The Italian-American automaker, Fiat Chrysler, is faced with a record breaking civil fine of up to $105 million. The United States Department of Transportation secretary Anthony Foxx announced on July 26 the enforcement action and penalties against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. It was an announcement made based on the result of the July 2 public hearing on the Chrysler's handling of 23 vehicle safety recalls involving defective vehicles.
The most recent significant crash issue involving the so-called Chrysler vehicle defects involved a Jeep Grand Cherokee. It can be remembered that the type of vehicle burst into flames on March 6, 2012 when a Jeep Grand Cherokee was struck from the rear by a Dodge Dakota pickup truck. The fuel tanked according to the report leaked and engulfed the Jeep in flames killing a four year old boy.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA later on approved the installation of a trailer hitch to provide more protection and additional support on the rear end of the vehicle. Jeep Grand Cherokees and Jeep Libertys have rear mounted fuel tanks and based on test and studies conducted it is more prone to a flaming rear-end collisions compare to other SUVs. This and other reasons including but not limited to loss of power brake assist, broken springs in the clutch ignition interlock switch, inadvertent ignition switch movement turning off the engine and loosening of the rear axle pinion nut causing loss of vehicle control are being addressed by the manufacturer through vehicle recalls. According to a source, Chrysler is "committing now to conduct a recall out of an abundance of caution."
Now this would not be the first time that a car company authorized a recall due to some manufacturing issues. It can be remembered that Ford Motor in 1980 made a recall of 21 million vehicles from 10 model years and last year some year models of Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban manufactured by General Motors were also affected by car recalls.
