In early October 2009, the Center for Auto Safety (CAS) filed a petition with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). In the petition, they asked the NHTSA to issue a recall for 1993-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees because of defective fuel tanks that are prone to fires during accidents. CAS says that the fuel tank of the Grand Cherokee is plastic and extends below the rear bumper so there is nothing to protect the tank from a direct hit in a rollover or by a vehicle with a low front profile. The CAS claims that the 1993-2004 Grand Cherokee has a fatal crash fire occurrence rate that is about four times higher than SUV’s made by other companies. Chrysler says the Grand Cherokee meets and exceeds standards. The Center for Auto Safety continues to pressure the NHTSA, but a resolution still hasn’t been met.
Category Archives: Chrysler
2009 Was A Year Of High Auto Recalls
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced 2009 as the highest for auto recalls since 2005. Although the number of campaigns was the lowest in five years, the number of automobiles recalled in each campaign was high. 2008 brought about 10.5 million vehicles recalled in 684 campaigns while there were 16.4 million vehicles recalled in 2009 in 492 campaigns. Only Honda reported a decline in recalled vehicles in 2009.
Below is a list of how the recalls were distributed amongst auto makers in 2009:
- The leader with nine campaigns adding up to 4.26 million vehicles recalled was the automaker Toyota and their unintended acceleration problems. This is the first time a Japanese automaker has led the industry total.
- Ford recalled 4.5 million vehicles in eight campaigns. The largest being a defective cruise control switch which was linked to vehicle fires.
- General Motors had 2.2 million vehicles recalled in 16 campaigns. The possibility of engine fires in passenger sedans accounted for 1.5 million vehicles recalled.
- Chrysler had 15 campaigns, recalling almost 600,000 vehicles. Chrysler’s popular minivans the Town & Country and the Dodge Grand Caravan accounted for over 350,000 of these recalls for defective crash sensors.
- Honda had four campaigns recalling 454,000 vehicles. Almost all these vehicles were recalled due to an airbag defect.
- Nissan Motor Co. had six campaigns, recalling 706,000 vehicles in 2009. Almost 550,000 of these recalls were due to a brake pedal pin becoming partially disengaged causing a loss of normal braking power.
- Hyundai Motor Co. and its Kia unit recalled 1.3 million vehicles in eight campaigns. Over 530,000 recalls were due to a malfunctioning stop lamp switch that could prevent the brake lights from illuminating or cause them to stay lit after the brakes were released.
- Volkswagen had eights campaigns and 100,000 vehicles recalled. Almost 17,000 sport-utility vehicles were recalled to fix a software program that could lead to passenger air bag failure.
Toyota Ranks Well In Consumer Reports
After all the news we have been hearing about Toyota and their problems, Consumer Reports still ranks Toyota vehicles as number three. (The same ranking as last year.) The rankings are based on performance, comfort, utility and reliability of over 280 different vehicles.
“Toyota builds extremely good, reliable cars”, said David Champion, senior director of Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center. “I think once they get through all the recalls you will see that they are a very reliable manufacturer.” The magazine ended up dropping a couple of Toyota models from the Top Picks after the company suspended sales because of the recall. Since the vehicles were not for sale at the time, they could not make the list.
Honda (which includes Acura models) and Subaru were tied for first place, the fourth year that Honda was the leading manufacturer. They were followed by Toyota, and Hyundai (including Kia) which was ranked fourth, up from ninth last year. American manufacturers fared poorly. Ford was ranked eleventh, moving up one place from last year. General Motors and Chrysler occupied the bottom two slots, respectively.
Mercedes and Chrysler Disagree Over Hybrid Equipment
Under Chrysler’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy, part of the reorganization has led them to sell off some of the specialized equipment from a hybrid laboratory that they had shared with Mercedes. Mercedes has put a stop to the sale saying that they own the technology, along with the stockpile of supplies, and that Chrysler has no right to it. The two auto makers, who formerly operated under the Daimler name in a joint venture, have been fighting over the equipment since Chrysler left the Troy, Michigan, facility a few months before it filed for Chapter 11 protection. Mercedes is asking the court to remove the equipment used for the development of prototype hybrid engines from the sale so that it can continue to negotiate a settlement to its dispute with the bankruptcy estate.
