More than 1 in 4 taxi and rideshare vehicles analyzed by CARFAX across 16 major U.S. cities had at least one unfixed recall, a higher rate than the roughly 1 in 5 vehicles nationwide. The risk was even higher in some cities. In New York City, hailing a medallion cab came with nearly a 2-in-5 chance (38.6%) of riding in a vehicle with an unfixed recall, a rate similar to Seattle’s (37.5%).
“If you’re paying for a ride, you should be able to count on the vehicle being safe, too, but our data shows that isn’t always the case,” said Paul Nadjarian, chief product officer at CARFAX. The good news is checking for an open recall is free at carfax.com/recall and getting it fixed is free. It’s a simple but important step toward creating a safer ride.”
Meanwhile, some cities were doing far better than the roughly 20% national average, including Los Angeles at 11% and Boston at 9%. CARFAX analyzed nearly 438,000 VINs from registered taxi and rideshare vehicles across 16 major U.S. cities to find about 27% of vehicles had an open, or unfixed, recall. The VINs were provided by state and city officials, obtained through public records requests or open-data portals, then checked for open recalls using the Vehicle Research Search Service, a joint venture between CARFAX and the Alliance for Automotive Innovation.
There are conditions that can keep taxi and rideshare drivers from getting recall repairs done, said Elena Sierra, Executive Director of the Transportation Alliance, a trade group for taxi fleets. “It’s important to recognize that not all recalls present the same level of safety risk,” Sierra said. “They range from software updates and labeling corrections to more significant mechanical issues.”
