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"Rammed" - Fiat Chrysler Forced To Buy Back 500,000 Pickup Trucks From Customers In Historic Settlement
In a stunning ruling, US safety regulators have mandated that Fiat Chrysler must offer to buy back from customers more than 500,000 Ram pickup trucks and other vehicles as part of a costly deal with safety regulators to settle legal problems in about two dozen recalls. As WTOP reports, this is the biggest such action in US history, and is in addition to a $105 million civil fine and owners of more than a million older Jeeps with vulnerable rear-mounted gas tanks will be able to trade them in or be paid by Chrysler to have the vehicles repaired. Think the punishment is harsh, consider that at least 75 people have died in crash-related fires, although Fiat Chrysler maintains they are as safe as comparable vehicles from the same era.
The settlement is the latest sign that auto safety regulators are taking a more aggressive approach toward companies that fail to disclose defects or don’t properly conduct a recall.
The Ram pickups, which are the company’s top-selling vehicle, have defective steering parts that can cause drivers to lose control. Some previous repairs have been unsuccessful, so Fiat Chrysler agreed to the buyback, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Owners also have the option of getting them repaired, the agency said in documents released Sunday.
The older Jeeps have fuel tanks located behind the rear axle, with little to shield them in a rear crash. They can rupture and spill gasoline, causing a fire. At least 75 people have died in crash-related fires, although Fiat Chrysler maintains they are as safe as comparable vehicles from the same era.
Both the Jeep and Ram measures are part of a larger settlement between the government and the automaker over allegations of misconduct in 23 recalls covering more than 11 million vehicles. Besides the civil penalty, which was reported Saturday by The Associated Press, Fiat Chrysler agreed to an independent recall monitor and strict federal oversight. It’s another step in NHTSA’s effort to right itself after being criticized for lapses in some highly-publicized safety recalls.
“Today’s action holds Fiat Chrysler accountable for its past failures, pushes them to get unsafe vehicles repaired or off the roads and takes concrete steps to keep Americans safer going forward,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in the statement.
In a separate statement, Fiat Chrysler said it accepted the consequences of the agreement “with renewed resolve to improve our handling of recalls and re-establish the trust our customers place in us.”
NHTSA has been involved in vehicle buybacks in the past, but never one of this size. The settlement is the latest sign that auto safety regulators are taking a more aggressive approach toward companies that fail to disclose defects or don’t properly conduct a recall.
* * *
It’s unclear just how many Rams the automaker will have to repurchase, but the cash outlay could be substantial. According to Kelly Blue Book, a 2010 Dodge Ram 1500 — one of the smaller, less-expensive trucks involved in the recalls — could fetch $20,000 in a dealer trade-in, assuming the truck has 60,000 miles on it and is in “good” condition. At that rate, if Chrysler had to buy back even a quarter of the trucks at issue, it could spend $2.5 billion.
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SUM TING WONG
Let me get this straight the NHTSA is supposed to approve vehicles as safe before they can be sold. There are crash tests done with these cars. Why isnt the NHTSA forced to fire some people. Especially in the case of the Jeeps with the fire danger when rear ended.
Fiat should of never bought Chrysler. They screwed themselves. Can Fiat ask the Federal Govt of the USA to issue a Recall on the sale of American car companies to unsuspecting Car Companies from abroad.
And prudent its not sum tin wong but more like 'Hey, GUMBA, whatcha gonna do about it, you wanna me to put some cement in your tires? Capiche ?'
I bet they are top (dem) donors next election cycle ... and this (settlement) probably won't happen again!
Regards,
Cooter
Straight out of fight club
I thought the very same thing.
A "brother from a different mother" of mine who is a Toyota Master mechanic and who worked for Chrysler for a short period told me the "work around" for this was to bolt a tow hitch receiver on these vehicles, (Libertys, Compasses, etc) and to explain to the owners that this did not mean that they could tow with the vehicle, (as the vehicle was still under class as far as weight and suspension goes. Seriously, that is what they did. What a screamin' clusterfuck.
