NHTSA Complaint #11693451 — 2019 FORD E-350

While driving on the highway, the brakes on my rental truck began to feel mushy, and the pedal eventually went all the way to the floor. I was unable to stop and had to use the emergency brake to avoid a collision. The truck was rented from Budget Truck Rental (Serrato Enterprises Inc., 7680 Bandera Road, San Antonio, TX 78238). Upon inspection, I discovered brake fluid leaking from the left rear tire and an empty master cylinder reservoir under the hood. I made my first call to Budget Customer Service at 2:00 PM but was not towed to Abilene until 1:00 AM—leaving my family stranded for nearly two days. The next day, the repair mechanic from Rocky Mountain Truck inspected the braking system and told me this vehicle should never have been on the road due to the severe deterioration of the brake rotor and pads on both sides of the truck (photo attached). He provided me with the damaged rotor and brake pad as physical evidence of neglect and told me the vehicle would not pass any sort of inspection, also warning me to never rent from Budget again if this is how they give customers vehicles. Inside the cab, there is a maintenance log showing no service for over 20,000 miles beyond the last recorded entry at 99,000 miles, even though previous maintenance had been logged every 4,000 miles. This clearly shows a failure in standard maintenance and safety practices. The fact that my wife’s and my safety was jeopardized—and that Budget’s customer service treated this with such disregard—is unacceptable. It is alarming that only a catastrophic accident could have brought attention to such negligence in vehicle maintenance and safety oversight. I am going to these lengths due to the fact that Budget values milking a few extra miles out of a vehicle's lifespan rather than addressing the most common wear-and-tear items on a vehicle. I'm reaching out because of Budget’s failure to acknowledge the importance of vehicle safety. Budget Customer Reference Number: [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATIO