Rental cars just got a lot safer.
A federal law took effect Wednesday that requires rental car companies to fix any recalled car before it’s rented out. Until now, remarkably, it was perfectly legal to rent out a recalled car that had not yet been repaired.
One of the highest profile cases involved Raechel Houck, 24, and her 20-year old sister Jacqueline, who were killed in October 2004 when a PT Cruiser rented from Enterprise caught fire due to a defective power steering hose. Smoke poured into the cabin of the car and when Rachel Houck lost control of the car, it crashed head-on into a semi-tractor, killing them both instantly.
We were shocked that there was no regulation to prohibit renting out this kind of vehicle,” their mother, Cally Houck, told CNNMoney on Wednesday. She became a leader in the fight for legislation that the major companies first resisted.
Hertz was the first company to support the law, and eventually the industry came on board.