Most of us who own a car and have been driving for a few years have received a recall notification from a manufacturer. The manufacturer is required to put large, scary words on the envelope, so you won't think it's another credit card application, e.g., "SAFETY," "RECALL," and "NOTICE."

On the inside, the letter also uses scary language to encourage you to bring your vehicle into the dealer to make the necessary repairs. It is a good idea, particularly if the defect may cause a fire or cause your brakes to stop working.

Not all defects require a recall. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is only interested in safety defects. So your car can have the worst paint job around with flecks flying everywhere and rust appearing on your hood, but NHTSA is not interested. It's not a safetyrelated defect.

Therefore, one could conclude (wrongly) that any defect regarding brakes would be safety related and require a scary letter. However, a safetyrelated defect by definition causes an unreasonable risk of a motor vehicle crash or, if there is a crash, an unreasonable risk of death or serious injury. Thus, even if the brakes are defective, if they give the driver sufficient warning before they go out, there may be no unreasonable risk. The brakes may start screeching well before they go out. This would put the driver on notice that there is a problem. This may end up in free warranty work, but no safety recall.

So, motor vehicle manufacturers and equipment manufacturers need to examine product problems very carefully. Obviously, you need to determine the cause of the problem. You need to determine whether the problem is causing a safety risk and, also, whether the driver is given sufficient warning so that there is no unreasonable safety risk.