U.S. PIRG Amends Court Filings Against FTC As 3 More Used Car Dealers Allowed to Sell Unfixed, Recalled Cars

U.S. PIRG, along with Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (CARS) and the Center for Auto Safety, is challenging in court recent actions by the Federal Trade Commission that put the health and safety of millions of Americans at risk. This week, we amended our previous court filings because the FTC has now filed unacceptable decrees with six, not three, used car dealers.

Michael Landis

U.S. PIRG, along with Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (CARS) and the Center for Auto Safety, is challenging in court recent actions by the Federal Trade Commission that put the health and safety of millions of Americans at risk.  As I explained in a previous blog post, the FTC’s decision to allow dealers to advertise used cars as “safe,” “repaired for safety issues,” or “subject to a rigorous inspection,” even if those used cars are subject to safety recalls, violates federal law because it allows used car dealers to engage in “unfair or deceptive acts or practices.”

Recently, we filed a second petition for review in the federal appeals court and an amended complaint in the federal trial court. We did this to include within our pending challenge the FTC’s decision to allow CarMax, Inc. (the nation’s largest retailer of used cars), Asbury Automotive Group, Inc., and West-Herr Automotive Group, Inc. to engage in similarly deceptive conduct.

Although not parties to this particular lawsuit, MASSPIRG, ConnPIRG, and CALPIRG have also conducted research and exposed the problem of used car dealers selling unrepaired recalled cars.

Authors

Michael Landis