AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson.

The nation’s largest automotive dealer network has announced it will no longer sell either new or used vehicles subject to a recall until they have been repaired.

The announcement by Ft. Lauderdale-based AutoNation comes as the number of safety-related recalls has been surging to record levels. But while the U.S. Senate recently passed a measure that would force rental companies to pull recalled vehicles out of their fleets pending repairs, dealers were not required to take similar actions before selling such vehicles. And the House has yet to take action on its own version of the bill.

“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 AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson. “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.”

The move comes as both automotive regulators and auto manufacturers take more aggressive action on safety problems in the wake of several high-profile defects. That includes a faulty ignition switch at General Motors linked to 124 deaths, as well as the ongoing recall of millions of vehicles using potentially defective Takata airbags.

(GM victims’ fund wraps up; most claims denied. Click Here for the latest.)

The Houck sisters were killed when their rental vehicle spun out of control and hit a truck head-on.

All told about 64 million vehicles were recalled in 2014, about twice the previous record, and the pace hasn’t slowed this year. Studies by both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the vehicle tracking firm CarFax suggest there are perhaps 30 million or more vehicles on the road yet to have recall repairs completed.

AutoNation’s announcements comes as “a historic commitment to safety,” said Rosemary Shahan, president of the advocacy group, Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety. CARS has been a major force behind the Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act that passed the Senate in July.

(For more on the Houck Act, Click Here.)

Named for two sisters killed in 2004 when an unrepaired defect caused their rental car to spin out of control, the measure was included in the Senate version of a six-year federal transportation bill. It notably excluded dealers from having to make repairs before selling a recalled vehicle, focusing only on rentals. The House is expected to examine the bill now that lawmakers have returned to Washington.

But CARS President Shahan says the “huge breakthrough” of having AutoNation voluntarily stop sales until recalled vehicles are repaired could put pressure on the rest of the industry. The Florida company operates 293 automotive retail outlets across the country, and is the largest of the many chains that have begun dominating the U.S. retail automotive market.

The move might be hailed by consumers but could also generate some bad blood within the auto retail world. Even though several automakers, notably Honda and General Motors, have supported a broader federal ban on the sale and rental of recalled vehicles subject to repair, others have either stayed mum or openly opposed such a measure.

So has the National Automobile Dealers Association, which issued a statement insisting, “There is no evidence that a blanket grounding of all used vehicles with open recalls will make the roads or consumers any safer.”

The trade group, based in suburban Washington, D.C., warned that such a move could reduce the value of vehicles being traded in if they’re subject to recalls. Opponents fear the measure could be costly for dealers, not only due to the price tag for making repairs but also because it could leave them with lots full of vehicles that are at least temporarily unsaleable. Dealers would have to continue paying financing and other costs, however.

But the comments by AutoNation’s Jackson reflect the concerns of consumer groups who fear that many buyers simply don’t realize they’re buying a vehicle with a potentially deadly defect.

Getting recalled vehicles repaired has become a major concern. CarFax has estimated there are more than 30 million cars, trucks and crossovers on the road that haven’t had defects fixed. NHTSA data show that compliance rates never run higher than about 70% of the vehicles targeted by a recall and often lag much lower. The agency has been pressing to boost that figure and a variety of options are under study including one approach that would ban vehicles from being registered by owners until repairs are completed.

(Consumers increasingly frustrated, dissatisfied with recall process. For more, Click Here.)