Did a Defective Jeep Kill Anton Yelchin? (Update)

by Mark Stevenson

Published: June 19th, 2016

did a defective jeep kill anton yelchin update

According to multiple news reports, promising young actor Anton Yelchin, known for his portrayal of Chekhov in the reborn Star Trek movie series, was killed when his Jeep Grand Cherokee pinned him against his mailbox at his driveway security gate.

The Jeep was parked on a steep hill but found in neutral gear when he was discovered dead.

Considering recent recalls with Fiat Chrysler Automobile shifters, could a badly designed shifter have killed the 27 year old? And could this be the first death attributable to the design flaw?

FCA’s Monostable shift lever acts unlike a traditional gear shifter. When it’s shifted into park, the lever returns to the middle position, regardless of whether it was placed in park or not.

The design flaw prompted a recall that included 2014-15 Jeep Grand Cherokees as well as 2012-14 Dodge Chargers and Chrysler 300s as affected models. At the time of the recall, 121 accidents and 41 injuries were attributed to the flaw.

~~The model year of the Jeep Grand Cherokee in this unfortunate incident has not been detailed by police or friends of Yelchin.~~

Update: CBS News is reporting the following:

Los Angeles police told CBS News the vehicle involved was a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

#AntonYelchin #Death #Jeep #JeepGrandCherokee #Recall #Safety #Shifter

Mark Stevenson

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7 of 144 comments

Fie on Fiasler on Jun 20, 2016

I'm glad to see this being covered by TTAC. Given the recent coverage of this shifter's flaws, I wondered the moment I saw the unfortunate news yesterday if the vehicle in question was a Fiasler product. It will be very interesting to see how this plays out in the court of public opinion, especially since so many Americans already tend to hold a very low opinion of the brand.

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- Vulpine on Jun 20, 2016
  
  "It will be very interesting to see how this plays out in the court of public opinion, especially since much of the population already tends to hold a very low opinion of Chrysler." That's exactly why the "court of public opinion" needs to be ignored. Ford had an almost exactly similar experience in the early '70s and it didn't affect people's opinions of Ford in the least. We know now (but didn't when this article was written) that it was one of the Grand Cherokees affected by the recent recall. People jumped to conclusions on insufficient data to ASSUME it was from the outset. That's what the "court of public opinion" does; it jumps to conclusions on insufficient data. It's also why so many things have gone sour in this country over the last 100 years and more. People rely on opinions more than facts and those opinions are killing people. Opinions have even started totally unnecessary wars, at least since the explosion of the Maine in Havana harbor back in 1898. It is good to question news; no matter what news it may be.
  
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- Bigtruckseriesreview @ Youtube on Jun 20, 2016
  
  Well - it's being covered on TTAC and Youtube (by me).
  
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- Fie on Fiasler on Jun 20, 2016
  
  Vulpine, you sound rather irritated that TTAC's informed speculation proved to be completely accurate. There just isn't a realistic scenario here that doesn't somehow involve a shifter design already known to be faulty; it really doesn't matter to me (or most) how we got there. Anyway, Ford benefited from a much stronger reputation going into 1970s than Fiasler (or any "domestic" automaker) does now. Fiasler simply doesn't have much farther to fall.
  
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- Fie on Fiasler on Jun 20, 2016
  
  @bigtruckseriesreview @ Youtube TTAC is the more reputable source from those two choices. Sorry BTSR.
  
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- Bigtruckseriesreview @ Youtube on Jun 20, 2016
  
  @Fie on Fiasler No it's not. I have more access to new and BETTER cars than most websites do lol.
  
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Speedlaw on Jun 22, 2016

What a way to go. Poor Guy. I once had a Firebird start up in Drive, while the front was on jack stands. It shot out of the garage, and luckily, no one was hurt.... Between that and the scene in Phantasm, where a Hemi'Cuda Convertible is dropped on a guy working under it, I've always been super paranoid about stopping my car or working on it raised. Even in my AT cars, everyone has been taught to use the parking brakes. In a desire for product differentiation, shift knobs, a simple thing, have been made stupid. The roto dial in a recent FCA rental, or the beer tap in BMW cars....PRNDL wasn't broken, we all know it, and my Caddy click-click-clicks, as does my Acura. He was killed by a combination of inattention (and we all have two seconds where we aren't ON IT) and poor design.

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