USA Today: “High-tech ‘repo man’ keeps car payments coming”
Some high-risk auto dealerships are turning to a device that disables the ignition if car payments are not made. The shut-off happens at 4 a.m., when cars are most likely parked, and it will not shut off a running motor. Still, Ken McEldowney, executive director of Consumer Action, a national non-profit group based in San Francisco, asks “[w]hat if a young mother with children gets stranded in a dangerous part of town? Or someone needs to go to the hospital?”
According to the article, “no-start systems have held up in court. In 1999, a handful of customers filed a lawsuit against Mel Farr, an NFL Hall of Famer who became a car dealer in Detroit. The buyers felt the devices posed a danger and wanted them removed. A judge, however, sided with Farr.”
