According to the Kansas City Star, Enterprise Rent-A-Car deprives renters of an essential safety item.
Enterprise ordered around 66,000 Chevrolet Impalas with standard side curtain air bags deleted. Every retail Chevrolet Impala buyer gets this, but Enterprise’s renters don’t.
This is important: to save $175 per car, Enterprise deprives renters of a critical safety device. Even worse: much of this upfront cost is earned back once the car is sold. And the worst: when renting and finally selling off these vehicles, Enterprise declined to clearly inform that this car is missing an essential safety feature.
Some studies suggest side air bags give up to a 50% crash survivability improvement in side collisions. Consumer Reports strongly recommends side air bags in all car purchases.
Now I will think twice before renting a car from Enterprise.
(Props to The Truth About Cars for finding the article.)