An announcement on Monday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration warning consumers that over 4.7 million cars might be recalled due to defects in air bag systems nearly shutdown the NHTSA's safercar.gov website as millions of Americans attempted to find out if their cars were on the potential recall list. 

Another announcement was posted on the NHTSA website near midday Monday explaining that due to high traffic the site was experiencing problems. A spokesperson for the NHTSA told The Washington Post in a statement: "We're aware of the situation and are working to get it back up as soon as possible. Please bear with us."

Reportedly the issue responsible for the recall has to do with Takata-made airbags installed in certain automobiles. Four deaths have been linked to this problem which results in passengers being struck by metal fragments during air bag deployment. According to the NHTSA, owners are to take their automobiles to the nearest authorized dealer if their cars are on the released list of cars that could potentially be carrying the defective air bags. For a complete list of cars potentially affected by this problem go here, or, NHTSA site permitting, you can use your car's VIN to see whether or not it is being recalled. 

According to officials, some 12 million automobiles across the world have already been recalled. The NHTSA also announced that owners of the affected vehicles who reside in Florida, Puerto Rico, Guam, Saipan, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands and Hawaii are urged to act all the more quickly. A partial list of the automakers potentially affected by this issue released by the NHTSA includes: Toyota, Honda, Mazda, BMW, Nissan and GM. Note: not every car by these manufacturers is being recalled. Only certain models and makes are carrying the potentially defective air bags. 

Again, if you are unsure if your car is being recalled, use www.safercar.gov to check once it is back up and running. On the site, owners can use their car's VIN number to determine if their automobile has been recalled. Also, owners can enroll in the NHTSA's recall alert program, which should arrive some time before the recall notices mailed by auto manufacturers.