HALL COUNTY, Ga. — A local woman said her engine exploded while she was inside the car and sitting in her own driveway.
Hall County resident Crystal Lepkham said she was sitting in the driver's seat checking her phone when all of a sudden she heard an explosion.
"It was just flames and smoke everywhere," Lepkham said. "It blew me back, the house shook when it blew."
Children were just feet away inside the house watching television. But here's what shocked Lepkham even more: She never received a recall noticed.
"It was just issued October 2015 of this year for this car – 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix -- and the recall was 14 years later," she said.
The recall notice advises if engine oil is deposited on a hot exhaust, an engine fire could occur. A GM spokesperson said that often car owners of older-model cars are sometimes harder to track down because the vehicle may have changed hands many times. This particular recall affects about 1 million cars, according to federal documents.
A spokesperson for GM told Channel 2's Rachel Stockman in an email:
"Advisory letters were mailed to owners of record last week. We do not have a timeline on when parts (replacement valve covers) will be available, but a second letter alerting customers to their availability will be sent when we have that information.
"Safety recall notices are sent to the owner of record regardless of the age of the car or the number of owners it has had, and a 15-year-old model like this is likely to have had multiple owners. We refresh registration data on safety recalls frequently and send post card reminders every three months until a safety recall repair is made. In the case of the latest recall, that would not apply because parts are not yet available."
But Lepkham said drivers must also check or recalls themselves periodically.
"Our fate is in our own hands, so if we sit there and ignore it, no one is going to take care of us like we are going to take care of ourselves," Lepkham said.
If you'd like to check to see if your car is under recall, visit this website.
WSBTV
