AutoNation Won't Sell Cars With Open Safety Recalls

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 [e-mail]

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 08, 2015 08:35 ET (12:35 GMT)

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