Sen. Chuck Schumer is urging the Federal Trade Commission to create another regulatory hurdle for dealers to clear in order to sell used vehicles, using an incident allegedly involving a truck sold by a CarMax store in California as leverage to further the campaign.

The New York Democrat sent a letter this week to the FTC asking the agency to immediately direct dealers that sell used vehicles to change any policy that may potentially allow the sale of recalled vehicles without first fixing safety defects.

Schumer noted the Motor Vehicle Safety Act prohibits franchised dealers from selling recalled new vehicles without first fixing the safety defects, but the legislation does not apply to dealers who also move used metal. Schumer added that if the FTC does not act to prevent used car dealers from selling defective vehicles, he will take legislative action to address this issue.

“Used cars that have a safety recall shouldn’t be sold to anyone until the recall is fixed, period,” Schumer said. “Far too many times we have seen the tragic and often fatal consequences when deficient cars are allowed on the road, and it’s time for the FTC to do everything it can to put a stop to it.”

Schumer’s letter comes as Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety and other consumer groups have petitioned the FTC to investigate and take appropriate legal action regarding the advertising and sales practices of CarMax.

Those consumer groups also have helped a California state Senator revive her bill that would prohibit the 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.

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 that committee earlier this month heard from Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson who sponsored the bill and brought a host of witnesses organized by Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety to show support for the measure.

The committee heard from Angela Davidson, who told lawmakers she bought a 2010 Dodge Ram with her husband, Clarence, from a CarMax store in Irvine, Calif., on May 19. Davidson said she later learned the truck was recalled by Chrysler, and the repair hadn’t yet been completed.

According to the notice from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from last February, Chrysler recalled 278,222 units because the rear axle pinion nut may loosen due to an undersized pinion spline that can allow relative motion between the nut and companion flange.

“If the rear axle pinion nut loosens, the axle can lock up and cause a loss of vehicle control and/or a vehicle crash with little warning,” NHTSA said.

According to Davidson’s statement to the California Assembly, that’s exactly what happened even after taking the vehicle to a Chrysler dealership. On May 30, Davidson said the truck came apart when traveling through the Mojave Desert and exploded.

In a letter on behalf of CarMax to Assemblyman Susan Bonilla, who chairs the Business and Professions Committee, attorney Louie Brown of Kahn, Soares & Conway emphasized how the entire system is “broken.”

Brown wrote, “Manufacturer’s safety recalls should be taken seriously by manufacturers, dealers and consumers, which is why CarMax carefully advises its customers to register their vehicles with its manufacturer as soon as they purchase the vehicle so they can be apprised of any future recalls.

“Unfortunately, manufacturers do not permit independent auto dealers like CarMax to repair recalls,” he continued. “Further, the manufacturers do not even grant independent auto dealers like CarMax access to their internal databases in order to determine whether a vehicle is subject to a recall. Thus independent dealers are left to search a manufacturer’s website (which typically requires a person to register the vehicle and provide a name and both an email and physical address) or call a manufacturer’s franchisee and inquire about a vehicle’s recall status.”

Meanwhile back on Capitol Hill, Schumer closed his letter to FTC chair Edith Ramirez by again referencing the alleged California incident.

“The commission has a long and distinguished history of cracking down on deceptive sales practices and protecting consumers,” Schumer said. “If the allegations by Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety prove to be true, I believe the commission should take swift and decisive action to rectify the inherently deceptive and dangerous practice of selling safety-compromised used cars that are under recall to unsuspecting consumers.”