A long-time client called us recently, worried that a safety recall had been issued on one of her Toyotas. Her concern was ignited by a vague voicemail left by the dealer that sold her the two vehicles. The caller hinted that one of her Toyotas needed service (without specifying which one), gave her the impression it involved a safety recall and left an 800 phone number for a return phone call.

Posted by Jim

At our client’s request, we contacted the dealer and learned there wasn’t a recall on either of her vehicles. Even though we didn’t hear the initial phone message, we saw how much it confused our client and we couldn’t help but think the dealer had been hoping to spur business using the lure of a safety recall. While we certainly appreciate reaching out to clients we haven’t seen for awhile, we think this is a much different tactic than saying, “We miss you. Come back for a visit.”

The danger in vague messages like this one is that they mistakenly led her to believe there was something critical wrong with her vehicle. On the same level, another client recently shared his disgust with us at receiving an email marked, “Urgent notice about your Toyota!” When he opened the email, it was nothing but a generic advertisement for an oil change and maintenance special. (It was coincidental that his experience was also with a Toyota.) If you receive enough misleading ads like this, you may begin to ignore this type of messaging—at the risk of someday ignoring an actual safety recall.

That’s why we thought now would be an ideal time to explain how safety recalls work:

1) As the name implies, safety recalls are issued when there is a safety issue with a vehicle. They are not something you generally want to ignore. The reason for recall can take many forms: a fuel line may fail and cause a fuel leak, increasing the risk of a vehicle fire; an airbag may not deploy during an accident; the engine could stall while driving, increasing the risk of an accident. It can also be as simple as an information label containing incorrect information.

1) If there is a recall on your vehicle, you will almost always be notified by the manufacturer: Acura, Chrysler, Chevy, Ford, Honda, Toyota, BMW, Jeep, etc. You will rarely be notified by the dealer, unless you take it in for service and they mention it at the time of the appointment.

2) Recall notices are currently sent via postal mail, not by phone or email.

3) You can always check for recall notices online at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s web site. They usually announce a recall a month or two before before the carmaker begins to notify consumers. (We post new recalls to our web site each month, too, but if you miss a month, you’ll have to defer to NHTSA.)

Please keep these three basics in mind, too, if you receive emails insisting that you’re due for urgent service or clever direct mail letters from companies hoping to sell you extended warranty contracts. While extended warranties are a different animal altogether—and we generally find the good ones to be a worthwhile purchase, some of the marketing can cause confusion.

Perhaps most importantly, remember that we’re here to answer any questions you may have about any emails, voicemails or letters you receive and any car ownership questions that come up in general. Consider us your untapped automotive resource. We enjoy sharing our knowledge, especially when it directly benefits you.

Posted by Jim

Even though the weather has been mild recently, the frosty days will soon be upon us and you’ll want to be sure your car is up for the less-than-ideal driving conditions it will surely encounter.

Historically, preparing your car for winter meant changing the coolant, replacing the thicker summer engine oil with a slicker “thinner” oil, and checking your battery water levels. You may also have installed winter (or studded) tires.

Through the years, technology has made our vehicle fluids, batteries and tires more versatile. They no longer need to be changed with the seasons, but few auto experts have stepped up to inform consumers that the idea of “winterizing” your car has changed.

Here’s how we recommend you ready your car for winter:

• Inspect the tire tread and overall condition. Is there sufficient tread for the car to gain traction in the snow? Are the tires wearing evenly across all treads (and all tires)? Are there any bulges or cracking in the sidewalls or treads? If your vehicle performs poorly in the snow and your tires are in good condition, you may want to ask your service advisor if a set of winter tires would help.
• Ensure all fluids are up to par (clean) and topped off. This is actually important for all seasons, but now seems like an ideal time to prevent a breakdown (in arctic temps) caused by dirty or low fluids. Inspect the condition and level of your coolant, transmission fluid, power steering fluid, and engine oil. While fluid colors vary, you essentially want them to be clear or translucent. Any fluid that is thick and opaque most likely needs to be flushed. Reviewing your maintenance schedule can serve as a guide, or seek a professional opinion from your technician or service advisor.
• Test the freeze  protection of the coolant. While you’re checking the condition and level above, this test is important enough to warrant its own bullet point. Over time, coolant looses its ability to resist freezing. A quick litmus type test can tell you if the fluid needs to be flushed for lacking the protective qualities you need to survive winter.
  
