C.A.R.S. in the News

 
"U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pennsylvania) has responded to questions about why his car dealership offers vehicles for sale with potentially dangerous defects.

Pennsylvania law allows car dealers to sell vehicles with open safety recalls. But consumer advocates say it's potentially dangerous.

Pennsylvania is one of the few states with a law specifically allowing the sale of these cars, as long as the defects are disclosed at the time of sale.

Earlier this year, Action News Investigates found 17 cars with open recalls for sale at dealerships owned by Kelly.

WTAE chose to look specifically at Kelly's dealership because in November 2015, he spoke on the floor of the House in favor of a bill that would have allowed car dealers to rent or loan vehicles even if they were subject to safety recalls.

'There is not a single person in our business that would ever put one of our owners in a defective car or a car with a recall. But that could happen. That could happen,' Kelly said at the time.

Kelly refused to comment when we contacted him earlier this year....


In a statement, Pennsylvania Automobile Association Vice President Chad Marsar said, 'Every day, dealers are fixing these vehicles, at no cost to the consumer, as soon as parts become available from the manufacturer.'

But Rosemary Shahan, of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, said Pennsylvania's law is putting car buyers at risk. She said Kelly and other dealers should fix recalls before putting vehicles up for sale.

'When there is a safety recall, it means the car is unsafe,' she said. 'If the car has a safety recall you don't want to buy it. You want to wait until it's fixed and safe to drive.'

Action News Investigates found that five of the vehicles at Kelly's dealership with active recalls were advertised on his website as GM-certified....


Brendan Kelly, the congressman's son who oversees the dealership, did not return multiple messages from Action News Investigates.

'Anytime you go to a licensed dealer, you shouldn't have to worry they're deliberately or negligently selling you a car that's really unsafe,' Shahan said.

Watch Investigative Report: WTAE Action News: Action News Investigates questions congressman about vehicles with open safety recalls sold at his car dealership
 

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"AutoNation, America's largest car retailer, has sold customers used vehicles with unrepaired defects, according to a new report from the US PIRG Education Fund and the Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety Foundation.

The report, which surveyed 2,429 vehicles, was conducted across 12 states at 28 different dealerships in July and August 2019. Out of those vehicles, researchers found 285 unrepaired safety recalls and determined that one out of nine used AutoNation cars contained defects, which ranged from faulty ignition switches to malfunctioning airbags.

The auto retailer currently operates more than 300 dealerships nationwide....

'...the main problem is that they're selling these cars to begin with,' a spokesman wrote to Vox in an email. 'These companies shouldn't sell vehicles they know have unrepaired recalls and endanger customers.'
   
While federal law prohibits dealers from selling new vehicles with unfixed recalls, there is no [federal] law that prevents used cars with similar problems from being sold, [unless they are owned by a rental car company or auto dealer as part of a fleet of 35 or more rental or loaner vehicles]. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) reintroduced the Used Car Safety Recall Repair Act in June 2019 to close that safety loophole. The bill is currently being reviewed by the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The senators had previously pushed for similar legislation in 2015, but the proposal received pushback from automobile dealers and ultimately wasn't signed into law. There are, however, state consumer protection laws that could be applied towards dealers.

Read more at Vox: America's Largest Auto Retailer Sells Recalled Cars. That Isn't Against Federal Law
 

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"Transit authorities statewide have been targeted with lawsuits alleging that, among other privacy violations, information from toll-road transponders — think FasTrak — is being used to illegally market to drivers.

Transit agencies have taken the legal threat seriously enough that they've enlisted a Southern California state senator to introduce legislation giving them retroactive immunity — that is, a get-out-of-jail-free card for any past misdeeds.

At stake is potentially billions of dollars in fines.

And also your personal information.

'The transit agencies are apparently saying that there have been so many violations, if they don't receive retroactive protection, they could be wiped out,' said Rosemary Shahan, president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, a Sacramento advocacy group.

'This bill basically says that all that bad stuff they did, it's now legal,' she told me.

"I want to be helpful to the transit agencies," he said. "That is the only reason for my being involved with this bill. I intend to keep things really tight and not screw around with privacy concerns."
   
However, not all privacy violations alleged in the lawsuits involve technical operations. Some involve questionable marketing practices, such as using people's transit data to try and sell them things.

