New and Used Car Dealers:
"We Can't Wait to Sell you an Unsafe,
Recalled Used Car"

   
At CARS' urging, California was the first state to seek to protect consumers from being victimized by unscrupulous new and used car dealers who sell unsafe recalled cars to the public.

Under federal law, it is illegal for car dealers to sell NEW cars recalled because of lethal safety defects to consumers. But no such law exists to protect USED car buyers. The Obama Administration has urged Congress to give the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration the authority to stop car dealers from selling unsafe, recalled used cars. But so far, Congress has yet to act. That leaves it up to the states to do what they can.

In 2014, the California New Car Dealers Association and used car dealers, including auto retailing giant CarMax, killed popular, first-in-the-nation auto safety legislation spearheaded by CARS, aimed at stopping dealers from renting, selling, leasing, or loaning unsafe, recalled used cars to consumers, until the cars are safe. Their lobbyists argued at a public hearing that auto dealers are entitled to sell used cars without bothering to get the lethal safety defects repaired first -- even though the repairs are FREE. They also complained about having to delay sales if parts for repairing the safety defects are temporarily unavailable.

The car dealers' testimony made it painfully obvious: they are far more interested in rapidly selling as many cars as possible, and maximizing the profit they make on each sale, than their customers' safety. After all, billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet invest in auto dealerships and the billions in auto loans they generate, so car dealers have a bunch of high-rolling "1%-ers" to satisfy. Plus many other dealers across the nation are raking in record profits. They don't want something of such little consequence to them, like their customers' safety, to interfere with rapid vehicle turnover.

So instead of selling recalled cars at wholesale to other dealers, or to auto auctions, or taking cars to other dealers for FREE repairs, car dealers sell them at retail to hapless consumers -- endangering them, their families and other passengers, and all of us who share the roads.

See for yourself what flimsy excuses the dealers make. In the video above, the lobbyist for the CA New Car Dealers Association claims that car dealers are perfectly entitled to sell unsafe, recalled cars with lethal safety defects that their customers cannot possibly get repaired, because repair parts are scarce. He specifically mentions the Takata air bag recall that continues to kill people in gruesome low-speed crashes they would otherwise have survived. Like the tragic crash that claimed the life of Carlos Solis, the 35-year-old father of two who was recently killed in Texas, by an exploding Takata air bag in a recalled 2002 Honda: NY Times report about tragic crash

Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), the author of the measure, SB 686, spoke passionately about why it's important to ensure that used car buyers are provided the same protections afforded new car buyers. Under federal law, auto dealers are prohibited from dumping recalled NEW cars onto the public, until they're fixed, but there is no prohibition against dumping them on purchasers of USED cars.

Read more: Tragic crash claims life of 35-year-old father of two teenagers in recalled 2002 Honda

Who supported the safety recall bill, SB 686?

California State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), author of SB 686, is working with CARS and other safety organizations to stop auto dealers from selling unsafe, recalled used cars to consumers
• Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (official sponsors, taking the lead in working with Sen. Jackson for enactment)
•  International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers -- 
  who predict that passage would create at least 1,000 new good-paying jobs in California
• Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety
• California Public Interest Research Group
• California Nurses Association
• Center for Public Interest Law
• Children's Advocacy Institute
• Consumer Action
• Consumer Attorneys of California
• Consumers Union
• Consumer Federation of America
• Consumer Federation of California
• Consumer Watchdog
• Courage Campaign
• Enterprise Holdings
• Firefighters Burn Institute
• Hertz Corporation
• Latino Business Association
• National Consumers League
• SAFE KIDS CA
• State Farm Insurance Co.
• Trauma Foundation
• Retired New Car Dealer Salvatore Cerrito

According to a reputable California statewide poll, a whopping 88% of likely voters favor making it illegal for dealers to sell recalled used cars to consumers.

Who killed the California safety recall bill?

• Carmax
• California New Car Dealers Association
• California Chamber of Commerce (their current president, Fritz Hitchcock, is a mega-dealer in Southern California)
• AutoNation (the country's largest auto dealership chain, which took in over $15.6 billion last year. AutoNation is based in Florida and owns many dealerships throughout California. One of AutoNation's largest investors is Bill Gates.)

More news coverage: ABC 30 KFSN-TV Fresno, CA

Fox 5, San Diego

NBC - KCRA-TV Channel 3 Sacramento

San Diego Union-Tribune report

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