Recently, a piece of legislation associated with rental car companies and recalled cars was introduced in Congress.

According to the news, the bill hopes to keep rental car companies from renting, selling or giving away any vehicles that weren’t repaired after being recalled.

This new legislation would prevent accidents and collisions by keeping defective and poorly maintained vehicles from being operated by motorists who would otherwise be exposed to several risks. At this moment, the law does not regulate the selling or renting of any recalled and unrepaired vehicles owned by car rental companies.

According to the articles mentioning this bill, senators who wrote the bill are pushing the new legislation and asking lawmakers to prohibit car rentals from allowing clients to use recalled and unrepaired vehicles to prevent injuries and fatalities caused by recalled vehicles. The bill would also regulate the selling of any recalled and overlooked vehicle, which could make drivers and their families safe from the eventual problems associated with accidents caused by defective vehicles that were not properly repaired.

Senators decided to act and write the piece of legislation following an accident that happened in 2004 and that killed two people. The accident occurred when two costumers rented a Chrysler PT Cruiser that had been recalled in the past. The vehicle caught fire unexpectedly, which led to a crash. The victims had rented the vehicle from Enterprise, which did not repair the vehicle after the recall announcement was issued and failed to offer a well-maintained vehicle to their costumers.

Some of the largest car rentals in the country believe that this legislation would interrupt their business gratuitously and hope the bill won’t be approved. They believe most recalls are related to issues that do not pose a risk and should not keep these agencies from doing business as usual in order to have irrelevant problems fixed. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, only 30 percent of all vehicles sold to rental companies are repaired within the 90 days the federal agency issues the recall while 50 percent were repaired within a year’s period.

CarFax showed in a report that about 2.7 million vehicles with safety recalls still open are being sold across the nation.

Hopefully, lawmakers and officials will look into this issue and come up with the best solution to keep drivers safe from the dangers certain recalled vehicles can pose to them and their loved ones.

For more on this new legislation and how it could change everything for car rental companies and their costumers, click here for the full article.