Lori Myers, 48, who is suing several Orange County transit agencies, told me she's received numerous promotions via email for local businesses — promotions that she suspects are related to her daily travels.

'The emails always came after I used toll roads,' she said. 'It seems very suspicious.'
   
...consumer advocates think the transit agencies are asking for too much.

'Going forward, there should be strict limits on information they can collect and share,' said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, a Los Angeles advocacy group.

'Looking backward,' he said, 'there shouldn't be retroactive immunity. There should be a settlement brokered that addresses past violations.'

I agree, at least in regards to possibly illegal marketing.

The transit agencies say they did nothing wrong.

So they have nothing to worry about. Right?"

Read more: David Lazarus, Los Angeles Times: "FasTrak agencies may have sold out your privacy. Now they want legal immunity"
 

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"Armando Vargas-Ortega had bought his 2002 Honda Civic just three months earlier. While driving on the outskirts of Phoenix one evening last June, Vargas-Ortega, 54, collided with a Jeep that had run a stop sign.

His wife, in the passenger seat, survived with only minor injuries after her airbag activated, as it's meant to. But Vargas-Ortega's airbag malfunctioned. Instead of cushioning the blow, it ejected a piece of metal, lacerating the carotid artery in his neck and covering the driver's seat with 'copious amounts of blood,' according to the police report. Vargas-Ortega died in the hospital three days later....

...the systems in place to identify and fix dangerous vehicles are flawed. Vargas-Ortega's death occurred because of a safety defect that Honda had issued a recall for years earlier. Today, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that the unsafe inflator remains unrepaired in nearly 23 million vehicles....

Jared Allen, a spokesperson for the National Automobile Dealers Association, says his group encourages franchised used-car dealerships to tell consumers when a car they're interested in has an open recall, echoing comments from the trade group that represents independent dealers. Allen also says dealers should try to fix used cars with serious recalls. But he says they shouldn't be required by law to fix all recalls because replacement parts are not always available and because "not all recalls are equal" and need to be repaired before a buyer leaves the lot.

Car safety advocates disagree. 'There's only one reason it's under a safety recall, and that's because it's unsafe,' says Rosemary Shahan, president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, a national watchdog group based in California. There's now additional protection for rental cars under federal law, Shahan says, arguing that the same protections should apply to used cars. [Shahan also pointed out that there are many state laws that exist to protect consumers from unsafe cars. Some consumers, using state consumer protection laws, have won lawsuits against dealers who sold them unrepaired recalled vehicles.]

When our secret shoppers asked directly about the Takata recall, saying that they had heard about it on the news, the dealers' responses varied, with some refusing to fix or even acknowledge the problem....

For example, a dealer at the Richmond Truck Authority in Richmond, Va., told our shopper that it couldn't do the repair on the truck because it wasn't a Ford dealer but that once the truck was sold, it would be done for the new owner free of charge. 'I can't even take it to them because being another dealer, they will charge me for it,' our shopper was told. 'But you being the owner, they will do it for free.'

But under federal law, recall repairs are free to the legal owner of a vehicle, which includes used-car dealers. And Ford spokesperson Monique Brentley says that anyone, including independent dealers, can take any Ford, Lincoln, or Mercury vehicle to an authorized dealership for a recall repair at no charge.

Several states, spurred by industry-led lobbying campaigns, have tried to protect used-car dealers from lawsuits related to recalls. Last year, Tennessee enacted a law saying dealers were, in most cases, protected as long as they disclosed open recalls. Pennsylvania has a similar law. Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, and New York reportedly also have similar measures under consideration.

Consumer advocates, however, say simply disclosing the problem isn't good enough. 'That puts the burden on the buyer to sort through what needs to be fixed right away and what could wait,' says Wallace, CR's policy expert."

....for commercial dealers, both franchised and independent, it should be mandatory [for them to get problems fixed before they sell the car].

Says Wallace: "If there's an open defect, it has to be fixed, period."

Read more: Consumer Reports, April 30, 2019: Hidden Risks of Used Cars
 

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"DETROIT — More than three years after the government took over management of recalls involving dangerous Takata air bag inflators, one third of the recalled inflators still have not been replaced.

That's according to an annual report on the recalls released late Friday by the government and a court-appointed recall monitor.

