As of this month, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, now requires rental car agencies to fix any and all open recalls – safety defects – before renting vehicles to customers. The new legislation requiring it was recently passed by the Congress in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act of 2015.
The enabling legislation was promoted by the family of Raechel and Jacqueline Houck, sisters who died in a crash and fire in PT Cruiser in 2004. A jury awarded $15 million to the parents who filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Enterprise Rent-A-Car of San Francisco. Daimler Chrysler had previously sent out a safety recall notices for 435,000 PT Cruisers from 2002 through 2005, saying the power steering hose could leak, resulting in a fire.
Enterprise admitted that the PT Cruiser had an open recall. It was rented multiple times after the announcement of a safety defect. The Houcks were the fourth.
Federal law now prohibits any company or dealer with fleets greater than 35 vehicles to rent un-repaired recalled vehicles. It also extends NHTSA’s recall authority to cover rental car companies for the first time, giving the safety agency power to investigate and punish violators.
In 2014, there were close to 900 recalls affecting 51 million vehicles nationwide. NHTSA has stated it will seek 100 % completion rates in open recalls. Skeptics point out that the older the vehicle recalled, the lower the chance of it getting fixed.
Consumers can use NHTSA’s free Recall Look-up Tool to determine if a vehicle has an open recall that needs to be addressed. Vehicle owners are reminded to check for periodically and contact NHTSA with concerns related to the safety of their vehicles due to defects and open recalls by visiting www.safercar.gov or calling 1-888-327-4236.
