Used car dealers faced a financial crisis after recalls over deadly Takata airbags and GM ignition switches. So dealers wrote their own legislation and used lobbyists to get it passed.
The 35-year-old father of two was waiting to make a left turn on a suburban road outside Houston when another car struck the front end of his Honda Accord, triggering its airbags.
For auto dealers, the string of accidents was a warning sign of what was to come: a barrage of lawsuits filed against them for selling recalled used cars without fixing them first.They crafted what’s known as “model legislation” that would allow them to continue selling recalled used cars, so long as they disclosed open recalls to customers somewhere in a stack of sales documents.
Their true intentions, however, are often difficult, if not impossible, for the public to understand.Lawmakers have been touting the bill as a consumer-safety measure. But it was written by the Automotive Trade Association Executives, an industry group in Washington, D.C., that represents more than 100 executives from regional auto dealer associations.
In the face of opposition, Gordon’s bill was eventually amended, and the final version that passed doesn’t address the sale of recalled used cars. “If the dealers can get the bill passed, they will be able to say the only duty they have is to ‘disclose’ that there is a safety recall, which can be hidden in a stack of documents and presented to the consumer only after they have already test-driven several cars, chosen a car, negotiated the price, applied for credit and signed a purchase or lease contract,” Shahan said. “Too late to be effective or meaningful as a form of disclosure.” .
By the end of 2015, the pace of recalls was so frantic that about 18% of cars on U.S. roads had been subject to them, according to an estimate by Carfax, which compiles vehicle history reports. .oembed-frame { width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;border:0;} In California, Bakersfield resident Tammy Gutierrez sued CarMax for selling her a recalled used car. The landmark case was initially dismissed by the court, but an appeals court reinstated it last year, ruling that Gutierrez had a valid claim under state laws.The first bill surfaced in New Jersey in September 2014, when Assembly Deputy Speaker Paul Moriarty introduced a measure that included a $20,000 fine for failing to disclose open recalls to customers.
Behind the push for Moriarty’s bill was Appleton, the lobbyist who heads the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers, an influential Trenton lobbying group whose political action committee has given more than $1.6 million to state legislative candidates – including $14,400 to Moriarty – since 2000.
Jennifer Colman, president of the Automotive Trade Association Executives, said the model legislation was never intended to be a copy-and-paste exercise. The measure, she said, is better described as “suggested language.” Gass’ parents, Jay and Gerri, then embarked on a crusade for a law in Tennessee that would ban the sale of recalled used cars. They sat down with Mark Green, a Republican who represented their district at the time, and persuaded him to introduce a bill, dubbed Lara’s Law, on their behalf.
The next year, Green again introduced Lara’s Law, this time calling for a sales ban. On the House side, state Rep. Rick Staples, a freshman Democrat, sponsored an identical bill.Then came a surprise: At the end of the legislative session, with Staples’ help, auto dealers succeeded in adding their bill as a last-minute amendment to an unrelated measure regulating rickshaws. It was quickly passed and signed into law by Republican Gov. Bill Haslam.
For the Gasses, however, a law that mandates only recall disclosure, not a sales ban, is a bitter disappointment. “This is absolutely the one thing that we did not want,” Gerri Gass said. “I feel so sorry for the people of Tennessee.”
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Used car dealers didn’t want to fix deadly defects, so they wrote a law to avoid itUsed car dealers faced a financial crisis after recalls over deadly Takata airbags and GM ignition switches. So dealers wrote their own legislation and used lobbyists to get it passed.
Read more »
Used car dealers didn’t want to fix deadly defects, so they wrote a law to avoid itHe was 35. Two kids. Driving a Honda Accord that had been recalled but a used-car dealer sold it to him without warning him or fixing the airbags that would send a piece of shrapnel into his neck, killing him in minutes.
Read more »
Pitbull used his first $1,500 paycheck to buy a car for his momThe first big check Pitbull ever received actually bounced. 😳 via CNBCMakeIt
Read more »
Distraction Used as a Gaslighting TechniqueGaslighters use outrageous behavior as a distraction from their other outrageous behaviors. Don't fall for it.
Read more »
Twitter removes Trump campaign video because it illegally used score from ‘The Dark Knight Rises’Warner Bros. said use of the score from their Batman movie starring Christian Bale was ‘unauthorized.’
Read more »
Justin Trudeau Used To Make People Go 😍 — Now It’s More Like 😬One recent opinion poll had the Canadian prime minister with a lower approval rating than Donald Trump. How did this happen?
Read more »
For Trump, 'complete and total exoneration' ain't what it used to beFor Trump, 'complete and total exoneration' ain't what it used to be by writerknowles
Read more »
New bill aims to stamp out bias in algorithms used by companiesDemocratic lawmakers introduced legislation to bring federal oversight to the use of “automated decision systems.'
Read more »
Six Ways You Used Satellites Today And Didn't Know ItHere are six ways you may have used satellites today and didn't know it.
Read more »