Earl Stewart, a Toyota dealer, at one of his lots in West Palm Beach, Fla. He refuses to sell used cars with open recalls, but he does not turn away buyers trading in cars whose airbags have not yet been fixed, like the ones at this lot. Scott McIntyre for The New York Times
For people in the market for a used car, the
“certified pre-owned” designation has long been the gold standard, an
indication that a qualified mechanic has vouched for the car and that a buyer
can expect a vehicle that is — hopefully — almost as good as new.
But the Takata airbag recall, which is the biggest in history, has upended all of
that. Now the certified designation — known in the auto trade as C.P.O. — will
no longer necessarily have the same meaning. For one thing, last month the
Federal Trade Commission made it easier for cars to be
billed as “certified,” even if they were under recall and hadn’t been fixed
yet.
And just as significantly, Ford — with the F.T.C.
settlement for cover — told its dealers this week that they could sell recalled
vehicles and certify them too, so long as they did not advertise them as “safe”
and required buyers to sign forms acknowledging that they were aware of the
problem.
Against this backdrop, one dealer in Florida has
refused to sell recalled vehicles that he cannot get fixed, letting 100 or so
pile up on a lot miles from his main showroom. He even sued a rival who he
believes is selling recalled cars without disclosing that they have not been
fixed yet.
How did the used-car market get so confusing all of a
sudden? For starters, the Takata airbag recall is unprecedented in
its scope, with over 60 million airbags affected, but also in its complexity.
Dealers can’t simply fix everything at once, because there are not enough
replacement parts. As a result, the airbags most likely to cause harm are first
in line for repair, and the lines for existing recalls and others to come may
extend for at least a few more years.
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