Only 18% of recalls on 15-year-old cars get fixed, and the government is putting $1.5 million into changing that

An 18% average completion rate is what NHTSA reports for new recalls on vehicles about 15 years old, compared with 68% for three-year-old vehicles. To narrow that gap, the Transportation Department is putting $1.5 million into a grant program for states, according to details published on Nov. 7.

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The size of the problem is hard to overstate in raw numbers. More than 29 million vehicles were recalled in 2025, and every one of those campaigns depends on an owner learning of the notice, scheduling a visit and showing up. For an aging car that changed hands twice, the notice may be sitting in an address nobody checks, and the dealer repair may be a trip the owner does not think is worth making.

The 18% and 68% completion gap

Autoblog’s report attributes the two figures to NHTSA: new recalls on 15-year-old vehicles average 18% completion, while the average for three-year-old vehicles is 68%. The article suggests expiring warranties may explain part of the difference, since owners of older cars often use cheaper independent shops that never see the recall flag. NHTSA has argued the broader point at length, and its report to Congress on recall completion is the agency’s fullest account of why repairs go undone.

Age is not the only factor. NHTSA’s own annual completion-rate table cautions that rates vary across recalls and manufacturers for many reasons, vehicle age among them. The 18% figure is an average across new recalls on one age group, so any single owner’s odds depend on the make and the defect.

Grant money aimed at registration and renewal

The $1.5 million is a grant opportunity for states and eligible agencies, with applications open until Feb. 4, 2027, according to Autoblog. The money is meant to help states develop ways to tell owners about open recalls, including at registration or renewal, and to build data-driven methods for measuring completion rates. Grantees are also expected to produce reports on methods and processes so other states can copy what works.

The pitch is simple: the moment a driver renews a registration is one of the few times a state touches every vehicle owner, so it is also a natural moment to say a recall is open.

A 2020 precedent and an NHTSA summit

The idea has a history. In May 2020 NHTSA announced a similar program with $1.5 million for as many as six states, aimed at notifying owners during registration or renewal. Then-Deputy Administrator James Owens said at the time that getting a recall repaired could save a life, and the program was meant to supplement, not replace, manufacturers’ obligations. Whether the 2026 round repeats the six-state structure is not stated in the reporting reviewed here.

NHTSA also held a public summit, Recalls Next: Technological Innovations and Safety Recalls, at Transportation Department headquarters on Nov. 5, with Administrator Jonathan Morrison and Associate Administrator for Enforcement Eileen Sullivan among the listed speakers. The event page says millions of safety-recalled vehicles remain unrepaired and cites an April 2026 report to Congress on the topic.

Which automakers are issuing the recalls

Autoblog counted recalls by manufacturer so far this year: Ford leads with 84, followed by Stellantis with 41, General Motors and Toyota with 28 each, and Hyundai with 23. NHTSA’s 2025 annual recalls report is the official tally for last year, the source of the 29 million vehicle total.

Raising completion on older vehicles is a different job from raising it on new ones. A three-year-old car is usually still under warranty, often serviced at the dealer where the recall repair is free and the owner is already a customer. By year 15 the car may be on its third owner, serviced at an independent shop and registered at an address that never matched the original recall letter, which is where a state-run notice at renewal time can reach the person who actually owns the car now.

Autoblog frames the grant as part of a push to make recalls harder to ignore. The article does not quote a named NHTSA official on the funding, and the agency page that Autoblog draws from was not among the sources reachable in this review, so the program’s scoring criteria and award sizes remain unconfirmed here.

Measurement is the quieter half of the grant. States that join the program are expected to develop data-driven methods for tracking how many flagged vehicles actually get repaired, which would give NHTSA comparable numbers across jurisdictions instead of a single national average. A registration-time notice that cannot be measured is hard to defend to a legislature, and a measured one can be copied or dropped on evidence.

The open question is how many states apply by the Feb. 4, 2027 deadline, and whether a registration-time notice can lift the 18% figure at all. A reminder printed on a renewal form reaches the owner at the right moment, but the repair still depends on a dealer appointment for a car that may be 15 years past its warranty.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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