Prior to this year’s Toyota recall of 10 million cars and the unfolding scandal that’s following, car manufacturers would not publicize their recalls as much, thus, unless you owned the car with which the recall letter was attached, consumers seldom knew what vehicle was and was not recalled unless they paid very close attention.

That has all changed. Now as a matter of PR, car companies are recalling early and often and with much notice to the public to avoid the thousands of expensive lawsuits that come with defective vehicles. The evidence of this is overwhelming as almost every domestic car manufacturer has recalled millions of models of car for everything from fires to brake problems before anyone has a chance to get hurt. Unfortunately for a family in Texas, the trend was 5 years too late to save their two daughters.

Enterprise Recall Policy

Their daughters, Raechel and Jacqueline Houck, 24 and 20, of Santa Cruz, were returning from their mother’s home in Ventura when the PT Cruiser, headed north along Highway 101 in their rented Chrysler PT?Cruiser, which was subject to a safety recall. The sisters suddenly lost control of the vehicle, crossed the grass median, and hit a southbound big rig, bursting into flames. They both died in a crash.

A jury has awarded $15 million to parents who filed the wrongful-death lawsuit against Enterprise Rent-A-Car in 2005 after the fatal 2004 crash. Revealed in the lawsuit was that a month before the accident, Daimler Chrysler had sent out recall notices for 435,000 PT Cruisers from 2002 through 2005. The notice stated that the power steering hose could leak, resulting in a fire.

Enterprise records showed the PT Cruiser the Houck sisters died in had not been repaired for the recall defect and it had been rented four times since the company received recall notice. The Houcks were in fact the fourth people to have rented the vehicle on Oct. 7, 2004 since the recall notice.

Wrongful Death Lawsuit

The vehicle crash experts who were hired by the parents’ law firm, after examining the wreckage, came to the conclusion that Raechel Houck had lost steering ability because of a power-steering fluid leak.

Enterprise Rent-a-Car argued that the crash was caused by Houck’s negligent driving.

But after the nation’s largest rental car company and its corporate parent fought the suit for five years, they finally admitted in May that they were negligent and “their negligence was the sole proximate cause of the fatal injuries,” according to a document signed by their attorneys.

The Alameda County Superior Court jury awarded damages June 9. The defendants have 30 days to appeal. Company attorneys at Yukevich Calfo & Cavanaugh in Los Angeles were not available to comment, but have indicated that they will comment on the verdict as soon as they have made a decision on whether to appeal.

“This is a consumer issue of vital importance,” said Carol “Cally” Houck, mother of the two young women, citing a deposition from a company official indicating Enterprise had no plans to change policies regarding recalled cars in their fleets.

Wrongful Death Lawyers

Company policies are there to let all employees and executives know what the standard procedures are within the corporation for any given situation, but they are not set in stone. The policies are there to protect the company from liability, but if a company has millions of customers using their products, if they simply geared their procedures toward the safety of the customers instead of avoiding liability and saving money, then they wouldn’t be in this situation.

Many times families chose to risk a substantial wrongful death lawsuit settlement from the company to go to court in order to force an ethical change within the company policy. The Houck’s were successful in forcing the company to admit fault, which is a major triumph, but why the company would resist changing their policy from renting defective recalled vehicles is beyond reason and, most likely, a completely profit driven decision.

If you or a loved one are injured or killed due to the negligent recall policies of a rental car agency then it is important that you find skilled representation that is experienced in Product Liability Lawsuits and Wrongful Death Lawsuits. Call Phillips Webster for a free consultation.

Learn More About:

• Wrongful Death Lawsuits
• Washington Wrongful Death Statute of Limitations
• Elements of a Wrongful Death Case