I have driven Jeeps for 20 years. My Jeep Grand Cherokee was rear ended at about 35 mph by a guy who fell asleep at the wheel. It bent the entire vehicle in the center and shortened it by 2" totalling it and the vehicle ahead of me. The impact crushed everything in his vehicle up to the firewall and deployed his air bags. Not a drop of gas anywhere. Now why is that Jeep unsafe when a smart car would have been a flat speck between the two vehicles?
Not that the wright up is very clear on it but I believe the older Wranglers are the problem. I have a 97 TJ Wrangler and the gas tank is right in front of the rear bumper and came standard with a paper thin "skid plate" that covered the plastic gas tank. One of my first mods was to replace the wimpy rear bumper and add a thick steel gas tank cover. The older YJ model wranglers had the gas tank in the same location. Problem with these older Wranglers is that even at over 20 years old they are still running around 6K if you can find one for sell. I would not trade mine in for one of the new ones even though the 4 door version is nice I'm sure they are not going to trade one for one and the new ones are running well into the 30K range.
No big deal for Fiat
They buy them back here
And resell them in South America!
No problemo muchacho!
F ix I t A gain, T ony!!!
Speaking of Jeeps, has anyone here done the Accel Supercoil mod where you relocate the coil to the firewall? If so, how did it work out and where do I get the harness and extra long HT leadl to do the job?
And what were they thinking, putting the coil down so low? Like you're never going to drive through a puddle, or heaven forbid, cross a shallow stream.
1998 XJ Cherokee, for reference.
If you want to go swimming with it, put a little chainsaw bar and chain oil on the coil and wires (and distributor cap). Guaranteed to work on and off road (no shit) and if you already soaked them with water and the engine quits, smear it with the oil and it will start. Bit messy but works.
Here's how to re-locate the coil.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsowIqOS7dw
Thanks, I'll check that out later today.!
Everything you need to know is on that video. Same coil etc... Make sure you replace the ground wire from the old coil back on to the engine block. I would get the adapter for the connector if needed ($10). I also added a gas tank vid to your comment down delow.
That vehicle is unsafe because of the high incidence of the gas tank assembly leaking gas in a crash. This is due to real world occurances and not theory. That does not mean every single vehicle or crash in those vehicles will cause the observed problem.
You were lucky.
Same thing happened to me.in my Cherokee. The gas tank did not rupture, but I did total the Honda Civic in front of me. I've been driving jeeps for 35 years. I wish my 05 Rubicon had a CJ5 ignition and fuel system.
Why would you want to go back to a carb and points instead of fuel injection and electronic ignition? It would be EMP prof so there is that I suppose. I did like the throttle nob on the dash of my old CJ3B though, that was nice on the trail.
Never been a fan of Chrysler, but they produce things some people want to buy.
The government mostly produces tyranny, treason, and armed robbery. If you want to be free, cut government in half..., and keep cutting.
Good points...let's not forget how harshly the gov't treated GM when they had recalls affecting nearly 20 million vehicles over the last few years. Oh wait, nothing happened to GM other than some reputational staining.
Fucking assholes!
I think they forced the senior management to take a coverup course too, so they are better prepared for their next fuckup
This lawsuit should definitely include Dodge's environmental exaust recirculation system (EGR). Around 07-08 it completely handicapped vehicles, the trucks couldn't even be left to idle or filters would clog and the truck would go into limp mode. Imagine that, a fifty thousand dollar work truck that you can't even idle.
Dodge told everybody they were just driving too easy and that the 3500 was meant to be driven hard..lol Most had to rip out the entire environmental system to save the vehicles, this is a 30,000 fine if the EPA catches you.
Chrysler was basically gifted to Fiat by the Usurper Hussein Obama and his minions.
Chrysler plans to fix problem in future models by placing the gas tank in a child safety seat next to the driver.
I'm pretty lucky to have my Ford Pinto.
I missed an opportunity to make a flaming fortune back in the Pinto days. I was going to sell "Gas Tank On Board" yellow signs up the ass, man.
Maybe I should put a UN-1203 sticker on the back of my jeep...heh.
