Filed under:
SUV,
Safety,
Jeep
Following the significant outcry surrounding the
General Motors and
Takata airbag safety crises this year, the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration seems to be taking a much more aggressive role in pushing owners to repair their recalled vehicles. In the agency's latest move, it's urging
Jeep drivers to get their models fixed. Acting NHTSA administrator David Friedman even sent a letter to
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO
Sergio Marchionne pressing him to get more of the SUVs fixed.
The problem goes back to the recall of the
2002-2007 Liberty and
1993-1998 Grand Cherokee because of the possibility for the fuel tank to rupture in some rear crashes. The campaign affected over 1.5 million vehicles, but
Chrysler initially refused NHTSA's request for a repair campaign. The automaker eventually came up with a fix that involved adding a trailer hitch to provide extra protection to the tank. The feds believe the danger "will be reduced by the remedy now offered by Chrysler," according to the statement.
However, this latest push comes out of NHTSA's concern that only three percent of the affected vehicles are repaired, although Chrysler maintains some 13.4 percent have actually been fixed. The agency is asking the automaker to reach out to owners "proactively," and get them to bring the Jeeps in dealers. According to the the feds' statement, the company "has nearly 400,000 parts available" to perform the fixes, and it's still producing more.
Friedman's letter to Marchionne goes even further, alleging NHTSA has received reports that dealers are turning customers away who request the recall. He asks the CEO to prove within 15 days that these claims are false. "Given the low rates of repair that Chrysler has reported more than a year after the recall, significantly more aggressive steps are required," says a portion of the note.
According to
The Detroit News, Chrysler has subsequently promised to speed up the recall work,
vowing that all dealers will have at least 12 repair kits in stock by Monday. Further, it has announced plans to ramp up its notification campaign with Facebook ads and public service announcements.
Scroll down to read NHTSA's full statement on the matter, and Friedman's letter to Marchionne
can be read in PDF format, here.
Continue reading Feds chastise Marchionne over Jeep recall, only 13% repaired so far
Feds chastise Marchionne over Jeep recall, only 13% repaired so far originally appeared on
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Feds chastise Marchionne over Jeep recall, only 13% repaired so far
