Is That Rental Car You Are Driving Really Safe?
At Silverman, McDonald & Friedman, we protect the rights of auto accident victims throughout the state of Delaware. If you or your loved one was injured in a crash or collision involving a rental car, you can trust our team to protect you. We maintain offices in Wilmington, Newark and Seaford for your convenience.
Raechel and Jackie were 24 and 20-years-old when they were on their way home from visiting their father and younger brother. They were driving a PT Cruiser that they had rented. Suddenly, the car caught fire and veered across the median and crashed head-first into an oncoming tractor trailer. The driver of the big rig, along with other witnesses said that the car was on fire prior to the crash. It turns out that the rented PT Cruiser was subject to a recall by Chrysler 30 days prior due to a defective steering component that caused leaking, fires under the hood and loss of steering control. The rental company did not remove the car from its fleet and complete the recall repairs. Rather, they rented the defective vehicle to the two unsuspecting women who were then killed in a crash.
It turns out that it was not against the law to rent out vehicles that were subject to a safety recall. Now it is. Thanks to a new federal law which prohibits rental car companies to rent cars that have safety recalls. The Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act of 2015 was included in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, the new Transportation Bill, which President Obama signed into law on December 4, 2015. The Safe Rental Car Act authorizes a rental car company that receives a recall notice to rent a vehicle only after the defect has been remedied.
After the crash, in a 2010 decision, a jury issued a $15 million verdict against the rental car company, Enterprise, charging that they failed to make the required repairs after having learned that the PT Cruiser was subject to a safety recall. After the verdict, Enterprise voluntarily agreed to follow the policies which are now included in the Safe Rental Car Act according to a story on NBC news.
Jeff Rossen, a consumer affairs reporter at NBC, went to three of the most well-known car rental companies and rented three cars that were subject to the recall for the Takata airbag defect. They took down the VIN numbers for the vehicles and ran them through the NHTSA’s database and found that they were unrepaired. Anyone who owns a vehicle can do the same thing. Type your vehicle’s VIN number into the database at SaferCar.gov and make sure that there are no open recalls on your vehicle. You can do the same thing before you drive away in a rental car. Run the VIN number and make sure that the care you will be driving is not subject to any safety recalls.
You are welcome to call us at 302.414.5553 or fill out our quick contact form to schedule a free consultation to discuss your car crash case with a knowledgeable personal injury attorney. From our offices in Newark, Seaford and Wilmington, the auto accident lawyers of Silverman, McDonald & Friedman proudly serve clients throughout Delaware.
Attorney Jeffrey S. Friedman joined Silverman, McDonald & Friedman in 2001. He graduated from Widener University School of Law, and is admitted to practice law in Delaware and Pennsylvania, and in several Federal Circuit courts. He areas of concentration include auto accident and workers’ compensation cases. Read more about Attorney Friedman here.