We put a lot of trust in companies every day. We trust that the water we drink is safe and the food we eat is free of pathogens. We also trust many different products on a daily basis to perform as they are supposed to without injuring us.

Sometimes, companies fail to properly maintain equipment, resulting in great injury or the wrongful death of Florida residents and others across the country. A recent example of such negligence is that of the rental car industry. It turns out, there is no regulation of rental cars, and many cars are stripped down of common safety features and recalled cars go without repairs.

This is all to cut costs. By not investing a few hundred dollars to install traction control in a rental car, one company contributed to the paralysis of a woman whose car rolled over. Another woman lost her daughters because a rental car company failed to repair a recalled vehicle. The woman sued the company for wrongful death and won. She is now taking her fight to Congress to ensure that no more families have to endure the pain she does.

The car she rented started on fire because of a known issue with the power-steering fluid, which was part of a recall, causing her to crash into a semi-truck. Now some senators have said they will propose measures to regulate the industry for safety of their vehicles once Congress comes back from recess.

Regulation of the industry will hopefully help prevent the wrongful death of Florida residents. Even with regulation, companies should be held accountable for injuries resulting from their negligence.

Source: USA Today, "Safety advocates: Rental car recalls should be regulated," Gary Stoller, Feb. 21, 2012