The report touts progress made this year by 19 automakers involved in the recalls, with recall repair rates across all companies increasing 30 percent during the year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

But the report by monitor John Buretta says 16.7 million faulty inflators out of 50 million under recall have yet to be replaced. And 10 million more inflators are scheduled to be recalled in January.

Safety advocates said the completion rate should be far higher given the danger associated with the inflators....

Three years ago, NHTSA started to get consent orders from Takata and automakers to speed up repairs and hold them accountable, 'except NHTSA refuses to actually enforce the orders, thus stuffing another gift in the stockings of the auto industry,' Levine said.

Levine and Rosemary Shahan, president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, said the agency tried to hide the report by releasing it late on a Friday before Christmas. 'It's embarrassing,' Shahan said. 'They have to put out the report, so this is when they do it to bury it,' Shahan said."

Read more: Washington Post / Associated Pres:Report says 16.7 million faulty Takata airbags still on U.S. roads

Watch news report: KOTA TV - from Associated Press:Report says 16.7 million faulty Takata airbags still on U.S. roads
 

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"A couple of years ago, a Florida man was fined $48,000 by the Federal Communications Commission for employing an illegal signal jammer during his commutes to prevent nearby drivers from using their cellphones.

I can relate. I bet you can too.

It's illegal to have a cellphone in your hand while behind the wheel in California and at least a dozen other states. But that doesn't stop people from doing it...

Admittedly, the matter is complicated.

'If it's an option for parents to get their kids off on the right footing and develop safe driving habits, that could be a real safety benefit,"'said Rosemary Shahan, president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, a Sacramento-based advocacy group.

'But if it's envisioned as a way to modify the behavior of all drivers, it seems unlikely that those who are the worst offenders in terms of using their phones would be inclined to purchase that option,' she told me.

And if such technology was mandatory, Shahan observed, 'what about being able to reach 911 in an emergency where it's not safe to pull off the road, or to use a phone to navigate or get directions?'

These are big questions. But we're facing a big problem.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says 37,133 people died last year in motor vehicle crashes, and more than 3,000 of those deaths involved distracted drivers. Thousands more people are injured annually by drivers who take their eyes off the road."

Read more: Los Angeles Times: "It's time cellphone signal jammers were installed in people's steering wheels"
 

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"The deadly limousine crash in New York has brought fresh attention to the issue of limos and safety regulation. The 'limousine loophole' means stretch limos aren't required to be tested for safety....

AILSA CHANG, HOST: The deadly limousine crash in New York that killed 20 people last weekend is raising questions about safety regulations. Limo makers do not have to prove that their vehicles meet the same safety standards as other cars on the road, and they never have. NPR's Camila Domonoske reports.

CAMILA DOMONOSKE: Rosemary Shahan is the president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety. She says the onus shouldn't be on customers to figure out if a limo is safe.

ROSEMARY SHAHAN: I think it's just really grossly unfair. People - of course they always care about safety. I just think most people assume that if they're in the business, that there are minimum requirements that they have to meet."

Read more: National Public Radio:"Deadly Limousine Crash in New York Brings Fresh Attention to Safety Regulation Loophole"
 

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"Pretending to own a Porsche for the day has never been easier thanks to several startups now hoping to "disrupt" the traditional rental car industry with sharing applications modeled after Uber.

But unlike Uber, which has famously tried to argue that it is not a transportation company, the rental car startups appear to be much more cooperative with lawmakers.

Safety advocates and lawmakers in California say that Turo and GetAround have thrown their support behind a new state law that will ban cars with open safety defects from being loaned out through their platforms.

The legislation, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday, is similar to Obama-era legislation targeting the traditional rental car industry.

'To their credit, Turo and GetAround not only supported the bill, but are the official sponsors, and are setting the standard for the entire [Personal Vehicle Sharing Program] industry,' Rosemary Shahan of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (CARS) said in a statement."

Read more: Consumer Affairs: "Rental Car Startups Promise to Keep Unsafe Inventory Off the Road"
 

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"Four years ago, Angela Davidson bought a used 2010 Dodge Ram from a CarMax in Irvine. Days later, Davidson learned the vehicle had been recalled more than a year prior due to a defect predisposing it to fire. After a quick fix at a local Chrysler dealership, Davidson and her family made their way to Las Vegas.

