NHTSA Discovers the Internet, Introduces RSS Alerts

RSS is surely one of the most useful things web users got from the Internet, with fresh information delivered straight to their desktops. Although most people are already using RSS readers on their PCs and Macs, the folks at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA if you like, have just introduced RSS alerts for recall notifications published on their website.

In fact, staying up to date with the latest recall notifications without having to visit the NHTSA website every once in a while is actually a great thing but RSS has been around for a while so it's not such a major news that RSS alerts are now available for free. However, NHTSA officials said the new notification system, which by the way, can also alert you via email, cellphones and PDAs, may save your life because it provides vital information regarding your car.

“It is extremely important that people are aware of recalls and act quickly to get their vehicles repaired. When it comes down to it, ignoring a recall means ignoring a safety defect that could put you and your family at risk,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters said. “In these cases, information is not just power, it can save your life and the lives of your family and loved ones,” Daci Kelly, acting administrator of NHTSA added.

If you want to register for NHTSA recall alerts, go to Safercar official website and click the “Email recall notification” button. Note that in case you're not already using a RSS application, you have to install one to get RSS alerts (downloadable applications are available for any operating system out there while web-based solutions such as Google Reader allow you to read feeds straight from a browser).