May 30, 2019—A review of the safety records of nearly 94,000 vehicles in New York City and the Seattle area has found that Uber and Lyft do little to address unfixed or open recalls, reported Forbes.
Some vehicles in the evaluation were found to have “glaring issues that pose serious risks.” These include deadly Takata airbags that could hurt or kill the driver or front-seat passengers, and unfixed defects involving the potential for vehicles to catch fire or for engines to lose power entirely. For example, one 2011 Hyundai Sonata GLS was found to have eight unaddressed safety recalls that range from a potential seat-belt detachment to possible engine failure, which “ would result in a vehicle stall, increasing the risk of a crash.”
The analysis also found that slightly more than 16 percent of ride-hailing vehicles had one or more open safety recalls; 25 vehicles had at least five or more unfixed recalls.
Uber and Lyft have taken only minor steps to ensure that problems open are addressed, “leaving the onus primarily on drivers,” according to the report; such inaction “could have unintended consequences for the riding public.”