Halfway through the trip, the car burst into flames. The family escaped, but the fire burned several acres of the Mojave Desert. In spite of Chrysler's faulty repair, Davidson places the bulk of the blame on CarMax for selling her what was supposed to be a "great quality car," according to the company's mission statement.

CarMax's website shows that the company continues to sell used cars that are on official safety recall lists, including for having fire-causing defects, though consumers will only learn this if they look up the cars' VIN numbers on recall sites. CarMax [claims that it] does provide customers with a written disclosure of the defects prior to a car's sale. SN&R found three examples of cars that had been recalled specifically due to a fire risk for sale at CarMax's South Sacramento dealership, among several other recalled cars for sale....

Jason Levine, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, [argues that] state regulators do have avenues available to them if they want to restrict the sale of defective used automobiles.

'At the state level, there are regulatory provisions that arguably make CarMax's actions with respect to the sale of an unrepaired recalled vehicle in violation of those parts of the code, which range from unfair or deceptive acts or practices and the fact that you can't sell an unsafe car," Levine said. "Not only do we need new laws, but some of the existing authorities can be brought in to reign in CarMax's practices.'

Even if there are laws on the consumer's side, Rosemary Shahan, president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, says the used car business is just not an enforcement priority for officials at the moment. Shahan said CarMax's corporate influence and the reluctance from the California DMV, attorney general's office and district attorneys up and down the state have allowed the company to continue selling recalled cars..."

Read more: Sacramento News & Review: "Fire Risk on Wheels"
 

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"A bill that purports to protect consumers from car dealerships that sell recalled vehicles could actually provide consumers with far less protection in legal disputes, a Kane In Your Corner investigation finds.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. James Beach (D- Cherry Hill) includes a section totally unrelated to recalls, which would reduce buyers' rights under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. State election records also show the bill was introduced after three years of large contributions from car dealerships to the Senate Majority PAC, including $500,000 from one car dealer alone.

Alexis Rodrigues is the kind of car buyer the bill would appear to help. She thought she was getting a good deal on her 2009 Ford Edge, until she got a recall notice saying the car had defective airbags, and replacements would not be ready until September. 'I'm spending money on a vehicle that we can't use,' she says.

Had the bill been in place, Rodriques would have had to have been informed that the car she was purchasing had an open recall. But there's something else in the bill that sponsors aren't so eager to talk about.

"It's a double whammy to consumers and a gift to auto dealers," consumer attorney Michael Galpern says bluntly...

Alexis Rodrigues is skeptical the bill would even benefit people in her situation, saying lawmakers should simply ban the sale of cars with open recalls instead. 'Even if this passes, it's still going to happen,' she says. 'They'll just slip it by you and you'll sign it. And it's just going to keep happening.' "

Watch full report: KIYC-TV: "New Jersey Car Recall Bill May Provide Less Protection in Legal Disputes"

Note: It is already illegal under various state laws in all states including in New Jersey -- with the sole exceptions of Pennsylvania and Tennessee -- for car dealers to sell unsafe recalled cars, whether they are new or used.
 

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"A new state law signed by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday gives car dealers more incentive to sell unrepaired, defective cars to unwitting customers, consumer groups charge.

House Bill 1898 enjoyed broad support among state lawmakers and car dealers, who claim that the measure will protect consumers because it requires dealers to inform buyers about open recalls on their cars.

The law mandates that dealers provide 'formal disclosure' to vehicle purchasers about open recalls. Such a disclosure 'alerts [buyers] to the existence of a condition that the vehicle manufacturer, through their dealer network, will correct free of charge,' according to testimony given last year by Pennsylvania Automotive Association Executive Vice President Mark Stine, who supported the bill.

But that 'formal disclosure' could very well be buried in the fine print of a purchase, according to car safety groups. Advocates suspect that vehicle dealers are only throwing their support behind the 'disclosure' law because it could be used as a defense should they face a lawsuit relating to a defective vehicle they sold.

And for many recalled cars, such as cars with defective airbags, there is such a long backlog for repairs that consumers are left with no choice but to wait.

The law will 'give dealers in Pennsylvania a new 'safe harbor, for selling dangerous recalled used cars,' Ralph Nader wrote in a letter to Pennsylvania's governor, before the bill was signed into law. Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, The Consumer Federation of America and several other car safety groups also wrote to the governor urging him to veto the bill....

