DETROIT — A top safety advocate is calling for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to reopen its investigation into rear-mounted fuel tanks on older model Jeep SUVs, saying the vehicles continue to be dangerous even after they’re repaired in accordance with a 2013 recall.
The Center for Auto Safety said it found in an NHTSA database a total of 19 deaths that involved older model Jeeps that caught fire in fatal accidents since the recall began in June 2013.
The deaths show that installing a trailer hitch to protect gas tanks in low-speed crashes hasn’t been effective, said Clarence Ditlow, head of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, in a letter to NHTSA dated Friday.
“More people will die from fire in recalled Chrysler Jeeps because the recall remedy negotiated behind closed doors by Chrysler-Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, (former) DOT Secretary Ray LaHood and (former) NHTSA Administrator David Strickland is totally ineffective,” Ditlow said in his letter.
The Detroit-area automaker contends that Ditlow counts fatal accidents in his data that should be excluded because other factors other than the location of the fuel tank contributed in those case. The automaker continues to say its Jeep SUVs are no more dangerous than similar vehicles.
“These are tragic accidents caused by factors such as excessive speed and driver distraction,” FCA said in a statement. “Two dozen peer-vehicles had higher (Fatality Analysis Reporting System) incident rates than vehicles subject to the NHTSA investigation in question; 15 of which are equipped with fuel tanks of the same design.”
An NHTSA spokesman said the agency just received the letter and is unable to comment on the safety group’s claims.
The NHTSA has, in the past, said that installing trailer hitches onto the Jeeps does provide additional protection and continues to urge all owners to take recalled Jeeps to dealers and have the trailer hitch installed. The regulatory agency also levied civil penalties of up to $105 million last year for taking too long to complete the Jeep SUV recall along with other recalls.
In 2013, FCA initially refused to recall 2.7 million Jeep SUVs linked to more than 50 deaths in rear vehicle collisions.
Eventually, the automaker agreed to recall 1.56 million Jeep Grand Cherokees from 1993-98 and Libertys from 2002-07 with rear-mounted fuel tanks. FCA also agreed to conduct a “service action” for 1.14 million Jeep Grand Cherokees for model years 1999-2004.
The automaker agreed to install trailer hitches to provided additional protection in rear-end crashes.
From the beginning, Ditlow has argued that NHTSA should have required the automaker to recall all Jeep SUVs with rear mounted fuel tanks.
“This is the recall that Chrysler never wanted to do and will never do right,” Ditlow said in a statement.
Last year, a Georgia jury awarded $150 million to the family of a 4-year-old who died in fire involving a 1999 Grand Cherokee.
A judge reduced the award to $40 million and Fiat Chrysler has appealed. The family’s Jeep and many other Grand Cherokees with rear-mounted tanks were not included in the recall.
