A fatal Jeep Liberty accident has drew FCA flak; indicates a recall program to fix cars didn’t go as expected
FCA is drawing sharp criticism from safety advocates in USA as an accident involving a Jeep Liberty indicates the company’s recall program to fix faulty fuel tanks of more than 1 million SUVs didn’t go as it was expected to go. Based on a report of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) revealing that over a million Jeep vehicles are equipped with faulty fuel tanks that can result into a deadly fire, FCA recalled these vehicles to fix the problem in 2013.
Now, as a 2007 Jeep Liberty crashed in Ohio killing the owner and after it was revealed that this particular SUV was one among the recalled models, safety advocates think FCA didn’t fix the problem properly. In the affected cars, the fuel tanks mounted between rear suspension and rear bumper were vulnerable for leak and fire in case of a rear end crash.
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More than 50 deaths have been reported so far due to the faulty fuel tanks in Jeep SUVs. Back in 2013, FCA reported about 26 crashes including 21 Jeep Grand Cherokee and five Jeep Liberty as well. Around 1.56 million Jeep SUVs were affected due to the problem, including 2002-07 Jeep Liberty and 1993-98 Jeep Grand Cherokee models.
FCA agreed to install trailer hitches with the voluntary recall program and it maintained the vehicles don’t have any more defect and fully comply with the federal safety regulations. After that NHTSA closed the investigation in November 2014. However, the safety advocates believe that FCA’s claim is not true at all.
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Jeep Liberty is a compact SUV from the iconic SUV manufacturer that is also known as Jeep Cherokee outside North America. It was in business between 2002 and 2012. It paved the way for the current Jeep Cherokee and the Jeep Renegade as well that is expected to come to India soon.
Source: The Chronicle