Back in October 2019, The Blue Oval issued a recall for select Ford Transit vans due to an issue with the driveshaft flexible coupling after discovering that part could crack over time. This particular problem could increase noise and vibration at best, or at worst, cause separation of the driveshaft, resulting in a loss of power and unintended movement in park without the parking brake applied – increasing the risk of a crash and/or damage to other surrounding components. That recall affected over 300,000 Ford Transit vans at the time., but it seems as if one rental car company didn’t bother to complete the recall before loaning out some of those impacted models to customers.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been investigating that company – Zipcar – since April 2018, after it discovered that at least one customer had rented a Ford Transit from the outfit that had not received the prescribed remedy set forth in the recall, which was to replace the driveshaft front sections with mechanical u-joints instead of the flexible couplings. That investigation ultimately determined that Zipcar rented a number of Ford Transit vans to customers that were equipped with the faulty driveshaft flexible coupling during 2017 and 2018.
Such a move violates the Safety Act, and as such, the NHTSA has set forth a consent order for Zipcar, in which the company agreed to pay a total civil penalty of $300,000. That sum includes a payment of $150,000 as a non-deferred amount, while Zipcar also agreed to a sum of $150,000 as a abeyance amount that can be deferred pending the satisfactory completion of the requirements set forth in the consent order.
As for what that consent order requires, the NHTSA notes that it will cover the scope of all recall compliance procedures and training manuals at Zipcar, which has also agreed to conduct an audit of all the vehicles in its fleet that have had an open recall within 150 days of the effective date of the consent order. Zipcar has also agreed to attend quarterly meetings with the NHTSA to discuss the progress of these obligations, as well as any issues or concerns either side may have during the course of that process.
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