See if it catches on - or catches fire - or both!
Check your gas tank straps underneath for corrosion etc. You may or may not need to replace them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq8rHjDC8m4
I've replaced several tanks/fuel pumps and straps. If you've never done it have a pro do it for you.
Better hope the airbags don't deploy.
If driving a Chrysler doesn't motivate you to improve your slot in life, nothing will. Same with GM.
Buy foreign.
HO LEE FUK
I want McDonalds to be forced by a court to buy back my half-eaten Big Mac. I think it's defective.
Naaa, demand they take it back after full 'post processing'....
post-processing? You mean like 2Girls1Cup?
Huh? I thought that was chocolate ice cream in that cup.
I don't get it, who doesn't like chocolate ice cream?
+1, wtg
Not surprising but I don't think it'll do much good......
Buy back or trade in?
Cash for Clunkers, part 2.
if you map it out, it resembles an Escher image.
Suckers!!! Thanks for buying BK weakest sister of the big three.
Note that GovtMotors can kill hundreds with faulty ignition and suffer nothing but an unending investigation that will be completed in 1 or 2 decades.
They didn't really buy it. It was given to them for a song and dance to protect union jobs, after the bond holders got screwed. Thank the Dictator in Chief.
You can bet that FCA will be buying a bunch of them back as easy way for owner to get out from under commitment, assuming repurchase price reflects accurate value. Time for a good deal on Ram PU.
Chrysler was forced to rehire known stoners.
Don’t buy cars assembled by druggies.
These are design issues. Material choices and component arrangement. Headquarters work. You could have angels on the assembly line and have the same problems.
The entire Chrysler 'family' is on dope.
ask any mechanic what they think of chrysler products.
They love the business these POSs give them - but would never trust one for their ownership. (I was told once)
My buddy says he paid his mortgage fixing them. I've worked on a few myself and would say that was an honest statement.
"Mo Parts"
Best ;(bang for the buck;( is a 1998-era Dodge Durango with a 360 (OR a 4.7). Diffs, trannies, engines, switches, electronics, leak-fixing, HEATER CORES and BLOWER MOTORS, steering issues, and stuff like that.
The stereos usually work, though (until they don't), and their styling appeals to the great unwashed and ignorant masses.
AND' they're a BITCH to work on as WELL (LOTS of 'book time'). Cha-CHING!
MOPAR (don't go far).
You could ask me. I've owned Town and Country or Grand Caravan minivans for 30 years. Love them. I've been a mechanic for a number of those years, working on everything from tractor/trailers to Chysler products.
Even the crap K cars and Omni/Horizons were cheap and reliable if you understood what you were buying - and easy to repair. Of course, most domestic products were crap back in the day.
And I'd never buy a Jeep anyway.
"And I'd never buy a Jeep anyway."
Puzzled by that statement. Do you mean the newer faux-jeep, or the older real jeep?
Reasons?
The newer faux-Jeep. Even the AMC version had quality issues.
":ask any mechanic what they think of chrysler products."
Today yes. In the past they were a DIY guy's dream. I owned two Dusters, a 71 and a 72, plus a 73 dodge sportsman van that saw plenty of off-road action, if you get my drift.
If they made either of those models today I'd buy 'em both over anything on the road.
think positive--=think about the new demand for 500k pickups.
Ford (rumor has it) will be reducing their trucks prices by 10K.
http://fortune.com/2015/03/16/ford-aluminum-f150-pickup-truck/
Rothschild will give them fresh printed debt-money to buy back the cars.
They are used by this Jade Helm 15.
good thing the GUBerment allowed these shit auto company's to go thru bankruptcy.....
aint it.....
And then allowed Cerebus to loot and scoot. Every company is better for losing productive assets.
"Hi, Id like to buy a car"
"Anything in stock that doesnt have exploding airbags, ignitions that disable airbags, stuck gas pedals or crash-initiated bombs?"
Is the Chrysler Jeep worse than the old Ford Pinto for rear-end immolations?
