Rental car company Zipcar obtained a consent order adding a $300,000 fine from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for allowing its consumers to rent cars that were being recalled for protection purposes, which is a violation of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act.
Zipautomobile is the first rental car company to obtain a consent order from NHTSA for the rental of recalled cars, the company announced Monday.
The order mentions 2015-2017 Ford Transit cars that have been recalled because the “flexible coupling between the transmission and driveshaft” in some cars “may worsen and crack prematurely” as the cars gain mileage, which can cause the cars to groan. Vibrate, lose power while driving, or move while parked without the parking brake.
The consent order includes a $300,000 fine, part of which Zipcar will have to pay upfront and the other part, which the company would possibly defer by responding to other requests contained in the consent order.
Zipcar shall submit an audit report of all Zipcar cars subject to open recalls made within 150 days of the effective date of the consent order as part of the order.
The rental company will also be required to update its worker education systems in a manner similar to NHTSA compliance, and any updates to the company’s written retirement compliance measures will need to be reviewed by outside counsel and reviewed by NHTSA.
NHTSA opened an investigation into Zipautomobile in 2018 to determine whether the company had leased at least one vehicle subject to an open recall, per the consent order. The purpose of the investigation was to determine whether the car rental company had violated the National Road Safety and Motor Vehicle Act. Based on the investigation and data provided through the company, NHTSA decided that “Zipautomobile leased certain recalled cars without remediation, in violation of the protective act” in 2017 and 2018. Zipautomobile did not challenge this resolution and worked with NHTSA on the consent order. Since the inception of the investigation, Zipautomobile has implemented a centralized, automated documentation formula for recalled cars, updated in real-time.
“At Zipcar, we prioritize the protection of our members and take recalls by manufacturers very seriously,” a Zipcar spokesperson said in an article to Forbes.
That’s the number of cars out of the 12,000 in Zipcar’s fleet that were subject to a recall order in 2017, according to the statement, which said “Zipcar has implemented new policies and advanced its processes to take care of retired cars from its fleet. “.
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