Carl Icahn pressures Hertz board after taking stake in struggling car rental giant

Hertz has previously said it would restate or correct financial results for the past three years to fix errors originating in 2011, and had found mistakes totaling $46.3m in prior periods.

Hertz had expected to see profits at least $1.70 a share this year on sales of at least $11.4bn.

The company may also delay the spin-off of its equipment rental business due to its accounting review.

Meanwhile, car makers have recalled more than 44m vehicles so far this year, forcing Hertz to take some of its rental cars off the road in order to have them repaired.

“While demand was trending ahead of plan, transaction days in the 2014 second quarter were tempered by already tight fleets in the face of rising [manufacturer] recall activity, which limited the company’s ability to convert demand into transaction days,” Hertz said.

Mr Icahn's investment fund, Icahn Enterprises, has performed strongly over the past five years, delivering a 31pc return in 2013, with the billionaire attributing the performance to its philosophy of demanding change wherever it sees one of its investments is not being properly run.

Earlier this year, he successfully petitioned Apple to return more money to investors. It eventually embarked on the biggest shareholder return in corporate history, noting that it had taken into account the views of many investors.

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