...in a measure that is strikingly similar to the bill in Pennsylvania, Honda in 2014 reportedly began pushing dealers to have buyers sign paperwork stating they were aware that their used car had a defective airbag that had not been repaired.

'I believe it takes away the liability,' a Honda dealer told Automotive News at the time."

Read more: Consumer Affairs: "Pennsylvania passes law that will make it easier for car dealers to sell lemons, safety groups say"
 

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"Carlos Smith needed rent money while he was between construction jobs, so he tapped his biggest asset — a paid-off 2008 GMC Sierra Denali pickup truck. He pledged it to a storefront lender as collateral for a $4,000 "auto-title loan" with a 70 percent interest rate.

That 2013 transaction led to a three-year ordeal during which Smith's debt mounted even as he made payments. When he'd fall behind, the lender would send out a tow-truck driver to repossess his pickup. He'd catch up on payments plus fines and storage fees, then fall behind again, and soon find the repo man at his door or his phone ringing with the debt collector. He started to feel stalked.

'At the beginning they talked real nice, like, "You can pay it back in four months, there shouldn't be much interest, and everything will be fine,' he said. 'But immediately after I signed the documents it seemed they were intent on getting my truck.'

Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia have outlawed or capped interest rates for the short-term pink-slip loans, which consumer advocates say are as predatory as payday loans. But California has few restrictions on "cash for cars" lending, which has surged in the Golden State — as have the number of repossessions.

....About 17 percent of Californians with pink-slip loans have their cars seized, according to the state Department of Business Oversight, which collects data from the industry. Last year, the cars of 20,280 borrowers were repossessed, out of 118,431 outstanding title loans, the report said. More than half the seized vehicles (12,687) were sold at auction.

'These loans are like legalized car thievery,' said Rosemary Shahan, executive director of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, a consumer advocacy group. 'They're extremely high risk for consumers' who can end up losing their cars, plunging deeper in debt, and dinging their credit with a repossession. In fact, she said, many consumers might be better off selling their cars and buying less expensive ones because they wouldn't rack up extra debt through interest and fees."

Read full report: San Francisco Chronicle: "Pink-slip Car Loans: Quick Cash, High Price Tag"
 

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"When Robert Torres of La Habra, California, bought a used Mustang from a car dealer in 2014, he didn't expect it to come with a potentially deadly defect.

In May 2016, Ford issued a safety recall for the Takata airbag on the driver's side, which had been linked to serious injuries and deaths. When Torres took in his car for repairs, the dealer made changes to the airbag but told him replacement parts were unavailable. In July 2016, Ford issued another recall, this time for the defective Takata airbag on the passenger side. In December 2017, Ford sent a notice to Torres warning him not to let anyone sit in the passenger seat until it was repaired.

A Ford dealer promised Torres a loaner car, but despite repeated calls and letters from Torres and others to the dealer and to Ford Motor Company, it never materialized.

Torres says that he called the dealer regularly to ask when parts would be ready, but he was told there were no parts and that he just had to wait....

'Outrageous' is how Rosemary Shahan, the founder and president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (CARS), describes Ford's response to Torres and other consumers seeking loaner cars.

Discussing vehicle owners waiting for replacement airbag parts, Shahan said, 'Automakers should provide all of their customers with safe loaner cars and ensure that they are free from safety recall defects,' she says. 'They should also ensure that the car owners don't run into barriers in getting safe, no-cost alternative transportation.' "

Read more: Forbes: "Many Dealers Routinely Deny Loaner Cars to Customers Waiting for Fix to Deadly Airbags"
 

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"Turo allows its 200,000 members who are car owners to post vehicles online and rent them out for as little as $10 a day. Turo officials say their company is a technology platform that allows car owners to earn extra cash, not a rental car company. Because Turo doesn't own any vehicles, they say, the company shouldn't be subject to the same regulations as traditional rental companies....

In Maryland, a bill introduced by Enterprise would force Turo to collect sales tax, introduce safety inspection and remove cars with recall notices from their site. The bill under debate would also force Turo to abide by the same permitting process at airports as rental car companies.....

