In a victory for driver and passenger safety, the Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act passed as part of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (H.R. 22). FAST was signed into law on December 4, 2014 by President Obama.
In a victory for driver and passenger safety, the Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act passed as part of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (H.R. 22). FAST was signed into law on December 4, 2014 by President Obama.
Lawmakers touted the FAST Act as “a fully funded five-year plan for surface transportation reauthorization.” It includes several sections covering items from federal-aid highways, highway traffic safety, public transportation and motor vehicle safety. Section 24109 of the motor vehicle safety section covered rental car safety. Section 24107 dealt with dealer requirements to check for open recalls.
The Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act prohibits car rental companies from renting or selling vehicles with open federal safety recalls. It also mandates that these companies address or repair all federal safety recalls before renting or selling these vehicles. Those car rental companies with 35 or fewer vehicles in their fleet are exempt from these requirements. That means renters and/or buyers should ask about federal safety recalls before signing on the dotted line.
Covered rental vehicles under the Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act’s safety section include:
- Any “motor vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less”
- That “is rented without a driver for an initial term of less than four months” and
- “Is part of a motor vehicle fleet of 35 or more motor vehicles that are used for rental purposes by a rental company.”
The Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act gives clear guidance to rental companies as to actions to be taken when a vehicle manufacturer notifies the rental company of a federal safety recall involving vehicles in that company’s fleet. The companies must comply with the Act’s limitations on the rental, lease or sale of affected vehicles “as soon as practicable, but not later than 24 hours after the earliest receipt of the notice.”
If the rental company is especially large and is notified of a federal safety recall that covers over 5,000 vehicles in its fleet, the company must comply with Act’s limitations on the rental, lease or sale of the affected vehicles, again, “as soon as practicable.” However, that cannot be later than “48 hours after the earliest receipt of the notice.”
For purposes of the Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act, “open recalls” are those that rental companies have been notified of by manufacturers per section 30119 and that haven’t yet been corrected under the same section.
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