Consumer safety groups are accusing a major used car dealer of selling recalled and dangerous vehicles to Californians.
Critics say practice puts motorists at risk and may violate state regulations
Two consumer safety groups have released a report accusing one of the nation’s largest used car dealers of selling recalled vehicles to Californians, according to the Sacramento Bee. The report investigated two dealerships owned by the company, one in Oxnard and one in Sacramento, and found a significant number of cars at each location were the subject of federal recalls. The groups say that selling such vehicles is dangerous, especially in light of recent recalls that have highlighted
dangerous safety defects in millions of vehicles. The car dealer, however, claims that it fully informs its customers about any recall notices on the vehicles it sells.
Recalled cars
The report found that at the dealer’s Oxnard location 46 out of a total of 455 vehicles available for purchase were subject to recalls that had not yet been repaired. At the Sacramento location, 34 of 386 vehicles for sale were subject to such recalls.
The consumer groups who wrote the report say many of the recalls are serious and include issues such as defective airbags, fire hazards, stalled engines, and worn parts. They say that such defects put drivers of the cars themselves at risk as well as all other motorists on California’s roads and highways. The issue of recalled vehicles has received significant media attention in recent years, according to the Los Angeles Times, especially after federal regulators issued a record-breaking 64 million such recalls in 2014.
Potential violations
Although new car dealers must address any recalls before selling vehicles to the public, such regulations do not apply to used car dealers. Furthermore, the car dealer in this story insists that all of its customers are informed about any outstanding recalls on any vehicle they purchase.
Critics, however, say that such claims are disingenuous and accuse the company of using “bait and switch” tactics that are illegal under California law. Such tactics involve advertising cars as safe or “certified” in order to attract potential customers and then selling them a vehicle that may not pass federal safety tests. The consumer groups behind this latest report are calling on the state to investigate this particular company’s business practices in relation to the sale of recalled vehicles.
Defective auto parts
Recent news stories have highlighted just how dangerous defective car parts can be. Anybody who has been injured in an accident that may have been caused by such parts needs to contact a personal injury attorney immediately. These types of crashes raise serious and complicated questions regarding liability and require the assistance of an attorney who has the experience and expertise to best represent injured clients in such cases.
Keywords: recall, car, California