Paul's Comments

Enterprise Rent-A-Car was ordered by a jury to pay $15 million in damages in a wrongful death suit after it rented a PT Cruiser a month after the company had been informed that the vehicle had a safety recall in which the power steering fluid could leak out and cause serious problems including engine fires.

Two women rented a vehicle subject to the recall from an Enterprise location and exactly what was predicted in the recall notice happened. All of the power steering fluid leaked out, and the engine caught fire. The resultant smoke, flames, and loss of steering caused the driver to cross the median on a freeway and plow into an oncoming tractor-trailer rig. The two were killed instantly. "They were burned up in the fire," a relative to the two women stated in the TV newscast. "They were incinerated."

Relatives initially turned down a $3 million settlement which would have required they abide by a gag order. "We felt the public needed to know this."

The big break in the case came when an executive for Enterprise admitted there was no corporate policy on pulling recalled vehicles from rentals, and it was left up to regional managers.