California Air Resources Board

This page contains links to information regarding emissions recall service impacted by state and local stay-at-home orders.

Announcements Affecting Emissions Recall Registration Tie-in

No specific vehicle recall-registration tie-in directions at this time. Please see general information below.

General information

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) requires vehicle manufactures to remedy emissions related issues to ensure the air quality and public health are protected.  All emissions related recalls are important and need to be performed as expeditiously as possible.

However, in view of state and local stay-at-home orders, CARB is taking steps to ensure that owners will not encounter registration holds on their vehicles due to open emissions related recalls while such orders are still in effect.

Specifically, CARB is recommending to vehicle manufacturers that owner notification for any recalls scheduled for launch in 2020 be delayed by the manufacturer until 30 days after any California state and local stay-at-home orders have been lifted.  In any event, CARB does not intend to load any new VIN information into the Department of Motor Vehicles database for registration tie-in purposes (which could otherwise block your registration) until after 30 days from the expiration of applicable stay-at-home orders, as indicated above.  Manufacturers are being requested to inform CARB staff of the start date for the recall once it has been decided, including any recall for which it decides that a sooner launch is necessary (e.g., to address safety related issues).

This will result in your vehicle registration being unaffected by a registration hold until no sooner than 30 days after stay at home orders have been lifted, at the earliest, giving vehicle owners additional time to complete their emissions related recalls.