Fiat Chrysler May Have to Take Back 1.5M Defective Jeeps, Rams

Aaron Cole
by Aaron Cole

In an order detailing the largest civil penalty for an automaker so far, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles could have to buy back 500,000 defective trucks and accept trade-in above market value for 1 million defective Jeeps .

The automaker’s record $105 million fine includes a $70 million penalty, $20 million set aside for meeting safety standards dictated by the federal bureau and an additional $15 million in penalties if an independent monitor discovers further safety violations.

The record ruling comes after the agency said FCA botched recalls of more than 11 million vehicles for wide ranging issues, including Jeep models with rear gas tanks that could catch fire in rear collisions. The issue has been linked to more than 50 deaths.

NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind scolded the automaker in a statement Monday announcing the fine.

“Fiat Chrysler’s pattern of poor performance put millions of its customers, and the driving public, at risk,” he said. “This action will provide relief to owners of defective vehicles, will help improve recall performance throughout the auto industry, and gives Fiat Chrysler the opportunity to embrace a proactive safety culture.”

According to a statement by the automaker, Jeep owners who haven’t yet complied with their recall could get a $100 gift card to bring their vehicle into a dealer. Owners of defective Jeep models would also be eligible to trade in their vehicle for $1,000 above fair market value.

In addition to the Jeep fix, FCA will attempt to purchase or fix for free Ram trucks or Chrysler SUVs with a suspension defect that could cause the car to lose control. FCA could resell those fixed cars.

The automaker will have to submit to independent monitoring of its recalls for the next three years, with NHTSA being able to extend that agreement further for an additional year.

Last week, FCA announced it would be recalling 1.4 million cars for a security vulnerability that could allow hackers to remotely take control of a vehicle.

Read the ruling here.

The vehicles that may be eligible for repurchase are:

• 2009-2012 Ram 1500s

• 2008-2012 Ram 1500 Mega Cab 4×4, Ram 2500 4×4, 3500 4×4, 4500 4×4, 4500 4×4

• 2009 Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango

• 2009-2011 Dodge Dakota

The vehicles that may be eligible for a $100 gift card for dealer inspection or $1,000 over market value for trade-in are:

• 1993-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee

• 2002-2007 Jeep Liberty


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  • Wmba Wmba on Jul 27, 2015

    Not a soul seems to have read the actual NHTSA announcement: http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/2015/nhtsa-fiat-chrysler-enforcement-action-07262015 Nor have they followed FCA's lame responses to previous NHTSA requests for updates on recall campaigns earlier this year. Nor apparently followed the public hearing at NHTSA on July 2. Marchionne played one of his brink-of-the-precipice moves on this with NHTSA. He lost. And there was plenty of warning. That's the situation. It's an entirely different thing whether it was fair to recall all the old GC's because of the gas tank location. I personally don't think it was, but the ruling stood due to a poor defence from FCA. Same goes with the steering on RAMs. FCA consented to the recalls - they should have sued if they felt strongly enough on the matter. Instead, they figured it would be cheaper to agree, and then just not put any effort into it. That's what their lack of urgency of action implies. They consented to the recall, and then expressed their further displeasure by doing a half-arsed recall on all the issues - trailer hitch, seriously? Did not report in a timely fashion what they were doing and how the recalls were proceeding, as required by law, and sat on their hands, challenging authority in a face-down. The public hearing earlier this month seemed to have no effect on FCA getting on with the job. I say again, whether those original rulings were fair or not is beside the point, because FCA had previously consented to them . If you agree to do something but then proceed begrudgingly slowly, you show you did not take the situation seriously. Wrong response to legal agreements that have reporting requirements on timely progress. So yesterday they got the book thrown at them. Serves them right. To have a different opinion on the matter is to confuse facts with opinion, which commenters here do all the time. Marchionne played the brinkmanship routine and lost. That's about the size of it. Honda has fallen all over itself trying to fix airbags, once they finally admitted the problem and, sure, that was a bit of a struggle as is usual with the Asians. However, nobody can fault Honda with the diligence they have since applied to correcting their problem, and they've kept complete records of what they were doing and sent them in on time. Even talked to the press about how difficult it had been, like contacting individual owners four times, even phone calls offering service appointments and still the idiots wouldn't bring their cars in for repairs. You cannot punish a company for sincerely attempting to follow the legal order they agreed to. But FCA cocked at snoot at NHTSA and got slapped down. It's a pretty clear situation, which no amount of railing at government by the uninformed "pundits" here will change.

    • Mopar4wd Mopar4wd on Jul 27, 2015

      Wmba, A lot of what you say is true. I would argue that Honda is a little more serious then you say. They did deny the problem for a long time despite uncovered memos that they had known about the issue for a long time. They also tried to limit the scope of the recall multiple times to save cash and time. But you are right a lot of this seems to be NHTSA responding to FCA and Marchionne's cavalier attitude to the whole thing.

  • Alluster Alluster on Jul 27, 2015

    1. Buy a 2002 liberty for $50 2. Take it in for repair 3. Receive a $100 gift card 4. ????? 5. Profit.

  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
  • ToolGuy Ford is good at drifting all right... 😉
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