Co-Authored By:
Asked by: Maki Bentaleb
automotive auto recallsWhat is the difference between a TSB and a recall?
Also question is, is a TSB a recall?
Technical Service Bulletins, or TSBs, arerecommendedprocedures for repairing vehicles. One major differencebetween arecall and a TSB in the automotive industryis that arecall usually evolves out of safety issues at thebehest ofan organization like the National Highway TrafficSafetyAdministration (NHTSA).
Correspondingly, are TSBs free?
TSB's are sometimes confused with recalls, but theyarenot the same thing. While these service alerts are issuedtodealers by the car companies, a TSB repair is usually onlycoveredif your vehicle is still under a factory warranty. If yourcar isout of warranty, a dealer doesn't have to perform the fixforfree.
The first thing you as the consumer must learn isthedifference between a “TSB” ortechnicalservice bulletin, a “campaign”and arecall. A campaign is when a manufacturervoluntarilyrecalls NON-SAFETY related issues and eitherrepair's themfree of charge or at a reduced rate.