Connecticut General Statutes 14-65n – Notice re motor vehicle repaired or worked upon is subject to an open recall
(a) For the purposes of this section, “open recall” means a safety-related recall for which notification by a manufacturer of a motor vehicle has been provided under 49 USC 30119, as amended from time to time, that necessitates repairs or modifications to a motor vehicle by an authorized motor vehicle dealer, but does not include a recall related to defects or failures to comply with requirements relating to labeling or notification in an owner‘s manual or a recall where the remedy is for the manufacturer to repurchase the motor vehicle or otherwise provide financial compensation to the owner of the motor vehicle.
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 14-65n
- Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Dealer: includes any person actively engaged in buying, selling or exchanging motor vehicles or trailers who has an established place of business in this state and who may, incidental to such business, repair motor vehicles or trailers, or cause them to be repaired by persons in his or her employ. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Employee: means any operator of a commercial motor vehicle, including full-time, regularly employed drivers, casual, intermittent or occasional drivers, drivers under contract and independent owner-operator contractors, who, while in the course of operating a commercial motor vehicle, are either directly employed by, or are under contract to, an employer. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Highway: includes any state or other public highway, road, street, avenue, alley, driveway, parkway, place or dedicated roadway for bus rapid transit service, under the control of the state or any political subdivision of the state, dedicated, appropriated or opened to public travel or other use. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Manufacturer: means (A) a person, whether a resident or nonresident, engaged in the business of constructing or assembling new motor vehicles of a type required to be registered by the commissioner, for operation upon any highway, except a utility trailer, which are offered for sale in this state, or (B) a person who distributes new motor vehicles to new car dealers licensed in this state. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Motor vehicle: means any vehicle propelled or drawn by any nonmuscular power, except aircraft, motor boats, road rollers, baggage trucks used about railroad stations or other mass transit facilities, electric battery-operated wheel chairs when operated by persons with physical disabilities at speeds not exceeding fifteen miles per hour, golf carts operated on highways solely for the purpose of crossing from one part of the golf course to another, golf-cart-type vehicles operated on roads or highways on the grounds of state institutions by state employees, agricultural tractors, farm implements, such vehicles as run only on rails or tracks, self-propelled snow plows, snow blowers and lawn mowers, when used for the purposes for which they were designed and operated at speeds not exceeding four miles per hour, whether or not the operator rides on or walks behind such equipment, motor-driven cycles, as defined in section 14-286, special mobile equipment, as defined in section 14-165, mini-motorcycles, as defined in section 14-289j, electric bicycles, electric foot scooters and any other vehicle not suitable for operation on a highway. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Owner: means any person holding title to a motor vehicle, or having the legal right to register the same, including purchasers under conditional bills of sale. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Person: includes any individual, corporation, limited liability company, association, copartnership, company, firm, business trust or other aggregation of individuals but does not include the state or any political subdivision thereof, unless the context clearly states or requires. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Vehicle: includes any device suitable for the conveyance, drawing or other transportation of persons or property, whether operated on wheels, runners, a cushion of air or by any other means. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
(b) During the course of performing repair work or changing the oil or tires and tubes of a motor vehicle, a repairer licensed in accordance with section 14-52 or a person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of changing the oil or tires and tubes of a motor vehicle, shall determine whether the motor vehicle being repaired or worked upon is subject to an open recall by checking information provided by the manufacturer of the motor vehicle or other known and readily available sources, such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. If the motor vehicle is subject to one or more open recalls, the repairer, person, firm or corporation shall provide the owner of the motor vehicle with written notice of each such open recall at the time of such repair or work. The notice shall include a description of each open recall and a statement that a motor vehicle dealer approved by the manufacturer of the motor vehicle may repair or modify the motor vehicle at no cost to the owner, except as provided in 49 USC 30120, as amended from time to time.
(c) Nothing in this section shall alter the liability under common law of any motor vehicle manufacturer or motor vehicle dealer approved by the manufacturer to repair or modify a motor vehicle subject to an open recall.
(d) A repairer or person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of changing the oil or tires and tubes of a motor vehicle and any employee of such repairer or person, firm or corporation shall not be liable to any person for any act or omission related to the provision of a written notice regarding an open recall required pursuant to this section.