Feds Slam Fiat Chrysler for Lax Safety Efforts
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has been dragging its feet when it comes to safety problems, or so claims the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in a new document released ahead of a July 2 public hearing on the issue.
The statement by federal regulators follows admissions by the automaker that it has been slow to handle repairs to vehicles covered by a recall linked to numerous vehicle fires. And it appears to be part of a broader crackdown on automotive safety in the wake of record recalls that saw more than 60 million vehicles impacted due to defects last year.
"NHTSA has tentatively concluded that Fiat Chrysler has not remedied vehicles in a reasonable time and has not adequately remedied vehicles," the federal safety agency said in a document posted on its website ahead of a hearing to determine whether FCA met federal rules on properly reporting defects and then making repairs.
Under orders from NHTSA, the Michigan-based carmaker recently provided 5 million pages of documents and acknowledged that it failed to meet the government-mandated timetable for notifying owners of a defect on five separate occasions. FCA officials have also admitted that only a small percentage of the vehicles involved in a recall of millions of Jeeps due to a fire risk have so far been repaired.
Separately, a federal appeals court this week reversed a ruling by a lower court and ordered Chrysler to stand trial in a case involving the deaths of two people that were allegedly the result of a minivan unexpectedly slipping into reverse inside a garage. Rose Coats, 75, was pinned between the vehicle and the frame of the garage door. Her husband, 83-year-old Roy Coats, died of a heart attack after being knocked down by the vehicle.