Fiat Chrysler Automobiles revealed on Friday, July 14 that it would be recalling around 1.33 million cars worldwide. The company discovered that some cars had an issue, which could lead to fire or unintended deployment of airbags. These issues are known to have caused five minor injuries to drivers in these vehicles, although no crashes were reported as a result.
Fiat Chrysler first campaign recall
According to CNBC, two different campaigns were launched for the recalls. In the first instance, 770,000 SUVs from the Italian-American automaker are being recalled due to a wiring problem which is known to cause the deployment of airbags on the driver’s side.
The wiring could potentially chafe the steering wheel rim and cause shorts, which eventually could cause the air bags to deploy and injure the drivers inside the car. This issue could impact the operation of the windshield wipers or even cause inoperable switches.
This recall consists of 538,000 Dodge Journey vehicles between the 2011 and 2015 models in North America. It also includes 233,000 Fiat Freemont crossovers from the same years which were sold outside North America. After the recalled vehicles are sent back to FCA, the workers will inspect the wiring and replace it. They will then provide additional protection and covering on the wires so that these issues are not repeated.
Second campaign recall
The company is also recalling an additional 565,000 cars to replace the alternators housed in them as they apparently can cause fires. The company revealed that hot temperatures could likely result in wear of the diode and this could impact on breaking or cause engine stalls. Two accidents from these issues were reported but neither of them involved any injuries.
The recall includes Chrysler 300 from the 2011 to 2014 models. It also includes Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger cars and Dodge Durango SUVs and the 2012-2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs. This is not the first time that FCA had to issue a recall within the last year.
In October 2016, the company had to recall around 86,000 Ram 3500 and 2500 pickup trucks.
The recall also included 5500, 4500, 3500 chassis cabs from the 2007-2013 models. Lastly, the Dodge Charger Pursuit sedan was also recalled due to a faulty alternator. All of these recalls cast a bad light on the reputation of a company and may severely harm FCA’s business in the future. However, for now, the company says that no serious injuries were caused due to these faults.
