Safety Questions Arise For Car-Sharing App Turo

Turo's founding mission is to put the world's billion-plus cars to better use. On Wednesday, two of those cars were used for violent, public acts of destruction.

- By Ben Eisen

The resulting scrutiny could force the 15-year-old private company to confront longstanding criticism of its safety practices.

The car-sharing app was used to book both a Ford F-150 that rammed into a crowd in New Orleans and a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded in Las Vegas. Authorities haven't identified a link between the two incidents, which nonetheless thrust an unwelcome spotlight on the San Francisco startup with dreams of an initial public offering.

Turo is a sort of Airbnb for cars. Customers use the app to find and book rentals. They rent from "hosts," who make money lending out their otherwise-idle vehicles. Some hosts are individuals looking to make a few extra bucks, and others are small-time entrepreneurs with fleets.

Because some owners own cars, hosts wondered about the legal liability of the owner of the Ford F-150 used to kill 14 people in New Orleans. (The host couldn't be identified.)

"This host is going to be in a worst-case scenario. Because you can't imagine a worse-case scenario," said Aubrey Janik, who rents out a fleet of about 30 cars with her husband in the Dallas area.