The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that, beginning June 1, 2016, rental car agencies must fix any and all open safety defects before renting out vehicles to customers.
Federal law now prohibits any company or dealer with fleets greater than 35 vehicles to rent unrepaired recalled vehicles. It also extends NHTSA’s recall authority to cover rental car companies for the first time, giving the safety agency power to investigate and punish violators.
In 2014, there were close to 900 recalls affecting 51 million vehicles nationwide. NHTSA has stated it will seek 100 percent remedy completion rates in open recalls.
Consumers can use NHTSA’s free Recall Look-up Tool to determine if a vehicle has an open safety recall that needs to be addressed. Vehicle owners are reminded to check for periodically and contact NHTSA with concerns related to the safety of their vehicles due to defects and recalls by visiting www.safercar.gov or calling 1-888-327-4236.
For more information, follow this link: http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/nhtsa-rental-cars-law-06012016