Without access to vehicle titles and VIN numbers, Peacock [Turo's head of government relations] says, Turo doesn't have access to recall notices. And in Maryland, safety recalls don't prohibit vehicles from being legally driven, she said.

But Rosemary Shahan, president of the Consumers for Auto Reliability, said Turo's leadership is ignoring the potential disaster that awaits if a single recalled car on the Turo platform results in a deadly crash.

Shahan said the company should, at the very least, force users to check their VIN number before they can join the platform. Oftentimes, she said, car owners don't know their vehicle is subject to a recall and by the time they find out there's a "body count."

'All it takes is one high-profile crash and their name — that's what they'll be known for,' she said. 'I hope they can learn from the experience of other companies. Whatever they think they're saving, it isn't worth it.'"

Read more: Washington Post: "Airbnb for cars is here. And the rental car giants are not happy"
 

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"If you buy a vehicle from a used car dealer, you may get a great deal -- or a timebomb.

That's because many dealers are selling cars subject to a safety recall without fixing them, even though they advertise the cars have passed a rigorous inspection. According to consumer groups, this means you may get a vehicle with a hidden safety defect that could cause the brakes to fail or the car to catch on fire on the highway.

This problem will be highlighted Tuesday, when the U.S. Senate holds a hearing about defective recall cars that puts Trump administration car safety officials on the hot seat. Officials from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will be grilled on why it's taking so long to supply replacements for defective Takata airbags, which can explode instead of inflating.

'Dealers continue to sell cars with Takata airbags in high volume and suggest to consumers that they can get them repaired at their local dealership, which is often false, due to massive parts shortages,' said Rosemary Shahan, founder and president of Citizens for Auto Reliability and Safety (CARS)....

Consumers did score a victory in a recent court decision in a California state court of appeals. In a case brought by Tammy Gutierrez of Bakersfield, Calif., against CarMax, one of the country's largest used car dealers, the Fifth District Court of Appeals ruled that Gutierrez had a valid complaint and that she could proceed with a suit alleging that CarMax acted illegally when it sold her a car with an unrepaired safety recall defect."

Read more: Forbes: "Federal Car Safety Officials to Be Grilled about Delays in Fix to Exploding Takata Airbags"
 

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"A state appellate court in California recently ruled that a woman who sued CarMax because the chain sold her a vehicle with an unfixed safety recall has a valid claim to file a lawsuit.

'They said she can go forward with the process. They didn't say she will win,' said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law.

The recent decision reverses a lower state court ruling that had dismissed Tammy Gutierrez's suit against the California subsidiary of Goochland County-based CarMax.

'There's now an appeals court decision that can be cited in other cases saying CarMax, you can't sell these recalled cars this way,' said Rosemary Shahan, president of California-based Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety....

And the court found that they didn't provide full disclosure, and they also kind of opened the door for future consumers to say that these cars don't even comply with what is known as the implied warranty that the car is merchantable,' Shahan said.

Gutierrez maintained that CarMax sold her a 2008 Hyundai Elantra in 2013 without informing her that the stop lamp switch — which activates a light that comes on when the break is pressed — was under a manufacturer recall. Hyundai in 2013 recalled thousands of Elantras for the problem.

A trial court in January 2016 sided with CarMax, stating that the Gutierrez's complaint failed to allege sufficient facts to constitute breach of warranty, a misrepresentation that was not remedied or limited by the terms of the express warranty and breach of contract....

The opinion could potentially expose CarMax to liability for not disclosing safety recalls when selling used cars, Tobias said.

'The California court says that the plaintiff may be able to state an implied warranty claim under two California statutes. I expect CarMax will appeal to California Supreme Court, which could rule differently. If the lower court ruling holds up, courts in other states may rely on the opinion, especially if their states have statutes similar to the two in California,' Tobias said."

Read more: Richmond Times Dispatch: "California case questions CarMax's policy on informing customers on recalls"
 

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"A CarMax lawsuit alleges a California dealer sold a used car that had been recalled but hadn't been repaired, even though CarMax advertised the Hyundai Elantra as passing a 125-point quality inspection....

Plaintiff Tammy Gutierrez says she purchased a 2008 Hyundai Elantra in May 2013 from a California CarMax dealership where the company said the Elantra came with a 30-day limited warranty. According to the plaintiff, CarMax sales staff told her the Elantra was in great condition because it passed a "rigorous 125-point quality inspection."

