Do Appliance Recalls Have An Expiration Date?

Be it from customer complaints, extra manufacturer testing, or a new standard put in place to protect consumers, it is possible that someday one of your appliances may be recalled. It is the duty of the manufacturer to try and make contact with appliance owners to make them aware of this recall. However, doing this for other items, like vehicles, for example, is simple because there is a registration for them. For appliances, where an appliance ends up can differ. You may have got it from a store, which may allow them to contact you, but also you could have gotten a second-hand appliance, which makes contacting you difficult. If you recently learned that an appliance you owned has been recalled, but was recalled awhile back, can you still take advantage of the recall?

If an appliance has been subject to a recall, it is likely that the manufacturer offered free repair or replacement in order to get it up to standards. This would be great, but the recall was from years ago. The good news is that recalls don’t expire. If your appliance was recalled ten years ago, you can technically still take advantage of it, though most appliances near that age would probably be better off being replaced.

One consideration is if you did indeed get a recall notice, but ignored it, there could be consequences. That won’t void any recall attempt, but it could void damage caused by the recalled appliance. For example, if a washer was recalled and caused a huge leak, that water damage and appliance replacement would be on you if you did receive a recall notice for something that may cause such an issue.

It is important to regularly check recalled appliances at websites like the Consumer Product Safety Commission to see if any of your appliances are afflicted. These websites often come with pretty simple instructions about what to do next as well.