Maybe it's time for me to talk about "recalls".
There are "recalls" and there are "campaigns". The word "recall" only covers government ordered removal from the market, where the word "campaign" covers both voluntary and government ordered removals.
However, the automotive industry (which would include the tire industry) uses the word "campaign" (as well as "Customer Satisfaction Program" and similar wording) to make the distinction between the 2, where the general public uses the word" recall" for both. I think in most cases, the general public isn't aware there is a difference.
Unfortunately, the NHTSA perpetuates the lack of distinction by calling their look up table a "recall" database.
Recalls are government ordered and have to have 3 characteristics.
Please not: From this point forward, I am going to adopt the industry usage and only call something a recall if it is government ordered.
The 4 characteristics of a recall:
1) The item has to be identified in such way that it is absolutely clear what is included, and what is not.
2) There has to be a safety related issue. There are no "recalls" for bad paint, for example. Poor tire wear is another example.
3) The "failure" has to be diagnosed (a root cause identified), so that the limitations of the recall are reliable - that is, if the recall is limited to a production run (perhaps by date of production), then the root cause has to be demonstrated to NOT be in items outside the recall period.
This was one of the problems with the "Unintended Acceleration" of Toyotas - root cause. The floor mat was at least something tangible - and that leads me to the last requirement:
4) The recall has to provide a remedy.
In the case of tires, it seems pretty easy - replace the tires. In reality, it means that supplies of tires have to be put in place, a procedure has to be documented for anyone on the retail end to follow. Until all that is put in place, the government will not issue the recall.
But in the case of UA in Toyotas, just recalling them isn't enough. There has to be a "fix" that addresses the "root cause" - and if a root cause isn't identified, there can not be a fix, and there's no recall.
Campaigns can turn into recalls if the government - meaning the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) - determines there is a reason to do so. They did this for the second Firestone recall. But it requires extra work on the part of NHTSA, so it is only done if the situation is obviously a safety issue - which requires an agreement by the company doing the recall.
If the company doesn't agree, then NHTSA has to do an "Engineering Analysis" (EA) and that not only takes time, but keeps folks from working on other things. EA's are pretty extensive, may require lots of testing, and it may take over a year for the report to come up. Only then can a campaign be turned into a recall. Needless to say, NHTSA tries to persuade the company so they do not have to issue an EA.
Recalls do not expire - however, the remedy might.
Put another way, a tire may be recalled and - say - a replacement provided free of charge for the first year after the recall is announced. But after that year, the remedy might be a prorated replacement.
Remembering that recalls have to be approved by NHTSA, it is common for the remedies to be free of charge for at least the first year. BUT any changes to the remedy require that NHTSA be notified. They can over-rule a change, but after a couple of years they rarely do.
Campaigns, on the other hand, are done entirely at the discretion of the company. NHTSA will only intervene if they feel there is a clear reason to do so – meaning there is a clear and large safety issue - AND - if it isn't going to be difficult to accomplish.
Campaigns generally follow the same 4 characteristics as recalls, but there is a lot of wiggle room.
Campaigns can expire – and the remedy can be altered – all at the discretion of the company.
Edit: I forgot to talk about notification.
Needless to say the rules about notification for recall are much more rigid than for campaigns.
In a recall, every effort has to be made to notify potential owners. When it comes to vehicles, the original owner is pretty easy to identify - the dealership will notify the vehicle manufacturer of the sale of the vehicle so the warranty gets activated. failure to do so means no warranty coverage - and that can be a real problem for a dealership.
However, as time goes by, people move, vehicles get sold, and the connection to the owner can get lost.
This is further complicated by the fact that almost all of the states will NOT release information about the ownership listed in their vehicle registration database.
So unless you are the original owner living at the same address when you bought the car, then it is unlikely that anyone will find you to tell you about a recall.
