ALBANY – The state Attorney General’s Office has reached settlements with auto dealerships around the state, including 12 in the region, for selling vehicles without disclosing they were under recall for dangerous unrepaired safety issues including unintended acceleration, airbag problems, vehicle fire, steering and brake loss and other issues.
The settlement requires the dealers to provide consumers with advance notice of any existing and unrepaired recall, among other measures.
The auto dealerships in the region that were cited include:
Hudson Valley Auto Sales
Ruge’s Automotive, Inc. (two dealerships)
Autos by Joseph, Inc.
Frank Siena Auto Sales, Inc.
JC Lopez Auto Sales Corp.
Croton Auto Park
New Rochelle Chevrolet, Inc.
The Rivera Auto Group, d/b/a/ Rivera Toyota
Rockland Motors, Inc.
Rye Subaru
Saw Mill Auto Sales
Westchester Auto Exchange, Inc.
As part of the settlements, the dealerships must adhere to guidelines to alert consumers that their vehicles may have unrepaired recalls; they must place a decal notice on the window of used cars that includes information telling consumers where to check recall status; two days prior to any sale, dealers must provide consumers with a copy of the recall status report for a vehicle; dealers must send notices to customers who have purchased vehicles with unrepaired safety recalls; and each dealer must pay a fine of $1,000 to the state.
