{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-and-markey-slam-anti-consumer_anti-safety-ftc-settlements-allowing-used-car-dealers-to-advertise-cars-with-unrepaired-recalls-as-safe", "Blumenthal & Markey Slam Anti-Consumer & Anti-Safety FTC Settlements Allowing Used Car Dealers to Advertise Cars with Unrepaired Recalls as 'Safe'", "2016-12-16", "2016", "2016-12", "Democrat", "House", "CT", "Richard Blumenthal", "B001277", "www.blumenthal.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Blumenthal & Markey Slam Anti-Consumer & Anti-Safety FTC Settlements Allowing Used Car Dealers to Advertise Cars with Unrepaired Recalls as 'Safe'\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t Tweet\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tFinal settlements between the FTC and used car dealers allow dealers to continue advertising used cars as certified and \u201csafe\u201d even if those vehicles have unrepaired safety recalls\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tFriday, December 16, 2016\n\t\t\t[WASHINGTON, DC] \u2013 A final consent order issued by the Federal Trade Commission is anti-consumer and anti-safety, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Edward J. Markey (D-MA) said today after the FTC announced a settlement allowing auto dealerships to continue to advertise used cars as \u201csafe,\u201d \u201crepaired for safety issues,\u201d and having been rigorously and extensively inspected, including that they are certified\u2014a term that connotes safety\u2014even if those vehicles have unrepaired safety recalls.\r\n\u201cFTC\u2019s unsound decision to finalize this deeply flawed consent order is disappointing and anti-consumer. It finalizes a dangerous decision that permits car dealers to promote cars with unrepaired recalls as safe or certified. Under no circumstances should potentially deadly vehicles be advertised as safe,\u201d Blumenthal said. \u201cThe disclosure requirements do more to deceive than fully inform, and worse, could protect unscrupulous dealers. Consumers must stay vigilant and always check any used car in www.safercar.gov for unrepaired defects.\u201d\r\n\u201cInstead of ensuring safe cars for consumers, the FTC is ensuring safe harbor for used car dealers who provide false and deceptive assurances,\u201d Markey said. \u201cThe FTC is supposed to protect consumers, but this settlement only makes it easier for dangerous cars to remain on the road, endangering American families. I urge all consumers to continue to check www.safercar.gov to ensure they aren\u2019t buying a car with unrepaired defects.\u201d\r\nIn November, Blumenthal led a letter with Markey, and U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) calling on the FTC and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to ensure used car dealers cannot advertise a car as \u2018safe\u2019 if it has an unrepaired safety recall. Recent proposed settlements between the FTC and used car dealers allow dealers to continue advertising used cars as certified and \u201csafe\u201d even if those vehicles have unrepaired safety recalls. The Senators also called on the FTC and NHTSA to redraft the proposed settlements to ensure consumers have the critical safety information they need when buying a car.\r\nThe text of the Senators\u2019 letter is available here and copied below:\r\nDear Administrator Rosekind and Chairwoman Ramirez:\r\nWe write with serious safety concerns regarding the Federal Trade Commission\u2019s (FTC) recent proposed settlements with General Motors Company, Jim Koons Management, and Lithia Motors Inc, regarding their failure to adequately disclose unrepaired safety recalls when advertising their used car inspection programs. The proposed settlements would allow dealers to continue to advertise used cars as \u201csafe,\u201d \u201crepaired for safety issues,\u201d and having been rigorously and extensively inspected, including that they are certified\u2014a term that connotes safety\u2014even if those vehicles have unrepaired safety recalls. As such, in their current form, these proposed settlements would fail to address the wrongdoing at hand.