A group of four House members has questioned GSA regarding unaddressed vehicle recall notices, citing an investigation finding that more than 20 percent of vehicles in an August auction of surplus vehicles had open safety recalls.
The government therefore continues to have its own employees use those vehicles “long after their recalls were issued,” a letter said. “Operating vehicles with safety recalls puts the driver, passengers, and others on the road at potential risk.”
The letter from Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., ranking Democrat on the subcommittee on manufacturing, and others, said that “current GSA procedures do not require fixing safety issues, notifying buyers of open recalls, or even checking for potential recalls prior to auction. As a result, consumers can unknowingly buy defective vehicles from the federal government.”
They noted that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “considers the sale of unrepaired, recalled used cars is a critical safety concern and that new and used cars alike should not be sold with unrepaired recalled defects.”
While GSA since 2014 has used automated systems to check its vehicles for open recalls and push that information out to federal agencies leasing vehicles, that system does not cover all government vehicles and should be expanded, they said.