Issues
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.
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.