CARY, N.C. -

With recalls making headlines in a big way so far this year, officials both in Washington, D.C., and California are pushing for more regulation of automakers and dealers to enhance the process for repairing recalled vehicles and to keep units regulators deem to be unsafe off of the road.

Included in the Grow America Act — a $302 billion, four-year reauthorization proposal orchestrated by the U.S. Department of Transportation — are segments officials said will strengthen safety regulators’ ability to hold automakers accountable for defects that “can cost lives.”

Specifically, the act would:

— Establish harsher penalties for OEMs that refuse to address defective and dangerous vehicles and equipment that endanger the public.

— Provide the authority to require automakers to cease retail sale and/or require repair of vehicles or equipment that pose an imminent hazard to the safety of the public.

— Provide the authority to require rental car companies and used-car dealers to participate in recalls of defective and unsafe vehicles.

To ensure OEMs comply with safety standards, officials pointed out the Grow America Act increases the limit for civil penalties for violators from $35 million to $300 million. It also amends recall authority to require rental companies and dealers to fix vehicles before making them available to the public.

Officials added the act also would strengthen power held by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to respond quickly to remove “hazardous equipment” from the market, and to investigate incidents of noncompliance.

“As the nation’s top regulator of the automotive industry, we hold manufacturers accountable for defect and compliance issues regarding their products and are seeking to further our ability to do so in the future, including increasing civil penalty limits nearly 10 times to $300 million,” NHTSA’s acting administrator David Friedman said.

Bill Revival in California

Meanwhile on the other side of the country, a California state senator is looking to drum up more support for a measure she sponsored but lost momentum when it was considered by the state government’s other elected chamber.

Lawmakers pushed Senate Bill 686 over to the Assembly’s Business and Professions Committee last summer where it didn’t come up for a vote. But now state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson is receiving support from consumer groups to revive the measure so it can eventually get to the governor.

According to the bill, dealers would be prohibited from selling, leasing, renting, loaning or otherwise transferring ownership of a used vehicle, if the dealer knows or should have known that the unit is subject to a manufacturer’s safety recall.

This bill would similarly prohibit a rental company that retails used vehicles from selling or transferring ownership of the unit that is subject to a safety recall.

Those prohibitions would not apply if the defect was repaired as required. However, another element of the bill would prevent dealerships from listing the unit as certified if the dealer knows or should have known that the vehicle is subject to a manufacturer’s recall.

Both the California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA) and the Independent Automobile Dealers Association of California (IADAC) made strong arguments against the bill last summer.

“SB 686 is not just premature and unnecessary but is also poorly conceived and ambiguous,” CNCDA said. “The bill fails to define manufacturer’s safety recall and other key terms. Additionally, it fails to specify when a dealer must verify a vehicle’s recall status or provide any protection for a dealer once an inquiry has been made. Without providing any clear avenues for dealers to comply with its provisions, SB 686 is problematic and creates havoc in the used car market as dealers and consumers struggle to discover the recall status of their vehicles.”

IADAC also stated the bill would open dealers to “numerous lawsuits if an honest mistake was made.”

Furthermore, the Consumer Financial Services Association (CFSA) also came out against SB 686. CFSA said the measure “would effectively establish a private right of action against a financial institution that holds the note on a said vehicle. Financial institutions have no way to protect themselves from the strict liability called for in SB 686 and this would have a chilling effect on the auto lending industry.”

Nevertheless, Jackson remains steadfast behind her bill.

“Californians who buy used cars should have the same confidence in the safety of the vehicles they’re buying as those who buy new cars,” Jackson said. “And until they’ve been fixed so that known safety defects have been corrected, recalled cars shouldn’t be on the road, and they shouldn’t be for sale. It’s as simple as that. This bill will prevent senseless tragedies and make our roads safer for all of us.”