The Center for Auto Safety wants regulators in 10 cities and states to force cabs with unfixed recall repairs to be parked.
If the massive recalls by General Motors and Takata in recent years have taught the public anything, it’s that vehicle owners are bad about bringing those vehicles to get the fixes necessary to make those cars, trucks and utes safe.
Now, the Center for Auto Safety, a Washington D.C.-based safety advocacy group, is raising the alarm about another class of vehicles: taxi cabs. The organization recently sent letters to the governing agencies for cab companies in the nation’s 10 largest cities imploring them to park cabs that are up to date with recall repairs.
“Unrepaired, recalled vehicles can pose serious safety threats to drivers, passengers, bikers, and pedestrians,” said Jason Levine, the Center’s executive director.
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“In the case of taxis, consumers assume that because they are regulated, they are going to be safe and free from recalls, yet often that’s not the case. Passengers have no way of telling if the cab they flag down has an open recall – and they shouldn’t have to – that’s the responsibility of the licensing authority.”
The group sent letters to the city governments of Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Houston, New York City, and Los Angeles, and the state governments of Maryland and Michigan, urging regulators to bar taxis with unrepaired recalls from operating in their jurisdictions.
The Center for Auto Safety says that cabs in the nation’s largest markets are likely to have unfixed recall repairs that need to be resolved.
These seven cities and Michigan and Maryland, which regulate Detroit and Baltimore’s taxis, respectively, represent nine of America’s 10 cities with the largest number of taxis on the road, more than 35,000 in total.
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Although taxis in many of the jurisdictions mentioned must pass annual vehicle inspections, these inspections do not directly address open recalls, leaving drivers and customers vulnerable to hazardous defects.
“That’s why the Center is calling on these cities, and Maryland and Michigan, to make explicit their commitment to getting unrepaired, recalled taxis fixed in a timely manner,” Levine said. “Customers that pay for a licensed taxi believe that they are getting the safe ride they deserve. Getting recalled taxis fixed should be the number one resolution for 2020 for any governmental body with authority over licensed taxis.”
The group noted that of the top cities it investigated, only San Francisco currently checks taxis for open recalls. The other nine jurisdictions merely require that taxis pass mechanical inspections, which could allow a vehicle with a faulty ignition switch, for example, to slip past undetected.
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Since taxi owners may be resistant to removing vehicles from service due to potential lost income during repairs, it is the statutory and moral responsibility of the regulating jurisdictions to direct these repairs be made for everyone’s safety, the group noted.