You mean the Ford Pinto's recalled in 1978 with the entertainment center options of FM radio and 8-track or cassette player. It's fucking 2015 you would have thunk somebody would have learned something in 37 years.
I'm guessing that your thinking is that if it doesn't blow up as easily as a Pinto, sell it. Nice high bar to set there.
If I design a machine and someone dies I go to jail.
A car company repeats the same mistake as the PiNot and I bet they still get theIr shares and bonuses.
brown paper bags buy a shit load of incompetence.
VQ1 - Don't forget 'unhackable software?'
"Older Jeeps." Mush be Bush's fault.
So, that's what they did with all of those old corsair gas tanks.
Think you meant Corvair, "Unsafe at any speed". Corsair was a WWII Navy Fighter.
The Corsair (F4U) was also pretty dangerous.
Nickname: The Ensign Eliminator.
pods
Still quite a plane. As I recall they had fabric control surfaces.
Yes, kind of hard to land one of those babys on the deck when engine was so big you could not see what was below and ahead of you.
The good ole boy that signed me off my pilot license flew F4Us off carriers during the Korean 'conflict'. Said they needed a bootfull and a half of rudder on takeoff to counteract the torque of that monster P&W R2800 with some 2300 HP and a 13' four bladed prop to soak up all that HP.
They had a 11:1 kill ratio in the Pacific during WWII, so they killed more than young Ensigns learning to fly them.
Truely a beast of an aircraft.
Interestingly enough, my instructor was about 5'3" and maybe 110 pounds soaking wet. Was still teaching aerobatics in his 80's - a Bay Area legend.
That was all political BS by the moron Ralph Nader, the corvair was not, is not an unsafe car.
They wont recover from this.
Maybe not unless the Italian .gov bails them out. So we have the USSA .gov extorting a foreign owned once US owned auto company. Ford got away with exploding gas tanks in their #1 fleet vehicle and Chevy is killing folks with more than one key on the key ring because of a 60 cent ignition switch and they get a pass. Is that what it is coming down to? Extort others to survive. Nice country we are becoming.
Anyone know offhand who the major Fiat owners are?
Sure they will, there are still people working and paying taxes.
meh. back in my day we had the gas tank inside the cab, and we liked it that way. /s
whaadya mean back in the day, i still own mine :D
Nothing like sitting on the gas tank, loved my old CJ3B.
Car loan bubble just got fixed.
Marchionne is gonna be pissed. He buys a shit car company and then gets stabbed in the back by the USSA.
You can have your hacked exploding airbag cars....thanks to cash for clunkers all the "safe" autos are in the crusher now. Nice work!
Chrysler/Dodge bailout number three ( or is it four? Or five? ) coming up!
Actually, this is the future model for all American companies so that the great Ponzi can live a few years longer. Sell or merge the American company with a foreign company - then have our two most thriving industries - lawyers and government regulators - sue and fine the foreign companies!
Such brilliance and creativity. Where do they find the time to come up with this shit between porn? They must work in shifts.
I like my Ford F-150.
I love my F-250 Super Duty.
30 year old c10. she aint purrty, but she's paid for
29 year old Toyota Pick up. Also not purrty, also paid for long, long ago. Small pickup with an 8' bed.
These damn new monster pickups - Ford F series and Dodge Rams and Chevy Silvarados really suck, especially since most kids driving them can't park 'em in less than two parking spaces in any parking lot.
The heavier Fords would be great if they didn't have that KornBinder engine- it was a piece of shit when International Harvester built it and it still is a piece of shit. Isuzu and Allison are a great fit in a GM- but a GM scrapes a speed bump in a parking lot- how are you supposed to take it off road.
So by default I have had Dodges for the last few years; a Cummins engine inside a shell of a bunch of shitty Mexican and Chinese parts.
After having my steering lock up at slow speeds I took it in to my lying Dodge Dealer. "No sir, we haven't heard of that problem- you got to be the only one in North America with that problem." So I replaced everything that related to the steering with U.S. made Moog stuff. Later the lying Dodge Dealer sends out the Chrysler recall notice on off-shore joints that were shearing off. I told those POS's that I would not ever put a Mopar part on a truck.
