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FCA recalls 1.1 million vehicles worldwide due to confusing shifter

Fiat Chrysler is recalling 1.1 million vehicles worldwide to address the problematic shifter used on cars with eight-speed automatic transmissions. The issue is that the console-mounted shifter acts like a rocker switch and always returns to the middle position after moved. This has been deemed confusing to drivers – confusing enough to cause some to exit their vehicles without first selecting Park and leading to the car rolling away. FCA says 41 injuries are related to the shifter problem, and no evidence of equipment failure has been found. The company will enhance warning chimes and alter the shift strategy, meaning alert messages will be displayed in case the driver door is opened while the engine is running. With the door open, the transmission will prevent the car from moving even if Park is not selected. The affected vehicles are certain model-year 2012–2014 Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 sedans, as well as model-year 2014–2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs, an estimated 811,586 US vehicles in total. The recall also affects 52,144 vehicles in Canada, 16,805 in Mexico, and 248,667 vehicles elsewhere. The shifter is used with ZF-designed and ZF-built eight-speed automatic; Audi uses a similar shifter setup in some of its vehicles, including the current-generation, which predated Chrysler's use of it. Chrysler uses a different, a rotating-dial-type shifter on eight-speed-equipped Rams. The company moved away from the problem shifter design in 2015 for the Charger and 300, and the Grand Cherokee's shift lever was modified for 2016. Owners of affected vehicles will be notified of the recall when service is available. Fiat Chrysler urges customers to follow the instructions in the vehicle's owner's manual in the meantime. Related Video: News Source: FCAImage Credit: AOL Recalls Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM Ownership Safety SUV Sedan

Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot boards meet to finalize merger

MILAN/PARIS — The boards of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Peugeot will meet separately on Tuesday to discuss finalizing an initial agreement for a $50 billion merger to create the world's number four carmaker, sources said. A source close to FCA said the two companies could announce the signing of a binding memorandum early on Wednesday, followed by a conference call to explain further details later in the day. The two mid-sized carmakers announced plans six weeks ago for a tie-up to help them deal with big challenges in the industry, including a global demand downturn and the need to develop costly cleaner cars to meet looming anti-pollution rules. Ahead of the meetings, entities representing the Peugeot family, Etablissements Peugeot Freres (EPF) and FFP, unanimously approved a proposed memorandum of understanding for the planned merger, a source familiar with the situation said. FCA and PSA have said they would seek to finalize a deal by year-end to create a group with 8.7 million in annual vehicle sales. That would put it fourth globally behind Volkswagen, Toyota and the Renault-Nissan alliance. PSA's Carlos Tavares will be chief executive and FCA's John Elkann — the scion of Italy's Agnelli family, which controls FCA through their holding company Exor — chairman of the combined company. The group will include the Fiat, Jeep, Dodge, Ram, Chrysler, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Peugeot, DS, Opel and Vauxhall brands, allowing it to serve mass and premium passenger car markets as well as those for trucks and light commercial vehicles. Related Video:       Chrysler Dodge Fiat Jeep RAM Citroen Peugeot

Dead man went unnoticed in pickup at airport for nearly 8 months

The Kansas City Star reports that on Sept. 12, Lenexa, Kan., police found a dead man in the cab of his Dodge Ram 1500 at the Kansas City International Airport. Though a disturbing thing to find at any time, the scene was made all the worse by the fact that the body had been sitting in that truck for eight months. That's right, for virtually all of 2017 to date. It seems likely that the missing man, Randy Potter, committed suicide, and it likely happened the night he was reported missing, which according to KCTV 5, was Jan. 17. This is because, according to the Chicago Tribune, Potter's parking ticket was printed that day. The fact that it took eight months to find Potter is astonishing. Although the Associated Press reports that Potter's body was covered by a blanket and the windows of the Ram were tinted, those aren't really excusable excuses. Potter's truck was in a large parking lot, one that holds nearly 6,000 cars, according to the Kansas City Star, but that shouldn't have mattered, since the company in charge of the lot, S-P+, was supposed to take an inventory of every car in the lot every single night. Plus, Potter's family took the license plate number of the truck to the parking lot security companies not long after his disappearance. Clearly no one from the parking company was watching closely. As for the police, the Star reports that they never checked the airport since there wasn't any evidence to say he might have gone there. Yet they say they spent "several hundred man hours" on the case, and their operating theory was that he had left his family. One way people leave is by plane. So how was the body finally discovered? Someone who parked nearby complained of a horrible smell. After eight months, no doubt. It's puzzling that no one would have reported a smell sooner. Though the problem would have been bad enough in winter and spring, it would have become pretty intense in the summer months, with high temperatures in the 90s translating into incredible heat inside a truck on shadeless pavement under the relentless Missouri sun. Related video: