If no action has been taken by any credit card company yet can the owner put a new paid off vehicle in his son's name to protect this car?

This is a very difficult issue. It would depend on what action was going to be implemented, bankruptcy, lawsuit judgment, etc. There are state and federal statutes directly prohibiting the transfer of property to shield it from creditor action. This is known as a "fraudulent conveyance" the deciding factor is the timing of the transfer. It's almost impossible to predict how a court would view this action.