Hertz Agrees Not to Rent Recalled Cars

With a safety investigation ongoing into recalled cars being rented out to consumers, Hertz has taken the step of asking for regulation to be put through by the government to ensure that vehicles under recall are fixed before customers are allowed to drive them. The second largest car hire firm in the US has made a deal with Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (CARS) to ask Congress to give the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) the power to oversee recalls throughout the industry.

The NHTSA has been investigating the car hire industry for over a year following accusations by safety advocates that recalled cars were being rented out without being repaired. The administration sets and enforces safety standards for motor vehicles, and under its regulations, vehicles under recall should be promptly fixed, as all safety recalls involve a risk to safety. Manufacturers and new car dealers are prohibited by federal law from selling vehicles under recall before they are fixed.

However, car hire companies aren’t included in this regulation. This is because the NHTSA doesn’t have jurisdiction over car rental firms. Although these companies buy the most new cars and are the biggest source of used vehicles in North America. Hertz says that it welcomes jurisdiction over the industry, and Senators Charles Schumer and Barbara Boxer say they plan to implement legislation for that when Congress reconvenes this month.

Hertz senior vice president Richard Broome says the agreement with CARS for safety recalls to be overseen by the government is in line with the company’s policy of not allowing recalled vehicles to be rented until they are fixed. CARS president Rosemary Shahan says that it’s unprecedented for a major car rental firm to actively support a new federal law that would see unsafe, recalled vehicles grounded by the industry until they are repaired. She has credited USA TODAY for helping spark the agreement after it spent the last two months researching the issues of rental car safety.

Meanwhile, the nation’s biggest and the third biggest rental agencies (Enterprise Holdings and Avis Budget Group respectively) haven’t joined the agreement. Laura Bryant, a spokeswoman for Enterprise, says that big recalls in recent years have meant the company made substantial changes and improvements to the inspection and repair of its vehicles. Proposed regulation hasn’t reflected these changes yet, and although it means well, it’s unnecessary.

John Barrow, a spokesman for Avis Budget says car hire companies will be singled out by laws forcing them to ground recalled cars until they are fixed, while taxis and limousine businesses will remain untouched. However, their group has been reviewing the agreement between Hertz and CARS, he added.

The investigation into renting recalled vehicles followed a lawsuit over the 2004 deaths of Raechel and Jacqueline Houck. The sisters were driving an Enterprise Rent-A-Car PT Cruiser with a safety defect that hadn’t been repaired. They were on their way home when a fire broke out in the power steering hose. Their parents were awarded $15 million in damages.

Mother Cally Houck joined advocates at CARS to lobby for a legislation that would ground rental cars with an unrepaired safety defect. Following the announcement that Hertz and CARS have made an agreement to push for the legislation, Mrs. Houck said that this is big news. They have felt from the start of their campaign that Hertz was the most willing to work out a solution. They hope to succeed in gaining the support and agreement of Avis Budget as well. She is also urging people to sign a petition, with a goal of 25,000 signatures, that will encourage Enterprise to join the effort.