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NHTSA closes book on Jeep 'trailer hitch' recall after all

After much debating and hand-wringing, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration now says it has "no reservations" with Chrysler's plan to recall certain Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee models over concerns that their fuel tanks, which are located behind the rear axle, could rupture or leak in the event of a rear impact. The longstanding argument between the two entities saw Chrysler openly defy the Feds after a request to recall 2.7 million units back in June.
Chrysler's "voluntary campaign" will instead see it recall 1.56-million 1993-2004 model year Grand Cherokee SUVs, along with 2002-2007 Liberty models. Affected vehicles will get a trailer hitch installed free of charge, which Chrysler says will provide an additional degree of protection for the fuel tanks in the event of a crash. Jeeps with Mopar-branded hitches or hitches that were installed at the factory aren't affected by this recall.
Chrysler's argument throughout this battle has been that the Jeeps in question are no more susceptible to fires than comparable vehicles from the same time period, a position that NHTSA has seemingly arrived at as well. "Those vehicles performed at a rate similar to their peers. That is the keystone analysis as to whether something poses an unreasonable risk to safety," said outgoing NHTSA boss David Strickland during an interview with the The Associated Press.

Share price falls on skepticism of Chrysler-Fiat five-year plan

Following this week's Fiat Chrysler extravaganza, where the Italian-American manufacturer announced its plans for the next five years, the Autoblog staff was cautiously optimistic of the company's future. Investors? Not so much.
Fiat saw its shares tumble 12 percent in Wednesday's trading, falling from 8.67 euros ($12.06 at today's rates) to 7.44 euros ($10.35) as of this writing, with blame partly going to the Italian half of the FCA marriage, which recorded a pretty significant drop in profits during the first quarter of this year.
The plan, which will cost around $77 billion over the next several years, is facing criticism from investors thanks in part to a 1.4-percent drop in Fiat's first-quarter profits, to 622 million euros ($862 million). That figure is also short of Bloomberg analysts' projections, which predicted $1.18 billion in profits before taxes, interest and one-time items.

Fiat Chrysler to get $105M fine from NHTSA for recall woes

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is about to send a powerful message to automakers doing business in the United States, assuming reports of an upcoming $105 million fine against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles comes to fruition. In addition to the record-setting monetary fine, according to The Wall Street Journal, FCA will have to accept an independent auditor that will monitor the company's recall and safety processes and will be forced to buy back certain recalled vehicles. In other cases, such as with Jeep Grand Cherokee and Liberty models with gas tanks that could potentially catch fire in certain types of accidents, FCA will offer financial encouragement for owners to get their recall work done or to trade those older vehicles in on new cars, according to the report. FCA could reportedly reduce its fines if it meets certain conditions, though those remain unclear at this time. These actions against FCA are being taken after NHTSA began a probe into the automaker over almost two dozen separate instances where the government claims FCA failed to follow proper procedures for recalls and safety defects. Included in those safety lapses are more than 11 million vehicles currently in customer hands. These penalties and fines are separate from the investigation over security problems with Chrysler's Uconnect system that allowed hackers to obtain remote access into key vehicle systems in 1.4 million vehicles. Related Video: Image Credit: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Earnings/Financials Government/Legal Recalls Chrysler Dodge Fiat Jeep RAM Safety fiat chrysler automobiles fine