passenger car recalls in 2024.