Senator Reiterates Efforts to Ban Recalled Vehicles From Being Rented

Posted on June 14, 2012

The mother of the victims of an automobile accident joined a California senator on Tuesday as that lawmaker lambasted rental car companies for not doing their part to keep consumers safe from recalled vehicles.

It all stems from an incident in 2004 in which two sisters were in a recalled PT Cruiser that the driver lost control of.  Those two individuals died as a result of an ensuing crash, and the accident shed a light on a problem that had previously gone largely unnoticed:  rental car companies renting out recalled vehicles.

Recently, a California senator called on rental car companies to pledge not to continue renting out vehicles whose safety has been called into question.  That senator stood with the mother of the victims of the aforementioned crash on Tuesday to report the results she has thus far received from companies in response to her requests.

Those results were not promising.  Of the four companies that the senator called upon to make a change, only Hertz complied completely, as they said that their company policy already provides for what was requested.  But Enterprise, Dollar/Thrifty, and Avis, although claiming they were mostly complying, were taken to task by the Senator.  She said they have tried to evade the issue and sought exceptions to the potential rule.

The Safe Rental Car Act has also been introduced by the senator.  It would force the companies noted above to heed her request by making it illegal for those rental companies to sell or rent recalled vehicles.

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