Auto dealers to California legislators: Don’t stop us from selling unsafe, recalled used cars
Just when you thought car buying couldn’t get any more fraught with peril —
Auto dealers succeeded in stalling popular, common-sense auto safety legislation pending in California that would have prohibited them from renting, selling, leasing, or loaning unsafe, recalled used cars at retail to consumers. They complained that it is impossible for them to know whether the used cars they offer for sale to the public are subject to a safety recall, and too much bother to check their recall status and get them fixed, prior to sale. They also complained about having to delay sales if parts are not available to make the safety recall repairs.
Their lobbyists refused to answer pointed questions posed by Assemblymember Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento), a former lemon law attorney with decades of experience representing owners of unsafe lemon vehicles. He asked them: “You sell them to people? Is that what you do? You sell a car that you know may be unsafe to someone?”
Dealer lobbyist: “But the part isn’t available to fix. So is your suggestion…”
Dickinson: “Wait, wait. No. Answer the question.”
(It was obvious the answer is “YES.”)
Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), the author of the measure, SB 686, spoke passionately about why it’s important to ensure that used car buyers are provided the same protections afforded new car buyers. Under federal law, auto dealers are prohibited from dumping recalled NEW cars onto the public, until they’re fixed, but there is no prohibition against dumping them on purchasers of USED cars.
Tragically, even new car buyers are not safe. As Fe Lastrella of Vallejo, CA testified at the hearing, she lost four family members who were killed by an unsafe Lexus that Bob Baker Lexus in El Cajon, CA loaned to her son-in-law, CHP officer Mark Saylor. Earlier, he had purchased a new Lexus IS 250 sedan. On the fateful day of August 28, 2009, he dropped his new car off for repairs. The dealership loaned him a used 2009 Lexus ES 350. Three days earlier, another customer had complained that the Lexus had surged out of control. Yet the dealer failed to fix it.
Later that day, Mark Saylor was riding with his wife Cleofe Lastrella Saylor, their daughter Mahala, age 13, and his brother-in-law Chris Lastrella enroute to a soccer game. The loaner Lexus accelerated out of control and sped down the freeway, reaching speeds of 120 mph. Chris Lastrella called 911. That call has now been heard around the world. He told the dispatcher that “our accelerator is stuck.” He reported that “we’re going 120” as the runaway loaner car approached an intersection, where the freeway ended. The killer car hit another car, crossed the curb, hit a dirt embankment, became airborne, and then rolled into a dry creek bed, where it burst into flames. All four perished. At the very end of the call, Chris’s voice is heard telling his family to “hold on” and “pray, pray, pray.”
Fe Lastrella, a retired school teacher, and her husband Cleto, who retired as a Command Master Chief from the U.S. Navy, lost their daughter, Cleofe, their son Chris, their granddaughter Mahala and son-in-law Mark Saylor in the crash.
According to investigations by the San Diego Sheriff’s Department, the California Highway Patrol’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an oversized, rubber, all-weather floor mat was in the driver’s side foot well of the loaner Lexus. The mat was designed for a Lexus sport-utility vehicle, an RX 400H, and was longer than the mats designed for the ES 350 sedan. The investigations found that the floor mat was fused to the accelerator pedal.
Who is supporting SB 686?
- Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (official sponsors, taking the lead in working with Sen. Jackson for enactment)
- Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety
- California Public Interest Research Group
- California Nurses Association
- Center for Public Interest Law
- Children’s Advocacy Institute
- Consumer Action
- Consumer Attorneys of California
- Consumers Union
- Consumer Federation of America
- Consumer Federation of California
- Consumer Watchdog
- Enterprise Holdings
- Firefighters Burn Institute
- Hertz Corporation
- Latino Business Association
- National Consumers League
- SAFE KIDS CA
- State Farm Insurance Co.
- Trauma Foundation
- Retired New Car Dealer Salvatore Cerrito
Who is opposing SB 686?
- Carmax
- California New Car Dealers Association
- California Chamber of Commerce (their current president, Fritz Hitchcock, is a mega-dealer in Southern California)
- AutoNation (the country’s largest auto dealership chain, which took in over $15.6 billion last year. One of AutoNation’s largest investors is Bill Gates. Apparently, though, he hasn’t shown them how to use the internet or a phone, so they can find out about pending safety recalls.
Senator Jackson vowed to resurrect the bill as soon as possible. That may take until January, or it may happen sooner. Meanwhile, the smartest thing to do is NEVER trust a car dealer to make sure any car you buy is safe. They have testified that they don’t have a clue, and it’s too much bother to check.