Earlier this month, Justin Huntley, a North Carolina resident, was getting his two young children ready for school. Just before he walked his sleepy kids outside to get in the car, he heard a disturbing sound. From the driveway, his Hyundai Sonata’s horn was blaring.

When he looked outside, he was stunned by what he saw: his car was engulfed in flames. For once, he was grateful his children were slow to rise.

“If it had been two minutes earlier, [my kids] would have been in the backseat,” he told WSOC-TV. Huntley dialed 911, though by the time they arrived, his Hyundai was a shell of a car. He said the flames coming from his car were so hot, they did damage to his house from the driveway.

He was sad to see the car he worked hard to buy be reduced to ashes and scorch marks in his driveway. However, he was more upset by how little he could do to stop it.

“The feeling is you’re helpless. You know what I mean?” said Huntley. “I couldn’t do anything. I’m watching my house about to burn down, my car about to burn down.”

After the fact, he discovered Hyundai issued a recall due to a fire risk

Shortly after his car was towed away and deemed a total loss by his insurance, he learned Hyundai had an active recall on his model year. According to the automaker’s website, the fuel pump was faulty, posing a serious fire risk.

Since he bought his Hyundai Sonata used, he had no idea there was a recall. He was never notified of such a serious recall, either.

“We never received anything in the mail,” he said. “We never received anything via email. If there was something that needed to be done, I would have gotten it taken care of, especially a recall, because there’s no cost to me.”

Checking a vehicle’s VIN for active recalls is easy. It can be done on the NHTSA’s website in seconds. After losing his Hyundai, he’s encouraging everyone he knows to check their VINs.

“I’m just trying to spread the word and let people know because this, they might not be as fortunate as I was,” said Huntley.