II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1173 

To amend chapter 301 of title 49, United States Code, to prohibit the 

rental of motor vehicles that contain a defect related to motor vehicle 

safety, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 30, 2015 

Mr. SCHUMER (for himself, Mrs. BOXER, Mrs. MCCASKILL, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, 

Mr. CASEY, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, and Mr. NELSON) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend chapter 301 of title 49, United States Code, 

to prohibit the rental of motor vehicles that contain 

a defect related to motor vehicle safety, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Raechel and Jacqueline 

5 Houck Safe Rental Car Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 Section 30102(a) of title 49, United States Code, is 

3 amended— 

4 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (10) and (11) 

5 as paragraphs (12) and (13), respectively; 

6 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through 

7 (9) as paragraphs (2) through (10), respectively; 

8 (3) by inserting before paragraph (2), as redes9 ignated, the following: 

10 ‘‘(1) ‘covered rental vehicle’ means a motor ve11 hicle that— 

12 ‘‘(A) has a gross vehicle weight rating of 

13 10,000 pounds or less; 

14 ‘‘(B) is rented without a driver for an ini15 tial term of less than 4 months; and 

16 ‘‘(C) is part of a motor vehicle fleet of 5 

17 or more motor vehicles that are used for rental 

18 purposes by a rental company.’’; and 

19 (4) by inserting after paragraph (10), as redes20 ignated, the following: 

21 ‘‘(11) ‘rental company’ means a person who— 

22 ‘‘(A) is engaged in the business of renting 

23 covered rental vehicles; and 

24 ‘‘(B) uses for rental purposes a motor ve25 hicle fleet of 5 or more covered rental vehi26 cles.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. REMEDIES FOR DEFECTS AND NONCOMPLIANCE. 

2 Section 30120(i) of title 49, United States Code, is 

3 amended— 

4 (1) in the subsection heading, by adding ‘‘, OR

5 RENTAL’’ at the end; 

6 (2) in paragraph (1)— 

7 (A) by striking ‘‘(1) If notification’’ and 

8 inserting the following: 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If notification’’; 

10 (B) by indenting subparagraphs (A) and 

11 (B) four ems from the left margin; 

12 (C) by inserting ‘‘or the manufacturer has 

13 provided to a rental company notification about 

14 a covered rental vehicle in the company’s pos15 session at the time of notification’’ after ‘‘time 

16 of notification’’; 

17 (D) by striking ‘‘the dealer may sell or 

18 lease,’’ and inserting ‘‘the dealer or rental com19 pany may sell, lease, or rent’’; and 

20 (E) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘sale 

21 or lease’’ and inserting ‘‘sale, lease, or rental 

22 agreement’’; 

23 (3) by amending paragraph (2) to read as fol24 lows: 

25 ‘‘(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

26 this subsection may be construed to prohibit a dealer 


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1 or rental company from offering the vehicle or equip2 ment for sale, lease, or rent.’’; and 

3 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(3) SPECIFIC RULES FOR RENTAL COMPA5 NIES.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise 

7 provided under this paragraph, a rental com8 pany shall comply with the limitations on sale, 

9 lease, or rental set forth in subparagraph (C) 

10 and paragraph (1) as soon as practicable, but 

11 not later than 24 hours after the earliest re12 ceipt of the notice to owner under subsection 

13 (b) or (c) of section 30118 (including the vehi14 cle identification number for the covered vehi15 cle) by the rental company, whether by elec16 tronic means or first class mail. 

17 ‘‘(B) SPECIAL RULE FOR LARGE VEHICLE

18 FLEETS.—Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), 

19 if a rental company receives a notice to owner 

20 covering more than 5,000 motor vehicles in its 

21 fleet, the rental company shall comply with the 

22 limitations on sale, lease, or rental set forth in 

23 subparagraph (C) and paragraph (1) as soon as 

24 practicable, but not later than 48 hours after 

25 the earliest receipt of the notice to owner under 


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1 subsection (b) or (c) of section 30118 (includ2 ing the vehicle identification number for the 

3 covered vehicle) by the rental company, whether 

4 by electronic means or first class mail. 

5 ‘‘(C) SPECIAL RULE FOR WHEN REMEDIES

6 NOT IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE.—If a notifica7 tion required under subsection (b) or (c) of sec8 tion 30118 indicates that the remedy for the 

9 defect or noncompliance is not immediately 

10 available and specifies actions to temporarily 

11 alter the vehicle that eliminate the safety risk 

12 posed by the defect or noncompliance, the rent13 al company, after causing the specified actions 

14 to be performed, may rent (but may not sell or 

15 lease) the motor vehicle. Once the remedy for 

16 the rental vehicle becomes available to the rent17 al company, the rental company may not rent 

18 the vehicle until the vehicle has been remedied, 

19 as provided in subsection (a). 

