Federal Trade Commission
Recalled rental cars go unrepaired, auto officials sayff
February 25, 2011
DAVID SHEPARDSON
Detroit News Washington Bureau
Washington – Tens of thousands of recalled rental cars go unrepaired for months or longer, two U.S. automakers told federal regulators this week.
In November, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was looking at nearly 3 million recalled vehicles from General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC that were sold to rental car companies to see how quickly they are repaired.
Are You Playing Rental Car Roulette?
Federal Study: Major Rental Agencies Rent Out Cars That Have Been Recalled for Defects
By Brian Ross and Joseph Rhee, ABC News
Feb. 25, 2011
Editor’s Note: This is an updated version of an
earlier story, also reported on “Good Morning
America,” to correct a calculation error. See details of
the correction below. A survey of the major rental car
companies by federal safety officials found that in a
significant number of cases the companies have
rented cars under safety recall without first fixing the
defects.
ABC News Video: Renting Recalled Cars
Brian Ross exposes how rental car companies loan cars with known defects.
Click here to watch the video
How to Protect Yourself from a Potentially Deadly Rental Car
As holiday travel plans pick up, there still is no federal law requiring rental car companies to fix recalled vehicles before handing the keys to consumers.\
It turned deadly for sisters Jacquie Houck, 20, and Raechel Houck, 24, whose rented Chrysler PT Cruiser from Enterprise in Santa Cruz, CA was under recall notice from Chrysler with the warning that the power steering fluid could leak and result in an underhood fire.
Driving This Thanksgiving? Feds Launch Crackdown On Unsafe Rental Cars
As the busiest travel holiday of the year gets underway, U.S. safety officials have launched an investigation to determine how quickly rental car companies repair vehicles that have been recalled for safety issues. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has sent letters to GM, Chrysler and Ford asking for details on the recall repair status of almost 3 million cars that are among the vehicles most commonly rented.
N.H.T.S.A. Opens Audit of Rental Car Repairs
Citing troubling reports of injuries and deaths in rental cars, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has begun investigating whether millions of rental cars are being fixed when they are recalled for safety problems.
The agency opened the investigation — called an audit query — last week “to investigate recall-remedy completion by rental car companies.”
This is the first such audit this year by the safety agency. In 2009, it opened only two audits.
U.S. Probes Rental-Car Companies Over Recall Repairs
U.S. auto-safety investigators are looking into whether rental-car companies are completing repairs on recalled vehicles from General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC before renting or leasing them.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been informed of “incidents involving allegations of personal injury and death” caused by defects and failure to conform to federal safety standards, the agency said on its website today.