§ 82.009.Limited Liability for Failure to Retrofit Certain Rented or Leased Vehicles

A 2023 provision addressing claims that a rental company should have added safety equipment.

"Retrofit" means to install new equipment or component parts that were not included when the vehicle was manufactured or sold. It does not include routine maintenance or repairs for wear and tear or collision damage.

The section applies only to a motor vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of at least 6,000 pounds, governed by 49 U.S.C. Section 30106 — the federal provision protecting rental and leasing companies from vicarious liability — and not manufactured primarily to transport 10 or fewer individuals.

Those three conditions together identify commercial trucks and larger vehicles rather than passenger cars.

The protection: in any civil action alleging negligence, gross negligence, or strict liability, a seller who rents or leases such a vehicle is not liable for failing to retrofit it with equipment, or for failing to select equipment, that was not required by the applicable federal motor vehicle safety standards in effect when the vehicle was manufactured or sold.

The claim it forecloses is that a lessor should have added a safety technology that became available after the vehicle was built — a collision avoidance system, for instance — or should have specified it when purchasing.

Subsection (d) is the exception: the protection does not apply if the seller fails to comply with a law or regulation, issued after the vehicle was manufactured or sold, requiring a mandatory recall or retrofit.

So a lessor need not upgrade beyond the standards of the vehicle's era, but must comply with a mandatory recall when one issues.