More than 3.7M cars on the road have 'park outside' recalls, Carfax says
There was a 40% jump in the number of cars with 'park outside' recalls since May
More than 3.7 million cars that are currently on the road have a "park outside" recall, according to recent data from Carfax.
That's a 40% increase in cars with those recalls nationwide since May 2023. The number of cars with park outside recalls in some areas nearly doubled.
In Atlanta, for instance, there were 113,000 cars on the road with park outside recalls in January. That's up from the roughly 64,000 vehicles reported in May 2023.
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California had 368,000 cars with park outside recalls on the road as of January. About 189,000 of those were concentrated in the greater Los Angeles area. It's a staggering jump from the nearly 93,000 cars with those recalls reported in the area in May 2023.
Commuters sit in traffic on southbound Interstate 5 during the afternoon commute in San Diego on March 12. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images / Getty Images)
These figures, according to Carfax spokesperson Mike Lavigne, account for cars that have had a recall but don't have a fix yet and cars that have fixes available, but car owners haven't brought them into the shop yet.
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Hyundai Motor America and Kia America issued park outside recalls for more than 3.3 million vehicles in September due to the risk of fire, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
In June 2023, Lincoln issued a park outside recall for over 142,000 cars due to the same fire risk, warning owners to park "outside and away from structures and other vehicles until the recall has been remedied," the NHTSA said. That warning came just one month after Chrysler issued a park outside recall for certain Jeep Cherokee vehicles, due to the risk of fire.
Washington, D.C. skyline of monuments and highways. (iStock / iStock)
"The park outside recall is one of the most rarely issued recalls by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration," Lavigne said. "It doesn't come around every day, and they're considered one of the more dangerous recalls because of the hazard of fire."
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It's particularly concerning because this warning doesn't just apply to cars that are in operation but while they are off and parked in someone's garage or near another vehicle, Lavigne explained.
It's scary because something "could happen with no outside interference or any human interaction," he added.
The top 10 cities with the most park outside recalls as of January:
Los Angeles: 368,298
New York: 155,501
Atlanta: 155,343
Dallas-Ft. Worth: 334,524
Chicago: 144,440
Philadelphia: 171,951
Phoenix: 104,247
Washington, D.C.: 2,843
Houston: 334,524
Orlando-Daytona, Florida: 334,013