Consumer Protection

CFA Urges FTC to Reject Proposed Settlements Which Allow for Misleading Advertising of Unsafe Vehicles

In comments to the Federal Trade Commission regarding the proposed settlements with CarMax, Asbury Automotive Group, and West-Herr Automotive Group, CFA and other public interest groups are urging the FTC to withdraw and modify them so that they prohibit the dealers from engaging in false advertising regarding the safety of unrepaired recalled cars. The current proposed agreements would allow the respondent car
dealers to advertise unsafe, unrepaired, defective recalled used cars with serious safety defects that have killed and injured people as “safe,” “repaired for safety issues,” or “subject to a rigorous inspection,” without repairing the safety defects. They could do so if the advertising merely includes a contradictory, confusing, inadequate, and misleading disclaimer that the dealer sells cars that “MAY be subject to recalls for safety issues that have
not been repaired” and the dealer subsequently provides other information that is also inadequate and much too late in the sales process to compensate for the initial false impression.