20 ‘‘(D) INAPPLICABILITY TO JUNK AUTO21 MOBILES.—Notwithstanding paragraph (1), this 

22 subsection does not prohibit a rental company 

23 from selling a covered rental vehicle if such ve24 hicle— 


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1 ‘‘(i) meets the definition of a junk 

2 automobile under section 201 of the Anti3 Car Theft Act of 1992 (49 U.S.C. 30501); 

4 ‘‘(ii) is retitled as a junk automobile 

5 pursuant to applicable State law; and 

6 ‘‘(iii) is reported to the National 

7 Motor Vehicle Information System, if re8 quired under section 204 of such Act (49 

9 U.S.C. 30504).’’. 

10 SEC. 4. MAKING SAFETY DEVICES AND ELEMENTS INOPER11 ATIVE. 

12 Section 30122(b) of title 49, United States Code, is 

13 amended by inserting ‘‘rental company,’’ after ‘‘dealer,’’ 

14 each place such term appears. 

15 SEC. 5. INSPECTIONS, INVESTIGATIONS, AND RECORDS. 

16 Section 30166 of title 49, United States Code, is 

17 amended— 

18 (1) in subsection (c)(2), by striking ‘‘or dealer’’ 

19 each place such term appears and inserting ‘‘dealer, 

20 or rental company’’; 

21 (2) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘or dealer’’ 

22 each place such term appears and inserting ‘‘dealer, 

23 or rental company’’; and 

24 (3) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘or to owners’’ 

25 and inserting ‘‘, rental companies, or other owners’’. 


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1 SEC. 6. RESEARCH AUTHORITY. 

2 The Secretary of Transportation may conduct a 

3 study of— 

4 (1) the effectiveness of the amendments made 

5 by this Act; and 

6 (2) other activities of rental companies (as de7 fined in section 30102(a)(11) of title 49, United 

8 States Code) related to their use and disposition of 

9 motor vehicles that are the subject of a notification 

10 required under section 30118 of title 49, United 

11 States Code. 

12 SEC. 7. STUDY. 

13 (a) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT.—Subsection (b)(2) 

14 of section 32206 of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 

15 21st Century Act (Public Law 112–141; 126 Stat. 785) 

16 is amended— 

17 (1) in subparagraph (E), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

18 the end; 

19 (2) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as sub20 paragraph (G); and 

21 (3) by inserting after subparagraph (E) the fol22 lowing: 

23 ‘‘(F) evaluate the completion of safety re24 call remedies on rental trucks; and’’. 

25 (b) REPORT.—Subsection (c) of such section is 

26 amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 

2 subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively, and indent3 ing such subparagraphs, as so redesignated, an addi4 tional two ems from the left margin; 

5 (2) by striking ‘‘REPORT.—Not later’’ and in6 serting the following: 

7 ‘‘(c) REPORTS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later’’; 

9 (3) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘subsection 

10 (b)’’ and inserting ‘‘subparagraphs (A) through (E) 

11 and (G) of subsection (b)(2)’’; and 

12 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(2) SAFETY RECALL REMEDY REPORT.—Not 

14 later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of 

15 the ‘Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car 

16 Act of 2015’, the Secretary shall submit a report to 

17 the congressional committees set forth in paragraph 

18 (1) that contains— 

19 ‘‘(A) the findings of the study conducted 

20 pursuant to subsection (b)(2)(F); and 

21 ‘‘(B) any recommendations for legislation 

22 that the Secretary determines to be appro23 priate.’’. 


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1 SEC. 8. PUBLIC COMMENTS. 

2 The Secretary of Transportation shall solicit com3 ments regarding the implementation of this Act from 

4 members of the public, including rental companies, con5 sumer organizations, automobile manufacturers, and auto6 mobile dealers. 

7 SEC. 9. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

8 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

9 Act shall— 

10 (1) be construed to create or increase any liabil11 ity, including for loss of use, for a manufacturer as 

12 a result of having manufactured or imported a 

13 motor vehicle subject to a notification of defect or 

14 noncompliance under subsection (b) or (c) of section 

15 30118 of title 49, United States Code; or 

16 (2) supersede or otherwise affect the contrac17 tual obligations, if any, between such a manufac18 turer and a rental company (as defined in section 

19 30102(a) of title 49, United States Code). 

20 SEC. 10. RULEMAKING. 

21 The Secretary of Transportation may promulgate 

22 rules, as appropriate, to implement this Act and the 

23 amendments made by this Act. 


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1 SEC. 11. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

2 The amendments made by this Act shall take effect 

3 on the date that is 180 days after the date of the enact4 ment of this Act. 

Æ 


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