Chrysler Likely to Refuse to Recall Jeeps for Fire Hazard
Chrysler stated this week that it intends to refuse to recall nearly three million older Jeep SUVs that are allegedly at risk of catching on fire in rear end crashes.
The US government claims that 51 people have died in flames in old Jeep Grand Cherokees and Liberty, because the gas tank is mounted behind the rear axle. Chrysler is sticking with its belief that the SUVs are as safe as similar SUVs. The Jeeps met all US safety standards at the time they were built. Some of them are more than 20 years old.
Car companies do not normally fight the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal organization that handles auto safety. In the past when an auto maker refused to do a recall, the NHTSA threatened to hold public hearings. The organization may threaten to do the same in this case.
NHTSA started the investigation of the Jeep SUVs in 2010 as requested by Clarence Ditlow, director of the Center for Auto Safety. The NHTSA issued a letter to Chrysler this month and asked the company to voluntarily recall Grand Cherokees made from 1993-2004, and Libertys from 2002-2007. The gas tank is plastic and mounted behind the rear axle, which can split open and spread fuel during a rear crash.
Chrysler shifted the location of the gas tanks to the front of the rear axle in 2005, and did the same with the Liberty in 2007.
Putting stiffer structure around the gas tanks on the old Jeeps would be expensive, and relocating the tank would cost a lot more.
Ditlow states that the problem could be solved for $100 on each SUV by putting a metal gas tank plate on the frame of the SUV. Also the automaker would need to put a new check valve on each tank and make the hose longer on the tank so that it would not be ripped from the tank in a collision.
Still, those fixes would cost the company almost $300 million.
It is common for companies to try to attempt to deny an injured party’s claim that the product contributed to a death or injury, but the threat of a public hearing in this case will likely make Chrysler come to some type of settlement.
Shapiro, Lewis, Appleton & Favaloro is a Virginia personal injury law firm that blogs frequently on product recalls involving automobiles and SUVs.