AutoNation Won't Sell Cars With Open Safety Recalls
September 08 2015 - 7:50AM
Dow Jones News
AutoNation Inc., the largest dealer chain in the U.S., said
Tuesday it won't sell or lease any vehicle that has an open safety
recall, a move that comes amid a surge in recalls and an
unprecedented government crackdown on safety lapses.
The company said the move would come at a cost, as vehicles will
remain in its inventory until repaired, but it insisted that
economic concerns were secondary to safety.
"There's no way to expect that customers would or should know of
every safety recall on every vehicle they might purchase, so we
will ensure that our vehicles have all recalls completed," said
Mike Jackson, chief executive of AutoNation, which has 293
franchises nationwide. "We make it our responsibility as a retailer
to identify those vehicles and remove them from the market until
their safety issues have been addressed."
AutoNation also said it won't rid itself of recall-stricken
vehicles by wholesaling, noting that it "has taken an explicit
position that it will not have any role whatsoever in these
vehicles being on the road."
Auto makers recalled more than 34.5 million vehicles during the
first seven months of this year for problems including
rupture-prone air bags, cybersecurity gaps vulnerable to hackers,
and possible fire hazards linked to ventilation systems, according
to government data.
The number of vehicles recalled in that time frame surpasses any
total logged by federal regulators in nearly five decades except
for last year, when auto makers recalled 49 million vehicles in
seven months, en route to a record annual total. The U.S. National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration tracks recalls back to
1966.
The torrid recall pace comes amid increased pressure from
regulators, who are ramping up oversight after widespread criticism
from lawmakers and others for failing to spot safety problems. Auto
makers, in turn, are conducting more recalls than ever before and
agreeing to unprecedented government audits.
Mike Spector and Tom McGinty contributed to this article
Write to Ezequiel Minaya at ezequiel.minaya@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 08, 2015 08:35 ET (12:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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