3 weeks ago my girl was getting into the Drivers' side of my pick-up and the Grabhandle breaks off and she falls backwards onto the sidewalk. Local Dodge dealer says, "Never heard of it before. You must be the only one in North America that has had that problem" So I say, "Look it up on the internet you smegma slurping POS. People are getting hurt and Chrysler just doesn't give a fuck."
The handle design depends on a 1/4 inch bolt attached to a 1/8 inch piece of plastic. Next class action lawsuit, multi-million dollar recall coming up. Letting Chrysler build vehicles is like letting Charlie Manson babysit your daughters.
K
+1 I always thought smegma was chewy not slurpee.
Bullish
FedGov... always on the look-out for new revenue streams.
destroy the non-kosher company and its owners and share-holders
buy it cheap and make it kosher
mission complete
You should search for version one of the Dodge logo. As well as reflecting on the blow that the Dodge brothers' defection was to Henry Ford and just who would have wanted to back it..
http://www.rokemneedlearts.com/carsindepth/wordpressblog/wp-content/uplo...
"This country is only two hundred years old, and already we've had ten major wars. We average a major war every twenty years in this country. So we're good at it! And it's a good thing we are. Can't build a decent car, can't build a TV or a VCR worth a fuck. Got no steel industry left, can't educate our young people, can't get health care to our old people. But we can bomb the shit out of your country, all right!"
- George Carlin, 1992
How do the deaths per vehicle based on these recalls compare to other auto manufacturers? There is inherent risk in driving, and that will never be eliminated. People die driving, and that will be a fact of life so long as people do a lot of driving. So how much more at risk am I if I drive a Chrysler vs a Toyota or a Ford? I guarantee that people die in those vehicles too.
Healthcare saves lies. Didn't you get the memo? People have stopped dying since Obamacare was passed.
That's nice that the government would worry about keeping Americans safe. I guess a person dying in a Chrysler truck due to a defect doesn't serve any good or profitable purpose for the elitists. On the other hand, getting them into a new jumbo auto loan...
I'll bet Blythe Masters is squirting all over her desk right now. Just think of all the new subprime victims she can sell loans to.
About the only vehicle I'd consider from them is something with Cummins diesel - an absolutely bulletproof mill.
"About the only vehicle I'd consider from them is something with Cummins diesel - an absolutely bulletproof mill."
My 1999 4x4 Cummins just turned about 260K. Runs fantastic. Still has original ball joints in it, tight as a drum.
Too bad there's no rocker panels, fenders or lower doors left.
+++
Assuming you take care of that motor, you'll turn 460k and the internals will show little wear.
....sounds like the Ford Pinto thing in the 1970's.
Boom
Crispy critterz.
Given the number of vehcles sold and miles driven, the number of deaths isn't out of line. It's interesting that GM can have problems like this and escape unscathed, as can drug manufacturers (outside of civil suits, of course.) I drove one of the Jeeps in question for over 15 years, and aside from the tank issue (which can be fixed with a towing hitch installation) it was the best, most reliable and most easily repaired car I've driven and I regret trading it in daily.
Anyone that thinks this is about safety is retarded. This level of settlement will hurt engineering and manufacturing safety, not help it. This is either about getting rid of competition or is a threat to non-US companies/outher countries to stay in line with US demands or else. I have to assume either Fiat or Italy hasn't been playing ball.
Yep. Someone stepped off the reservation.
If they buy them back, do they have to junk them or can they fix them up and resell them with nice sub-prime loans?
The original report on the 'agreement' says they can fix them and resell 'em.
Nice touch with the small print, it stands out. Much better than the ALL CAPS crap.
I might consider a '14 or '13 Challenger SRT for cheap. They won't be. FCAU is down 5% looks like. The US .gov bails out Chrysler, arranges a sale to Fiat to get their money back and now they decide to fuck Chrysler aka Italy over. Time to fire up the Lira printing press.
Chrysler got Greeked.
