Used Car Safety Recall Repair Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1835 To prohibit the sale, lease, or loan of used motor vehicles with open recalls to consumers by auto dealers. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 26, 2021 Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Mr. MARKEY, and Ms. WARREN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To prohibit the sale, lease, or loan of used motor vehicles with open recalls to consumers by auto dealers. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Used Car Safety Recall 4 Repair Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. USED MOTOR VEHICLE CONSUMER PROTECTION. 6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 30102(a) of title 49, 7 United States Code, is amended— 8 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 9 striking ‘‘chapter—’’ and inserting ‘‘chapter:’’; 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1835.IS S1835 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1835 IS (2) in each of paragraphs (1) through (13)— 1 (A) by inserting ‘‘The term’’ after the 2 paragraph designation; and 3 (B) by inserting a paragraph heading, the 4 text of which is comprised of the term defined 5 in the paragraph; and 6 (3) by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(14) USED MOTOR VEHICLE.—The term ‘used 8 motor vehicle’ means a motor vehicle that has pre- 9 viously been purchased other than for resale.’’. 10 (b) DEALER REIMBURSEMENT AND LIMITATION ON 11 THE SALE, LEASE, OR LOAN OF USED MOTOR VEHI- 12 CLES.—Section 30120 of title 49, United States Code, is 13 amended— 14 (1) in subsection (f)— 15 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and 16 (2) as paragraphs (2) and (1), respectively, and 17 moving the paragraphs so as to appear in nu- 18 merical order; 19 (B) in paragraph (2) (as so redesignated), 20 in the paragraph heading, by striking ‘‘IN GEN- 21 ERAL’’ and inserting ‘‘REIMBURSEMENT FOR 22 REMEDY PROVIDED’’; and 23 (C) by adding at the end the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1835.IS S1835 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1835 IS ‘‘(3) UNAVAILABLE REMEDY FOR A USED 1 MOTOR VEHICLE.— 2 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION OF DEALER.—In this 3 paragraph, the term ‘dealer’ has the meaning 4 given the term in subsection (k)(1). 5 ‘‘(B) REIMBURSEMENT.— 6 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If a dealer is in 7 possession of a used motor vehicle and the 8 manufacturer of that used motor vehicle 9 has failed to make a remedy available by 10 the date described in clause (ii), the manu- 11 facturer shall reimburse the dealer at the 12 rate described in clause (iii) until the ear- 13 lier of— 14 ‘‘(I) the date on which a remedy 15 is made available by the manufac- 16 turer; and 17 ‘‘(II) the date on which the total 18 amount of payments to a dealer under 19 this paragraph equals the fair market 20 value of the used motor vehicle. 21 ‘‘(ii) DATE DESCRIBED.—The date re- 22 ferred to in clause (i) is the date that is 60 23 days after the date described in section 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1835.IS S1835 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1835 IS 30119(b) and specified by the manufac- 1 turer— 2 ‘‘(I) in a notification under sec- 3 tion 30119(a)(5); or 4 ‘‘(II) under section 30121(c)(2). 5 ‘‘(iii) RATE DESCRIBED.—The rate re- 6 ferred to in clause (i) is a rate determined 7 by the Secretary that is not less than 1 8 percent of the fair market value of the 9 used motor vehicle per month, which shall 10 be prorated on a daily basis for each day 11 that the used motor vehicle is in the pos- 12 session of the dealer— 13 ‘‘(I) after the date described in 14 clause (ii); and 15 ‘‘(II) before the date on which a 16 remedy is made available by the man- 17 ufacturer. 18 ‘‘(iv) LIMITATION.—The total amount 19 of payments to a dealer under this para- 20 graph with respect to a used motor vehicle 21 shall not exceed the fair market value of 22 that used motor vehicle.’’; and 23 (2) by adding at the end the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1835.IS S1835 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1835 IS ‘‘(k) LIMITATION ON THE SALE, LEASE, OR LOAN OF 1 USED MOTOR VEHICLES.— 2 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF DEALER.—In this sub- 3 section, the term ‘dealer’ means a person that, dur- 4 ing the 1-year period ending on the date of the sale, 5 lease, or loan of a used motor vehicle, has sold at 6 least 5 motor vehicles to buyers that in good faith 7 purchased the vehicles other than for resale. 8 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—Except as provided under 9 paragraph (3), a dealer shall not sell, lease, or loan 10 a used motor vehicle until after any defect or non- 11 compliance for which notification is required under 12 subsection (b)(2)(A) or (c) of section 30118 with re- 13 spect to the vehicle has been remedied. 14 ‘‘(3) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (2) shall not 15 apply if— 16 ‘‘(A) the recall information regarding the 17 used motor vehicle— 18 ‘‘(i) was not available at the time of 19 sale, lease, or loan using the means estab- 20 lished by the Secretary under section 21 31301 of the Moving Ahead for Progress 22 in the 21st Century Act (49 U.S.C. 30166 23 note; Public Law 112–141); and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1835.IS S1835 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1835 IS ‘‘(ii) was not available on the website 1 of the manufacturer; 2 ‘‘(B) notification of the defect or non- 3 compliance is required by an order issued by 4 the Secretary under section 30118(b)(2), but 5 enforcement of the order is set aside in a civil 6 action to which section 30121(d) applies; 7 ‘‘(C) the used motor vehicle is sold at 8 wholesale; or 9 ‘‘(D)(i) the used motor vehicle is a junk 10 automobile (as defined in section 30501); and 11 ‘‘(ii) all required information with respect 12 to the used motor vehicle has been reported to 13 the National Motor Vehicle Title Information 14 System under section 30504.’’. 15 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 16 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 17 take effect on the date that is 1 year after the date of 18 enactment of this Act. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1835.IS S1835 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS