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August 23, 2006
FREE PRESS HIGHLIGHTS CHRYSLER RECALL RECORD
Chrysler has issued 16 recalls this year covering nearly 1.8 million cars and trucks -- more than any other automaker, according to a Detroit Free Press analysis of federal data. "Federal safety regulators have 12 investigations under way related to Chrysler vehicles, including reports of stalling engines, puncture-prone fuel tanks and seats that catch fire even though they're not power seats. Chrysler's recall figures surpass its totals for all of 2005," the paper reports.
Chrysler issued its largest recall of the year last month, for defective ball joints in the front suspensions of 827,000 Jeep Liberty SUVs -- almost all of the Liberty vehicles it has built since 2001, the Free Press noted. The ball joints could come loose, causing the suspensions to fail.
None of the recalls appear to involve injuries as serious as the seat heater cases, the newspaper said. An Oregon attorney who filed the first lawsuit over the issue in December 2004 was quoted as saying he was aware of about 20 cases in which paraplegics or quadriplegics had suffered burns from a heated seat. Of those, 14 involved Jeep Grand Cherokees. Chrysler said it is aware "of a small number of incidents in which customers with reduced sensitivity in their lower body allege that they have sustained burns from heated seats in our vehicles and those of other manufacturers" and "intends to evaluate such incidents involving our vehicles on a case-by-case basis in an attempt to ensure that any customers who have sustained burns as a result of the seat heater subject to the recall receive fair and reasonable compensation for their injuries."
Posted by MVHAP at August 23, 2006 09:33 PM