\r\nWe understand that, at our behest, your two agencies have discussed these proposed settlements. Nevertheless, we remain concerned that this important public safety and public policy matter has not received the heightened scrutiny it deserves. Congress has long debated whether dealers should be allowed to sell used cars subject to open safety recalls. We firmly believe that the law should prohibit such sales, as it currently does for new cars with open safety recalls. These proposed settlements wade into this contentious public policy debate, and we believe they would establish an anti-consumer, anti-safety precedent with far-reaching policy implications. Accordingly, we urge you to work together, and in good faith, to leverage your respective agency\u2019s expertise and redraft the proposed settlements so they ensure that consumers receive meaningful information regarding the safety of their potential used vehicle purchases and that public safety is not compromised.\r\nThe National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has publicly stated time and time again that all recalls are safety recalls that need to be fixed. In 2011, a spokeswoman for NHTSA said, \u201cAll safety recalls resulting from defects present an unreasonable risk to safety and we believe it is inappropriate to suggest that some defects are not risky enough to require repair.\u201d[1] In a 2013 hearing, former Administrator David Strickland testified, \u201cAll NHTSA safety recalls address an unreasonable risk to safety and should not be ignored.\u201d[2] In addition, NHTSA\u2019s current FAQ on vehicle recalls explicitly states, \u201cA recall is issued when a manufacturer or NHTSA determines that a vehicle, equipment, car seat, or tire creates an unreasonable safety risk or fails to meet minimum safety standards.\u201d[3] There is no question that any vehicle with an outstanding recall is an unsafe vehicle.\r\nIn contrast to NHTSA\u2019s longstanding position, the FTC\u2019s proposed settlements would allow dealers to continue committing the same wrongdoing that was the impetus for the Commission\u2019s actions. Car dealers would still be able to represent that a pre-owned vehicle is \u201csafe,\u201d has been \u201crepaired for safety issues,\u201d and has passed a \u201crigorous safety inspection\u201d or to label a pre-owned car as being certified even when it is being sold with an unrepaired safety recall. A certified used vehicle with an unrepaired safety recall is inherently misleading. Perhaps more alarming, the proposed settlements would only require dealers to make a blanket statement that their rigorously inspected and certified used vehicles \u201cmay be subject to unrepaired recalls.\u201d Consequently, this \u201cdisclosure\u201d arguably amounts to nothing more than a legal disclaimer that could absolve dealers from their responsibilities and would likely do little, if anything, to meaningfully convey to consumers the existence of an open recall and dissuade them from purchasing such vehicles due to their safety risks.\r\nThe sale of any car with an unrepaired safety recall is a threat to public safety. We support the concerns raised in the comments recently filed by a number of consumer groups that no dealer should be able to advertise that a car is certified or any similar terminology connoting safety, if the car is subject to an outstanding recall.[4] Please report back by August 10, 2016 on how you intend to cooperate and work together to amend the proposed settlements and ensure that car dealers cannot mislead and deceive consumers about the safety of their prospective purchases.\r\n    \r\n\r\n[1] Christopher Jenson, Faced With Recalls, Rental Companies Sometimes Decide to Wait, N.Y. Times Wheels, Apr. 19, 2011, http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/19/faced-with-recalls-rental-companies-sometimes-decide-to-wait/.\r\n\r\n\r\n[2] Hearing on S. 921, the \u201cRaechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act of 2013\u201d Before the Subcomm. on Consumer Protection of the S. Comm. Commerce, Science, and Transp., 113th Cong. (2013) (statement of David Strickland, Adm\u2019r, Nat\u2019l Highway Traffic Safety Admin., available at https://www.commerce.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/492dcbd0-de37-4ea6-9810-8b72d07bb4c0/F2BA003C793F45BA47EB84D6116C92BD.strickland.pdf.\r\n\r\n\r\n[3] Nat\u2019l Highway Traffic Safety Admin., Vehicle Recalls: Frequently Asked Questions, Safercar.gov, https://vinrcl.safercar.gov/vin/faq.jsp (last visited June 10, 2016).\r\n\r\n\r\n[4] Letter from Consumer Groups to Federal Trade Commission (Feb. 29, 2016), available at https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_comments/2016/02/00011-100830.pdf.\r\n\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-and-markey-slam-anti-consumer_anti-safety-ftc-settlements-allowing-used-car-dealers-to-advertise-cars-with-unrepaired-recalls-as-safe"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4621489681303501, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}