CTS Corporation Supplies Toyota Pedals
In the auto industry, it is expensive for each auto manufacturer to design and build every component for their vehicles. As a result, they go to automotive suppliers who build OEM parts that are bought by many different auto manufacturers. The gas pedal assembly at the center of Toyota’s stop sale and recall are one of these OEM parts. It was designed and built by a company called the CTS Corporation. They are a leading designer and manufacturer of electronic components and sensors and a provider of electronics manufacturing services in the automotive, communications, medical, defense, aerospace, industrial and computer markets. CTS manufactures products in North America, Europe and Asia. They also sell assemblies to Honda, Ford, GM and Chrysler.
Honda spokeswoman, Christina Ra reassured their customers by saying, “We use the same supplier for a small number of vehicles sold in the U.S. We do not use the same components as are involved in our competitor’s recall. We directly confirmed with CTS that it is not the same component.”
Ford, also a CTS pedal customer, has halted production in China of its Transit Classic diesel van, which is the only Ford product to use a CTS pedal assembly. The van is sold only in China. “Ford has its own unique design and engineering for its accelerator pedals globally,” Said Deep, a Ford spokesman. “In a review, we determined that none of our other vehicles worldwide use the CTS pedal.” ” 1,663 Transit Classic vans with the CTS pedal had been produced, and the company was investigating how many had reached customers. “We are constantly monitoring performance, and we have not seen any design issue related to unintended acceleration in Ford vehicles,” Mr. Deep said.
Alan Adler, a spokesman for G.M., said that the automaker has “no direct contractual supplier relationship” with CTS, though he said the company could be supplying components through other suppliers.
Chrysler said the pedals CTS makes for the company are different from Toyota’s. “Accelerator pedals produced by CTS Automotive for Chrysler Group LLC vehicles are a different specification and design and are manufactured using different production tooling and materials than the pedals produced for Toyota,”
You can CLICK HERE to view CTS Corporations press release of the Toyota accelerator pedal recall.
Brake Failure Recall For Chrysler
During a routine quality inspection, automaker Chrysler, noticed that some vehicles had an improperly formed brake booster push rod retaining clip or no clip at all. Even though there have been no accidents or consumer complaints related to the problem, Chrysler feels there is potential for the push rod to separate from the brake pedal assembly resulting in loss of brakes. As a result, they will be recalling 2010 models of the Chrysler Sebring, Dodge Avenger, Dodge Nitro, Jeep Commander, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Liberty and 2009 and 2010 models of the Dodge Ram pickup. Owners will be notified this month if their vehicles are affected, and Chrysler will replace the faulty or missing clips free of charge.
Ford Shines At The Detroit Auto Show
Based on the Detroit Auto Show, the automobile industry may be undergoing a huge transformation. There are dozens of hybrid vehicles and countless pure battery-powered cars. The market for energy alternative cars remains weak, but if strict emissions standards are imposed, demands could soar.
Ford Motor Company had a very strong showing, winning North American Car of the Year and North American Truck of the Year Awards. The car award went to the Ford Fusion Hybrid and in the truck category, Ford’s Transit Connect van. This is the sixth win in the truck category for Ford, the most of any automaker.
The awards recognize the vehicles that are “benchmarks” in their category based on factors including innovation, design, safety, handling, driver satisfaction and value for the dollar. Vehicles must be new or “substantially changed” to be considered.
Some other memorable displays are: General Motors with their new Chevy Volt, Mercedes B Class pure hydrogen fuel cell car, Audis A8 which won the eyes on design and Chrysler’s Gem which has sold more than 40,000 since 1999 and reportedly owns about 70 percent of the electric vehicle market.
Chrysler to Challenge Legislation
Complaints made to Congress from GM and Chrysler dealerships has led to a House approved $1.1 trillion spending bill. This bill will give dealerships a chance to dispute their closure depending on their past success. G.M. and Chrysler proposed their own review processes last week in an effort to keep Congress from getting involved, but their proposal was rejected.
Today, Chrysler came back challenging the decision, calling it ‘unconstitutional legislation’. Sergio Marchionne (CEO of the Fiat and Chrysler Group LLC and Chairman of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association) said that restoring large numbers of dealerships could cause havoc within Chrysler. “We are in a completely different position than G.M.” he said. G.M. has about $42 billion in cash in September, paying back $6.7 is easier than it would be for us.” Mr.. Marchionne also said G.M. was more focused on repaying the loans because the government owns 60% as opposed to 10% of Chrysler. Chrysler’s majority shareholder is the United Automobile Workers union’s retiree health care trust.
Chrysler is planning to make investments that would provide jobs and other economic benefits. Building a fuel-efficient engine with Fiat technology in the United States is one of three goals that each allow Fiat to gain an additional 5 percent of Chrysler.
