NHTSA Mandates Mailing Label For Recall Notices

With credit-card applications, contests, and other forms of junk mail becoming more and more difficult to easily identify as junk, throwing away something important such as a recall notice is easy to do. Realizing this, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced late last week a change to make people recognize a recall notice immediately.

Starting February 18th, all manufacturers must use a distinctive label that states clearly that this is a recall notice and nothing else.

"Recalls only work if consumers are aware of them. This new label will allow consumers to quickly recognize recall notices mailed to their homes so they can act quickly to get their vehicles, child restraints, tires or other motor vehicle equipment fixed," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Fox in a statement.

NHTSA says the label will also"protect consumers from misleading sales and marketing materials that mimic, in their wording and presentation, legitimate safety recall alerts from manufacturers that can lead owners to purchase costly products and services that have no connection to a legitimate safety recall." NHTSA plans on enlisting a number of other federal agencies, including the FTC, to monitor and enforce the label.