2008 Jeep Wrangler 4x4 Right Hand Drive Mail Car on 2040-cars

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FCA expands Jeep Cherokee recall to 68k more vehicles

FCA is expanding its airbag software update for the 2014 and 2015 Jeep Cherokee to cover 68,593 more of the vehicles worldwide. This brings the total to 316,774 Cherokees. Of those, there are now 230,240 in the US, 28,110 in Canada, 6,367 in Mexico, and 52,057 outside of NAFTA. According to the automaker, after reviewing the potentially affected population, it discovered these additional Cherokees in need of the upgrade. The original campaign to repair these vehicles was announced in early February. Engineers found a small number of cases where dramatic changes to the angle of the vehicle that upset its balance caused the side-curtain and seat-mounted side airbags to deploy because they anticipated a rollover. This especially occurred when driving off-road. According to FCA, there're no additional reports of this happening, and the company isn't aware of any injuries or accidents. The fix is simply a software upgrade that recalibrates the airbags' deployment. Related Video: Statement: Restraint-System Software Upgrade May 12, 2015 , Auburn Hills, Mich. - FCA US LLC is expanding by an estimated 62,148 vehicles its recall of U.S.-market SUVs** to upgrade air-bag software. The action follows a routine review of the originally reported vehicle population by FCA US engineers. There have been no additional incidents and FCA US is unaware of any related injuries or accidents. The campaign will upgrade software that governs side-curtain and seat-mounted side air bags following a small number of inadvertent deployments – most of which occurred in harsh, off-road environments. They were prompted by maneuvers that dramatically changed the vehicles' angle of operation, relative to the ground, and the air-bag systems – sensing potential rollover conditions – automatically activated. The software upgrade will recalibrate the threshold for deployment and the vehicles will remain compliant with all applicable safety regulations. Affected are certain 2014 and 2015 Jeep Cherokees. The revised estimate for the U.S. totals 230,240. Revised estimates for other markets are as follows: 28,110 in Canada; 6,367 in Mexico and 52,057 outside the NAFTA region. The revised global total is 316,774 – a difference of 68,593. The Company will notify affected customers. Software will be available at that time. Customers with additional concerns or questions may call 1-800-853-1403. ** http://media.chrysler.com/newsrelease.do?id=16332&mid=431

Chrysler banks $507 million in Q2, trims 2013 earnings forecast

Chrysler has some good news and some bad news. First, profits were up 16 percent over the second quarter of 2012, bringing the Auburn Hills, Michigan-based manufacturer $507 million on the back of strong demand for trucks and SUVs (a recurring theme this quarter, particularly in the US). Q2 revenue was up as well, from $16.8 billion in 2012 to $18 billion in 2013. The bad news is that the Pentastar's overall earnings forecast for net income in 2013 has been trimmed from $2.2 billion to between $1.7 and $2.2 billion, according to Automotive News.
In addition to the adjusted net income forecast, Chrysler tweaked its operating profit from $3.8 billion to between $3.3 and $3.8 billion. This has gone largely unexplained by Chrysler, perhaps hoping the news of a three-percent increase in its transaction prices for Q2 will allow it to sweep this adjustment under the rug.
The star of the show for Chrysler has been its US sales, which saw a 10-percent jump, both bettering the industry average of eight percent and improving over the same stretch of 2012. As with the increase in transaction prices, Chrysler has the new Ram pickup and Jeep Grand Cherokee to thank. Perhaps most worrying from this report, though, is that every brand in the automaker's stable saw an increase in sales... except for the Chrysler brand itself.

Watch this 9-year-old drive Jeep Wrangler off-road [w/poll]

This nine-year-old girl might be better at rock crawling than some people twice her age. But is it worth putting her in danger to do it? According to her father on the Jeep Experience Facebook page, her name is Faith, and she has been offroading with her family since she was two. At nine years old, she's now driving her dad's Jeep over the rocks by herself.
As you can see she's belted in and under her father's direct supervision and guidance. She shows immense confidence for someone her age and follows her dad's instructions on exactly what to do. Although, this could still be a very dangerous situation if something went wrong.
Previously, we saw a similar video with a six-year-old on a motorcycle driving on public roads through the desert. Voters decided by only a six-point margin that the adult should be in trouble for letting the kid ride the bike. Here, we have a slightly older child driving a vehicle off road. Where do you fall in this case? Is it still wrong to hand over control to a child? Let us know in the poll below and scroll down to watch the video.