Issues
Jeep probe casts doubt on NHTSA data
Safety group says feds’ system misses many fiery crashes
Neil Roland
Automotive News | December 13, 2010 – 12:01 am EST
WASHINGTON — The federal safety investigation of 1993-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees is flawed by gaps in data collection that may hamper all U.S. probes of deadly fire crashes, a consumer group says.
The Center for Auto Safety, whose research spurred the ongoing Jeep Grand Cherokee inquiry, says government fire-crash data on which many investigations are based often are incomplete and unreliable.
Consumers Union Letter on California Rental Car Bill June 21, 2011
June 21, 2011
Senator Noreen Evans, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair
State Capitol–10th & L Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Senator Evans,
Are Rental Car Companies Renting Recalled Cars?
By WKBW News
May 30, 2011
Rental Car Firms Taking a Wrong Turn on Recall Bill
By Ben Kelley
4/21/11
What began as a simple bill to assure that car rental companies in California provide defect-free cars to their customers has become ensnarled in a full-out campaign by those companies to kill the bill as it moves through the state’s legislature. Ironically, the bill does nothing more than require the rental companies to do what they claim they already do in “the vast majority” of cases.
Faced With Recalls, Rental Companies Sometimes Decide to Wait
By Christopher Jensen
4/19/11
Several major rental car companies have told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that in some cases they continue to rent vehicles that have been recalled if they believe the problem is not serious.
The companies said they were faced with so many recalls it was difficult for them to determine what a Hertz executive called “a true safety recall.”
But as N.H.T.S.A. sees it, there is no such thing as an unimportant recall.
Safety Agency Widens Inquiry into Repairs of Rental Cars
By Christopher Jensen
In an expansion of its investigation into whether millions of rental cars are repaired quickly enough, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is demanding that major rental car companies quickly provide detailed information about their safety operations.
The investigation began late last year with the agency saying it was troubled by reports of injuries and deaths in unrepaired rental cars.
Schumer Announces New Effort to Keep Unsafe Rental Cars Off the Road
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 2, 2011
SCHUMER ANNOUNCES NEW EFFORT TO KEEP UNSAFE RENTAL CARS OFF THE ROAD; DEFECTIVE VEHICLES SUBJECT TO RECALL ARE STILL BEING RENTED BY RENTAL CAR COMPANIES
In Light Of Data Showing Rental Car Companies Continuing To Rent Cars That Are Under Recall Notices, Schumer Will Introduce The Safe Rental Car Act
Not all rental cars safe, USA TODAY analysis finds
Frequent business traveler Barry Maher avoids Chrysler PT Cruisers because “they seem so flimsy,” but he otherwise doesn’t consider safety ratings before choosing a rental car.
Though Maher’s intuition may be sound — the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety rates the 2010 PT Cruiser’s protection against side and rear-end crashes as poor — he’s like many travelers who rarely think about safety before driving off in a rental vehicle. Yet, many purchase their own cars based on safety.