ABC 7 WJLA's Spotlight on America team has discovered tens of thousands of government-owned vehicles have defects that could be potentially dangerous or even deadly.
ABC 7 WJLA's Spotlight on America team has released a report that reveals tens of thousands of cars in the federal fleet across the US are under active safety recalls that have yet to be addressed. Through a Freedom of Information Act request made to the GSA, Spotlight on America obtained the VINs for 207,000 cars in the federal fleet. After running them through the Vehicle Recall Search Service, a tool developed by Carfax and the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, they discovered more than 25,000 cars with outstanding recalls.
Some of the dangers uncovered were issues that could send metal fragments flying from the airbag in a crash, spark fires, stall engines while a car is at full speed, cause steering wheels to separate from their columns, and result in the failure of seatbelts or other equipment.
The investigation shows recalled vehicles in at least 45 different federal government agencies.The agencies with the highest number of recalled vehicles based on the VINs supplied include:
U.S. Navy: 3,000+ recalls
Department of Energy: 2,000+ plus recalls
Department of Homeland Security: 1,900+ recalls
U.S. Air Force: 1,800+ recalls
Department of the Interior: 1,200+ recalls
