Chrysler tells feds it can speed Jeep hitch recall
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One of the Jeep vehicles that the government used in rear-end crash safety tests.(Photo: NHTSA)
Chrysler Group told federal safety officials Wednesday it has arranged for a supplier to boost production of trailer hitches so it could have enough next March to fix Jeep Grand Cherokee and Liberty models that need hitches to protect their low-hanging fuel tanks in low-speed crashes.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had ordered the automaker to detail, no later than Wednesday, how it could accelerate the pace of what NHTSA said was a too-slow recall. NHTSA wants assurance the maker can not only have enough hitches on hand, but get them installed on all the affected Jeeps within 18 months of Aug. 1.
Chrysler's letter to NHTSA Wednesday said that won't be a problem.
NHTSA said earlier in the day it would analyze the car company's response -- once received -- and post the document on the NHTSA website if it satisfied the agency. The document wasn't published late Wednesday.
The auto safety agency said previously it took the rare step of testing some Jeeps itself to see if the controversial trailer-hitch remedy actually would help protect the tanks from leaks in low-speed crashes.
NHTSA said earlier this month that it was satisfied the hitch works as protection, but was critical of what it said was the car company's slow pace of getting enough hitches.
NHTSA said at the time that it was "concerned that Chrysler does not have, and will not have, sufficient production capacity to ensure" it can produce the parts. At the production rates outlined at the time by Chrysler, it would take more than four years to have enough parts for the Grand Cherokee and two years for the Liberty, NHTSA said when it gave Chrysler until July 16 to tell it how it will move faster.
In June 2013, the agency asked Chrysler to recall 2.7 million Jeeps. In a rare public showdown, Chrysler refused and published a "white paper" with statistics showing the Jeeps' involvement in rear-crash fires was not significantly different from other similar vehicles from that period.
Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne and NHTSA's then-administrator, David Strickland, in a last-minute phone negotiation, cut a deal for a recall, but of fewer Jeeps. As part of that deal, Chrysler also is not required to say the vehicles have a safety defect or are at fault.
The recall involves 2002 to 2007 Jeep Liberty small SUVs and 1993 to 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee midsize SUVs. Owners of 1999 to 2004 Grand Cherokees can opt to get the hitch remedy as well, although the vehicles are not officially under recall.
In the "special order" to Chrysler earlier this month, NHTSA says the automaker failed to line up a supplier to make the hitches for five months after the recall was ordered.
USA TODAY reported in January that Chrysler only then was preparing to build the parts — seven months after the recall announcement. And the first production run of the parts didn't start until May.
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