April Showers bring May Car and Truck Recalls?

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Since Spring is finally here, we here at the Center thought it would be a good time to return to some evergreen issues for this month’s update: issues like the sale of used cars with recalls, manufacturers trying to avoid recalls by calling safety problems “performance related,” and another potentially problematic airbag defect that cuts across manufacturers. vvvvvvvvvvvvv Used Cars: Amazingly, there remains no federal law explicitly prohibiting the sale of used cars with unrepaired recalls. Even more scary? States are moving to make the practice easier. We spoke with USA Today about an effort at the local level to enable an incredibly dangerous and deadly practice. Non-Deploying Airbags: Unfortunately, there may be more defective airbags out there – and these aren’t exploding in our faces, instead they aren’t deploying at all.  Check out our comments in the Washington Post on NHTSA’s recent steps to expand the investigation into 12 million Honda, Toyota, Kia, Hyundai, Chrysler, and Mitsubishi vehicles.  We also joined NBC Nightly Newsto discuss. Phantom Braking:  Last month the Center officially asked NHTSA to investigate malfunctioning Automatic Emergency Braking systems on Nissan Rogues after we found dozens of reports of this feature malfunctioning – and Nissan trying to avoid undertaking a recall. This month, NHTSA responded by opening a formal investigation, as a result of our petition. Next step? We’ll be looking for a Nissan recall. Non-Crash Fires: As you probably know by now, after 10 months, NHTSA finally granted our petition to open an investigation into 3 million Hyundai and Kia vehicles for non-crash fires. This is no doubt progress, but investigations aren’t recalls and stories continue to come from Florida to California with Hyundai and Kia drivers barely escaping their vehicles before they are consumed in flames.  Visit our Hyundai and Kia non-crash fire page to learn more about our efforts to hold the manufacturers responsible. Congress is back in session and that means they will soon turn to issues like nominees and agency budgets. The Center has opposed the President's nominee to lead NHTSA, Heidi King — because of an unfortunate bias towards industry over people. At the same time the Center has also asked Congress toappropriately fund NHTSA as it is the only federal agency with the authority to get dangerous cars off the road today and make our cars safer tomorrow. Amazingly, despite almost 40,000 deaths every year on our roads, the current administration is asking for a 21 percent cut to NHTSA’s budget. May is a great time to buy a new car. Be sure to consult The Car Book —which includes in-depth safety ratings of all new vehicles and used vehicles going back 5 years—before you head to the dealership. Access to all this great safety information is included in your Center for Auto Safety membership or can be purchased for just $10 per month. PLUS—want monthly updates on important safety information related to yourvehicle? Sign up for our Safety Tune-Up Report.