Bowing to pressure from consumers and advocacy groups, major car rental companies have agreed to end the practice of renting cars that have been recalled for safety problems and are supporting legislation that will end the practice.
Enterprise Holdings, which had been pushing back against legislation, said customers emailed and called the company asking Enterprise to back the bill.
Consumer pressure “made us reconsider our position,” said Laura Bryant, communications director for Enterprise. “We thought federal regulation and oversight was not needed … The consumers told us they would be more comfortable with greater oversight.”
It was a car rented from Enterprise that ignited the movement that led to the legislation. In 2004, two sisters, Raechel and Jacqueline Houck, were driving in a rented Chrysler PT Cruiser when they lost control of the car and slammed into an 18-wheeler. They died at the scene.
The PT Cruiser, which they’d rented to take a trip home to visit their mom, Cally, had been recalled for problems with a hose that carried steering fluid. The fluid could leak, leaving drivers unable to control their cars.
The Houck family didn’t know they car had been recalled until weeks after the accident. A loophole in recall laws allowed rental car companies to keep recalled cars in their fleets, without repairs, indefinitely.
Legislators will introduce a revised version of the Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act to the Senate by the end of the year that would keep recalled rental cars off the road. It’s taken two years for Sen. Barbara Boxer and Sen. Chuck Schumer to get the majority of the rental car industry on board. As of Thursday, the bill has the backing of all four major rental companies – Enterprise, which owns National and Alamo, Hertz/Advantage, Avis/Budget and Dollar/Thrifty, according to a statement released by Sen. Barbara Boxer. Those companies comprise 93 percent of the rental car market.
The bill was called a “major win for safety on our roadways and in our communities” by NHTSA administrator David Strickland.
Although the companies have agreed to keep recalled cars in the garage, until the law passes, there is nothing prohibiting them from renting those cars to consumers.
“Believe it or not, it’s still not against the law to rent a car with a serious defect,” Schumer said on a conference call to discuss the new bill. “When consumers go to the rental car counter, they shouldn’t have to worry about what they’re getting. Today we are solving this major loophole in the law once and for all.”
Schumer said he hopes the bill will pass during the end-of-year lame duck session following the November elections.
“I remain very hopeful and optimistic” that the legislation will pass, Cally Houck, Raechel and Jacqueline’s mother, told AOL Autos. “But it’s not done yet … I remain a bit cynical, based on my history lobbying for this issue. But we do have a consensus of all the industry’s major players.”
The rental companies had argued that they already have, in the past few years, put policies in place that keep recalled cars off the road. Rich Broome, senior vice president of communications at Hertz, said recalled cars are flagged in the computer system as recalled and are taken out of the pool of eligible rental cars. Any employee who rents a recalled car could be fired, he said.
Enterprise also has a similar practice in place, said Bryant, which led the company to believe it didn’t need any oversight from the government to keep its customers safe.
“At some point, you realize that if this is what your customers want, you need to deliver,” she said.
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Perhaps like before,automotive recalls are as hot a topic in this country as the apology of Tiger Woods. In fact, the analogy might not be too far removed: while we loathe those who cross us, we can’t help but forgive those who have truthfully begged for mercy.
Recalls are not something taken lightly by manufacturers or the Department of Transportation, mind you. They are fully researched over the course of a long period of time (which is why a lot of consumers question why recalls don’t happen until tens or hundreds of complaints are filed).
We’ve put together this guide to show you how the process works and how you might submit a complaint if you have an issue with your vehicle.
Sam Abuelsamid, Autoblog
Other than a manufacturer catching a problem on their own, 99% of the time a defect in an automobile is reported by an owner (or multiple owners).
Car owners who encounter problems believed to be due to some inherent flaw in their cars should, and often do, report issues to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. You can visit NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation by visiting their websitehttps://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/, or register complaints via telephone by calling 888-Dash-2-Dot.
NHTSA
Once the complaints reach a critical mass, NHTSA takes the first step toward an investigation. A Preliminary Evaluation is launched after consumer complaints reach a critical mass to cause concern. The hard part is that critical mass is tough to define — sometimes a few serious complaints can trigger an investigation, while other times they can pile up into the dozens or hundreds.
Safety problems that could cause loss of control or fires are of special interest to the agency. The findings determined by the Preliminary Evaluation determine whether further steps are warranted, or if the issue can be closed. Consumers can also petition NHTSA to open investigations, and will result in either an investigation, or a published statement outlining the reasons for denial of the petition. The ODI has a database of investigations on its website, as well as monthly reports of ongoing work.
If a Preliminary Evaluation determines there may be deeper problems, an Engineering Analysis continues the examination and looks more in-depth at a potential problem or defect. This is the step that requires the technical expertise and perspective of experts currently called into question by Toyota’s hearings.
Simply put, there are too few experts to handle many of these issues, particularly now that a lot of problems in vehicles are software-related, not mechanical-related.
This is the last step before a recall, and the two possible outcomes are closure of the investigation, or an escalation to a recall.
GM
This is the official step: Cars are called home for fault repairs. Automakers often initiate the action, although the ODI may occasionally have to force the issue and call a recall itself. While a recall campaign must be honored and carried out so long as the vehicle is viable, anything past 8 years of age is not eligible to be recalled.
No matter who kicks it off, NHTSA or the car companies, the public at large is notified via pres releases, direct communication with owners, and an entry in the NHTSA database.
An Official Safety Recall Notice is sent to owners and outlines the problem and the corrective steps. You should not expect to have to pay for a recall to be carried out on your automobile, since it’s the manufacturer’s mistake.
The Official Safety Recall Notice will direct vehicle owners about what to do, which usually means a trip to a dealer for corrective action.
Most often, fixes are simple and carried out with revised parts or an adjustment. If the problem is too big, the automaker may replace your entire car for one without the problem, or give you a refund, though that’s rare. While it’s uncommon for owners to pay for recall repairs, automakers don’t usually reimburse consumers for any damage or accidents that happened before the announcement of the recall.
Sam Abuelsamid, Autoblog
Even though cars older than eight years cannot be recalled, by the time it ages out, a vehicle is often on its second or third owners. Those subsequent buyers may not know whether a vehicle has been back for any recalls issued. Luckily, recalls are forever, and the information about a particular car’s recall history is often stored by the manufacturer and linked by VIN (vehicle identification number). Owner’s manuals may also be stamped to denote a campaign-related fix. The fact that recalls are good for the life of the vehicle is enough reason to contact your dealer if you buy a (new) used car, even if it’s quite old.
Further information about recalls can be found by visitingNHTSA’s website.
Sam Abuelsamid, Autoblog