• Conduct a full load test on the battery. Your favorite auto technician can handle this for you and can fairly accurately predict if your battery will be able to crank the engine on those bone-chilling January mornings.
• Replace the windshield wiper blades. As we reported in a recent post, about 90 percent of our driving decisions are based on what we see, and even though we’ve all experienced the frustration and fear of not being able to see clearly during a storm, an estimated 46 million U.S. motorists have wipers that can’t adequately clear their windshields. Let’s take a more proactive approach and replace them before they stop cleaning the windshield.
• Protect the paint. To keep your car looking good year after year, this is also an ideal time to have it detailed. A protective wax or coating will be applied to the clearcoat, protecting it from the harsh effects of road salt, snow, ice and rain.

At Star Auto Authority, we automatically inspect all of the above with every visit, except for the battery load test. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, use this as a guide to ensure trouble-free winter travels.

About 90 percent of our driving decisions are based on what we see, and having a good pair of windshield wipers is extremely important—especially as we head into the dark, snowy days of winter.

Even though we’ve all experienced the frustration and fear of not being able to see clearly during a storm, an estimated 46 million motorists across the nation are driving with wipers that can’t adequately clear their windshield. In fact, more than 75 percent of drivers only change their wiper blades after they function so poorly that they become a safety hazard.

Wouldn’t it be better if we took a more proactive approach with our wiper blades? Instead of waiting until our windshield is smeared with road salt and slush from passing vehicles, let’s begin to consider wiper blades an important safety component that need to be replaced before they fail.

Your wiper blades live outside in extreme temperatures from freezing cold to blistering sun. Over time, they become hard and brittle, and then they tear. They also lose their flexibility and just don’t clear the windshield effectively. Severely worn wiper blades can even scratch your windshield. That may require replacing the entire windshield—a big cost for such a little part. While you can certainly purchase and install replacement blades yourself, we can provide quality replacement blades for you. They cost about the same as they would at the store, except that we install them for free.

To stay ahead of the storm, so to speak, you really only need to replace your wiper blades twice a year—in the spring and the fall. Given the low cost, it seems like a prudent investment. Because we live in the snowbelt, you may even want to purchase special winter blades in the fall. Winter blades are designed to resist freezing and do a superb job of keeping your windshield free of snow and ice.

Here a couple of additional cold-weather tips:

• When the car has been sitting for a long time and the windshield has frozen, don’t use your wipers to clear off snow and ice. Doing so can just shred your blades and may even damage the wiper motor, a much more costly investment than a few minutes out in the cold with your ice scraper.
• Remember the washer fluid! Like peanut butter and jelly, wiper blades and washer fluid should rarely be separated. Even though we will top off the washer fluid for you at Star Auto Authority during service, it is a good idea to keep some extra fluid at home and an extra bottle in the car if you’re taking a road trip.
• Always use windshield washer fluid. It offers helpful de-icing properties, and plain water—even that fancy bottled kind—just doesn’t cut it. It can freeze in the fluid reservoir or on the windshield itself, making things worse. In addition, water won’t do as good job of cleaning your windows.

So follow these tips to keep your windshield clear and your eyes where they belong—focused on the road ahead.

Most people laugh and say, “No, of course not,” when they hear this question. And in auto repair, we like to use this analogy to explain why it’s also not a good idea to trust your brake service to the cheapest shop in town.

Certainly, we all love a great deal, and we all want a fair price. But when it comes to your brakes, you may get less than you “bargain” for. If a repair shop is advertising $99 brakes, chances are, it’s too good to be true.

First, that price most likely only covers the brake pads. It does not include machining or replacing rotors or replacing the calipers. Those are all additional—and rightly so, but there goes your $99 total. At the very least, you must machine the rotors. Machining these round cast iron or ceramic discs (see photo below of a disc brake system) will produce a flat, even surface, which is necessary for smooth stopping. Skip this step, and you’ll soon find your brake pedal pulsating under your foot every time you stop. (This is because the rotors are scored and uneven from the previous set of brake pads. The surface will only become worse as the new brake pads wear.)