Gutierrez says CarMax never told her the car had been recalled for a stop light switch and never repaired....

The court ruled the plaintiff made a valid claim that CarMax may have violated California's Unfair Competition Law and the Consumer Legal Remedies Act. The case will now go back to the lower court to be debated.

CarMax has been in trouble before for selling used cars with unrepaired safety recalls, but consumer advocates claim federal actions taken against the company have been hollow...."

Read more: CarComplaints.com: "Lawsuit Says CarMax Had Duty to Disclose Used Car Recall"
 

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"California on Monday gave a green light to allowing robot cars with no drivers on state roads within weeks.

'This is a major step forward for autonomous technology in California,' Jean Shiomoto, director of the California Department of Motor Vehicles, said in a statement. 'Safety is our top concern and we are ready to begin working with manufacturers that are prepared to test fully driverless vehicles in California.'....

The new rules for driverless cars leave judging the cars' safety to the companies and federal regulators. Some consumer advocates said they are concerned that driverless cars are not yet ready for real-world roads.

Companies must self-certify that their cars can handle themselves without a human in the driver's seat, and they must comply with all federal safety regulations. Cars that lack steering wheels, accelerators and other manual controls will need waivers from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Cars — such as the ones currently being tested with backup drivers — that have those controls plus the addition of extra hardware and software to navigate autonomously may not need that extra approval.

There currently are no federal motor vehicle safety standards specific to autonomous cars, said Rosemary Shahan, executive director of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety. That means there are no federal rules about keeping the vehicles safe from hackers, or requiring them 'to operate safely in all types of weather, or in construction zones that lack lane markings, or other road conditions that commonly arise,' she said in an email."

Read more: San Francisco Chronicle: "California Green-Lights Cars without Drivers"
 

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"NASHVILLE, Tenn. – There's one more reason to read the fine print when buying your next car in Tennessee.

A new law in the Volunteer State allows used car dealers to sell vehicles that are under a safety recall, as long as the buyer signs a disclosure form.

The Motor Vehicle Recall and Disclosure Act is the first and only one of its kind in the country – after similar bills failed in four other states.

Andy Spears, executive director of Tennessee Citizen Action, is concerned about the potential impact on consumers.

"Dealers are incentivized to send their cars they know are dangerous to Tennessee, because if you're making a car deal and you can convince someone to sign this form, and there's no requirement that this has to be done at any time in the process," Spears states. "After you've already agreed to everything and you've worked out the financing – and then, they hand you a form and say, 'Yes, sign this form' – and most people don't read those documents."

Spears says his isn't the only group concerned that the state will become a dumping ground for dealers in other states to send cars they're unable to sell.

He cites the Takata airbag recall as one example of serious potential problems. It affects more than 1 million cars...."

Read full report: Public News Service: Groups Warn that Tennessee Could Become Dumping Ground for Dangerous Cars

Read more, including how to avoid being victimized by dealers who sell unsafe, defective recalled cars
 

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"NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A new law could put countless dangerous cars on Tennessee roads by allowing dealers to easily sell cars under safety recall, according to consumer advocates.

'It basically makes Tennessee a dumping ground for unsafe cars that will kill people,' said Andy Spears with Tennessee Citizen Action. 'And now there's an incentive for dealers in other states to ship their dangerous cars here to our dealers, because now we have a way to get rid of those cars.'

The Motor Vehicle Recall and Disclosure Act allows used car dealers to sell vehicles under safety recall as long as the buyer signs a disclosure form. But advocates like Spears argue a majority of buyers will overlook that sheet of paper, which will likely be lumped in with the dozens of other forms a person is asked to sign while buying a car.
  Spears said the law reverses important protections for car buyers and puts every driver on the road at risk....

'This is the first state in the nation to pass a law this dangerous,' Spear said. 'These types of laws were denied in California, Maryland, and Virginia. So other states have seen this law but rejected it when they found out what the law does.'

Spears said the only way for Tennessee consumers to protect themselves now is to do your own research. Run the VIN number of any car you want to buy through www.safercar.gov.

If you find a dealer willing to sell you a car under safety recall, Spears said to walk away from the business altogether."

Read more, including how to avoid being victimized by dealers who sell unsafe, defective recalled cars
 

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