According to CBS News (cbsnews.com), your rental cars may be unsafe due to several manufacturer recall issues. An investigation by Susan Koeppen showed that rental companies are renting cars with recall issues, without informing the customers, or even performing the services to fix the recall problems.
It is against the law for a dealership to sell a car that is part of an open safety recall, but rental car companies don’t have to follow this law. Susan started the investigation by renting a Chevy Cobalt (which has an open power steering recall) at a Boston Avis location. After renting the car, Susan called Chevy with the VIN number of the car, and asked if the car is a part of a recall, and if it has been fixed.
Chevy confirmed that the Chevy Cobalt, she was about to drive, is on the recall list, and was never fixed. She informed the manager about the condition of the car, and he removed the car from the lot.

According to Clarence Ditlow, president of The Center for Auto Safety, a watchdog group, rental companies are knowingly letting consumers rent cars with problems. Rental companies think of it as a gamble that the car you rented will not crash while you are renting it.
A victim of a rental car with problems is Carol Houck, who lost two daughters in a crash involving a rental PT Cruiser vehicle. The car lost its steering abilities, and hit an oncoming 18-wheller head on. She later found out that the car that her daughters rented, was a part of an open safety recall for a steering defect, but still rented by Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
According to Susan Koeppen, a solution to this problem is asking the rental staff, if the car is on a recall. If they don’t have this information, you can take the VIN number of the car, and call the company and check with them. You can also use this free service from CarFax, by going to the link: Recall.CarFax.com.
If you think that you or a loved one have experienced a personal injury or lost of property due to a crash in a rental car with defects, please call our experienced personal injury and product liability attorneys, to help you claim the compensation you deserve for your loses. You can call us at 1.866.789.1664, 972.789.1664, or email us at contact@dallasarealaw.com.
Source: CBS (cbsnews.com)