Second, the brake pads they’re installing are the cheapest available. They’re going to be prime candidates for noises—screeching, scraping, rubbing. Take your pick. Do you really want to deal with that for the next 20,000-plus miles? (While the lifespan of brake pads varies greatly according to your driving habits and from one vehicle to another, cheap brake pads are going to have a much shorter life regardless.) The cheaper pads are also more prone to brake dust, which can leave a dirty black buildup on your wheels.

Third, the work will be performed by an entry-level technician. While there are many talented technicians with little experience, you at least want to be sure your brakes are serviced under the guidance of an experienced mentor. Not only is s/he more likely to notice additional developing problems, such as rotting brake lines or brake fluid that’s way past its prime, s/he is also more likely to take the time to clean and lubricate all of the brake component surfaces. This goes a long way to reducing noises and pulsations. And an entry-level technician at a shop that survives on volume of work is going to be discouraged from devoting time to such “optional” tasks.

Usually, when you factor in the additional costs of machining or replacing rotors or installing new calipers, that discounted brake job adds up to the going rate for brake service in your area. Then when you consider the annoyances or inconveniences caused by pulsating, screeching or dusty brakes, it’s much harder to consider this a good deal.

If you’re still not convinced, consider this: 2,000 pounds of metal moving at 60 mph will need to come to a stop somehow. Most prefer it to be a controlled and smooth stop, not a pulsating, shaking or uncertain one.

Think your brakes may need some attention? Here are 6+ signs they do.

With beautiful weather and a long holiday weekend ahead, many of us are heading out of town to celebrate the start of the summer season. But there’s nothing like car trouble to bring the fun to a grinding halt.

While you can’t always avoid problems, you can take steps to reduce the probability of getting sidelined during your travels. The most important step is a pre-trip inspection to prepare your vehicle for your big adventure. A lot of our clients prefer to go through this exercise with their Star Auto Authority service advisor to make sure they haven’t left anything out. But if you prefer to go it on your own, here’s a pre-trip checklist for you:

• Tires: A great place to start is with the tires. Inspect them for tread wear and proper inflation. Is it time to rotate your tires? Replace them? Are they up to the job?
• Shocks and Struts: also play a major role in both driving comfort and safety. If they need to be replaced, you’ll really be glad you did once you hit the road. Is it time for a wheel alignment? Fighting a car that’s pulling to one side all day can be tiring and dangerous. (As we all know, winter wreaks havoc on Chicago roads, and one run-in with deep pothole can knock out your alignment or even damage a shock or strut. Here are 11 ways to know if your car has sustained pothole damage.)
• Brakes: Any strange noises, grabbing, soft or hard pedal feel? If there is any doubt, we highly recommend a brake inspection before you leave.
• Belts and Hoses: Moving under the hood, have your belts and hoses inspected. If something is excessively worn or near failure, the stress of a long road trip might just be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
• Air Filter: Your engine air filter will also be important. For every gallon of gas you burn, your car will filter and use 12,000 gallons of air. If the filter needs to be changed, you’ll notice the fuel savings (or loss) on your trip.
• Preventive Maintenance: How close are you to your next oil change? Will you be able to complete your trip before it’s due? If not, have it taken care of before you go. A full service oil change is a great idea because we will top off all your fluids and check to see if any other maintenance items are due, such as transmission or cooling system service. (At Star Auto Authority, we’ll also inspect most of the items on this checklist during an oil change.) Also, be sure to test your wiper blades. Are they worn or working well? They’re an easy item to forget until you’re driving down a dark road on a rainy night. Headlamps are also easy to overlook. Make sure your high and low beams work, as well as your turn signals and brake lamps.
• Warning Signs: Do you notice any unusual odors in your vehicle? If so, it could as harmless as a dirty cabin air filter. But if it’s an exhaust leak it could be fatal on a long trip. Of course you’ll want to be comfortable, so consider A/C diagnostics or service if your system was not outputting cold air at the end of last summer.

All the items mentioned in this checklist are part of any good maintenance plan, and we will always advise you of your upcoming maintenance and repair needs. But if you haven’t been to see us for more than three months or 3,000 miles, consider scheduling a pre-trip inspection this week for added peace of mind as you embark on your trip. Happy trails!