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When you rent a car and lose a hub cap while travelling, are you responsible for the loss?. Or is it the rental car owner, who under the NZ 'Consumers Guarantees Act' which says a service that is offered for a sale must be fit for purpose. So if hubcaps flick randomly off a hire car for instance this is legally not the fault of the consumer who has hired it.

It is generally acknowledged that the hirer is responsible for any loss or damage relating to rental cars. However, in this instance, if the hub cap came off while you were driving, it could be argued that it was not properly secured, so the loss is essentially caused by a mechanical defect, so it is the responsibility of the rental company.
The difficult part could be proving that the hub cap flew off while driving and was not stolen or came off due to curb damage etc, which would be the hirer's responsibility.
Discuss the matter with the company in the first instance, and if you are making no headway and you wish to pursue the matter further, your only real option is to have the matter heard by the Disputes Tribunal.

Thanks for response
Can the rental company argue that the hubcap has been fine for 1000+km on previous hires, and 200km of my trip, therefore it must be my rough driving on roads that has caused it to come off. Appreciate the renter has a good argument if comes off early in trip after hubcap being attached.

This is the grey area. Yes, the company can apply that as an argument. It's possible that if the car was being driven on pot-holed gravel roads, this has contributed to the hubcap coming loose, so if you took the matter to dispute, you could lose.