Chrysler's statement late Wednesday, in a filing
with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, comes
two weeks after the agency asked for an explanation on why it
would take Chrysler so long - until 2018 - to make Jeep SUVs
with rear fuel tanks safer by adding the trailer hitches.
In June 2013, NHTSA and Chrysler announced the recall of 1.56
million Jeep SUVs with rear fuel tanks because of an increased
risk of fire in the event of a rear-end crash. As of June 2013,
NHTSA had counted 51 deaths related to the issue. Affected
vehicles were model years 2002-2007 Jeep Liberty and 1993-1998
Grand Cherokee.
In a nine-page response to NHTSA, the company said it was able
to get its supplier to ramp up production by paying it for
additional robots to make the hitches.
Chrysler said that because many of the older model SUVs were no
longer on the road, and as some already had trailer hitches
installed, the number needing hitches was much lower than the
number of vehicles recalled.
Chrysler, a unit of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles <FIA.MI>, told
NHTSA that the cost of putting trailer hitch assemblies on the
recalled SUVs was about $151 million.
Chrysler told NHTSA it estimated that 87.5 percent of the Jeep
Liberty SUVs and half of the Grand Cherokee SUVs would be
brought to dealers to have the trailer hitches installed.
Since those models were produced, Chrysler has positioned the
fuel tanks of its SUVs in front of the rear axle. Their earlier
positioning behind the rear axle left them exposed to a greater
risk of fire in the event of a rear-end collision, NHTSA told
Chrysler when demanding the recall.
Chrysler had initially resisted NHTSA's demand for a recall of
the vehicles, but then relented.
In January, NHTSA accepted Chrysler's remedy of installing
trailer hitch assemblies on the Jeep SUVs. They are expected to
make the vehicles safer in lower-speed crashes by increasing the
distance from the rear vehicle.
NHTSA officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
(Reporting by Bernie Woodall in Detroit; Editing by Bernadette
Baum)
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