A rental SUV lost control and plowed into a mixed-use building on Goffle Road in Hawthorne Monday morning, injuring one person inside the vehicle and forcing police to shut down part of the busy roadway. The Mitsubishi struck the structure at 20 Goffle Road, and the driver was reportedly seen walking into a nearby Enterprise Rent-A-Car location shortly after the crash.
The crash happened Monday morning, October 19, according to Daily Voice, which reported that the SUV lost control before striking the building. The outlet, citing Boyd A. Loving's reporting, said one occupant suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Hawthorne police and firefighters responded to the scene, along with Passaic County Sheriff's Office EMS.
Hawthorne police confirmed the vehicle was a rental but told the outlet they could not definitively identify where it had been rented. An Enterprise Rent-A-Car location sits at 34 Goffle Road, and the driver was seen walking into that office not long after the collision, per the same account. A flatbed tow truck eventually hauled away the damaged SUV, while a Hawthorne building inspector responded to assess the property.
A 99-Year-Old Storefront Takes the Hit
The building that absorbed the impact has stood on its 0.09-acre lot since 1927, according to property records cited by Compass Real Estate. It sits along a commercial stretch of Goffle Road in Passaic County that has seen more than its share of trouble this year. Goffle Road traffic was detoured in both directions while crews worked the scene, the article noted.
Local legal and traffic safety guides have flagged Goffle Road and its interchanges with Route 208 as a known high-incident corridor, pointing to frequent speed adjustments and complex intersection turns, according to Camili & Capo, PA. The corridor links Hawthorne's commercial zones to Route 208, and it's not the first time a vehicle has lost control nearby — a car struck a utility pole on Route 208 North at Goffle Road in November 2025, injuring the driver and severely damaging the vehicle, per News 12 New Jersey.
Why Enterprise Likely Won't Be on the Hook
Because the SUV was a rental, the crash raises a legal question that comes up often in these cases: whether the rental company bears any responsibility. Under the federal Graves Amendment, enacted in 2005, car rental companies cannot be held vicariously liable for damages or injuries caused by rental drivers unless the company itself engaged in independent negligence or criminal wrongdoing, according to Ilabaca Law. That federal statute preempted state laws that once held rental fleet owners automatically liable for renter accidents, meaning financial and legal accountability in cases like this typically falls on the driver's own insurance or personal assets.
A Pattern Seen Nationwide
Vehicle-into-building crashes like Monday's are far more common than most drivers realize. Data from the Storefront Safety Council shows vehicles crash into commercial storefronts and buildings more than 100 times a day across the country, resulting in roughly 16,000 injuries and 2,600 deaths annually, according to ASIS International. Research from the same council found that 41% of these crashes stem from operator or pedal error, such as mistaking the accelerator for the brake, while 15% involve impaired driving and 12% result from traffic collisions, per Blockaides. Demographic data from the council also shows drivers 60 and older account for nearly 40% of storefront crashes, while drivers under 30 account for roughly 29%.
Goffle Road has had a rough stretch of late. A fourth-alarm fire destroyed a commercial and apartment building housing Hawthorne Tire Company at 136 Goffle Road on September 1, injuring six firefighters, as Hoodline reported in coverage of that blaze. Weeks later, Hoodline also covered a separate Hawthorne crash and hit-and-run investigation that led to extensive court filings. Whether Monday's crash will prompt any changes to the corridor, including discussion of protective measures for storefronts, remains to be seen.
