In Connecticut and across the nation, people have become accustomed to having a ride at the click of a button with ride-sharing services. These services are convenient, diminish the need to rely on public transportation and friends, and allow a person to multitask without the fear of being a danger to others when behind the wheel. What people might not realize, however, is that many of the vehicles driven for ride-sharing companies have outstanding recalls that the driver might not have addressed.
New research from Consumer Reports examined the nature of the problem and it is significant. In the study, an estimated 94,000 vehicles that are driven for Lyft and Uber in New York City and King County in Washington State were studied. Of those vehicles, 16.2% had at least one recall that had not been fixed.
The safety issues included the failure to repair defective air bags – 1.4% had this problem. The air bags have caused 24 fatalities throughout the world. There were 25 vehicles that had at least five recalls that had not been addressed. Lyft does not oversee the recalls; however, Uber recently implemented a practice that does not let vehicles with open recalls operate.
Getting into a vehicle with another driver is always a risk, as it is impossible to know how well they can drive. However, when there is a fundamental safety issue with the vehicle itself, that is something for which the owner of the vehicle and the company that employs them should be held responsible if there are car accidents. The medical expenses, lost income and other problems that result from a crash can devastate a person financially and personally. If the accident was with a ride share operator or a person was a passenger in one of these vehicles, it is important to have legal assistance to investigate the case and determine if there was a recall that was not addressed.