My two Willys-Overland vehicles have gas tanks tucked away nice and safe under the driver's seat. In case something catastrophic happens, I get a head start to wherever it is I'm going.
New jeep grand cherokees are sharp looking same as challengers, too bad their reliability sucks.
That's a Fiat design I think it looks like crap but the Challenger is pretty nice. I am looking for a 90's Honda.. screw it.
Honda makes nice vehicles too. (My lady has an Acura MDX). The Toyota RAV4 however, seems to have a handling problem. I've seen too many of those at a collision shop to have any confidence in them. I drove a couple after they were repaired (properly) and seem a bit tippy and uncomfortable on tight corners and off ramps.
I have one of those PS Dodge diesel trucks, I bought it used and the poor sap that owned it before me put 17,000 into it before I bought it for that price with about 80,000 miles on it. I had to replace some of the front end recently and at one point there was a recall on a recall (problem known as the "death roll"). I survived and it paid for itself like ten times so I don't care.
I wonder if they will still buy it back with the environmental system ripped out of it. ( : It now gets 20mpg, as opposed to when the exaust was circulated through the oil... go figure. Apparently low gas mileage is bad for the environment.
The front ends were always problematic. The Dodge Durango had oil pans rust out pre maturely. That was a 10 hour job to repair those as the entire front end had to be removed.
The guy that owned my truck previously had to replace the tranny, transfer case, front end parts, constant EGR clogs, exaust and more that I can't remember off the top of my head. It ended up being at least a 70,000 truck for him. He lived across the street from me and it was a weird coincidence that I ended up with his truck because I bought it out of state, didn't recognize it as just cab and chassis. I was laughing when I saw his business name on the maintenance records, he took excellent care of it, poor bastard.
I never buy new and my current truck (2002) F 250 was owned by a retired accountant. He kept it immaculate and was one of the best buys ive ever had. I do mechanic work as a 'retirement hobby' and do marine work too ;)
With all due respect to those who have lost...
Fiat Chrysler is less than a year old and already walking into the path of a $10bn bullet?
Sounds a tad convenient! I thought the Italians were all wise-guys as standard.
When you do business with a company like Chrysler, the original "too big to fail" business, you have to consider if they knew this was coming when they signed the deal with Fiat.
https://youtu.be/xIkuFNIuO1w
A little trick I learned long ago if you want to know how the latest trucks are performing is to talk to any above ground mine mechanics. Any large mining operation has heavy equipment mechanics, dragline maintenance and fleet mechanics. The fleet mechanics know which trucks are garbage. They buy them by the dozen and beat the crap out of them and put enormous amounts of miles on them very quickly, some even idle permanently.
Last I checked with my fleet mechanic buddy the GMCs were the only thing even slightly worth a shit. They were even buying some Japanese trucks. They said the plastic crap fell off of the Japanese trucks but that was happening to all US models as well and the Jap trucks were at least mechanically sound. This was about 2012 or so. POS is ofcourse a relative term now because cars are nothing like they used to be.
Interesting. Who at Fiat Chrysler pissed off the Obama administration, and how?
75 deaths over how many years due to error, and that is significantly higher than other manufacturers vehicles?
AS we used to say, FIAT stands for Fix it again Tony.
Looks like a good time to start shorting furniture.
Couple of deaths from Chrysler is just the warm up act.
http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Newsroom/News-Releases/2013/The-Tipping-Point-Hig...
A new CPSC data report issued today shows that 349 consumers (84 percent of them were children younger than age 9) were killed between 2000 and 2011, when TVs, furniture or appliances toppled over onto them. Last year (2011) had the highest one-year number of fatalities reported. The 41 recorded fatalities is an increase from 31 in 2010 and 27 in 2009. This total also may increase in future years as additional fatalities are reported.
No such problems with my Ford F350's :-))
'owners of more than a million older Jeeps with vulnerable rear-mounted gas tanks will be able to trade them in or be paid by Chrysler to have the vehicles repaired."
Repaired? How so since as far as I can see there is no other place in the under carriage of a jeep to accomodate a gas tank. Tell me more........