Chrysler faces two more NHTSA recall investigations

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened two separate investigations into Chrysler recalls.
One broad inquiry is focused on “slow execution” of recall campaigns and “poor communication” with the agency. The company allegedly ran into trouble supplying parts to fix a 2011 recall over tie-rod failure in Ram trucks, then mislead the government after the agency began receiving complaints from angry owners.

“The agency has received hundreds of complaints from owners reporting frustrations with obtaining service appointments and having their vehicles remedied under the safety recall,” the NHTSA wrote in a notice. “Many owners have complained of dealers informing them it would be many months before the dealership could secure a replacement part for their vehicle.”

Chrysler earlier this year faced similar criticism over its handling of a Jeep recall over fuel-tank fires. In both instances, the company only agreed to recall the vehicles after fighting with the NHTSA over the proposed remedies. After coming to a mutually agreeable solution, the automaker then secured only enough parts supply to fix a fraction of the recalled vehicles in a single year.

Under pressure from safety advocacy groups, the NHTSA is considering a second investigation into allegations of a power-module defect in nearly five million Chrysler vehicles spanning seven model years. The company last month issued a recall for 188,000 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango SUVs over the same problem, but critics point to hundreds of similar complaints — alleging stalling or no-start conditions — in a much broader range of vehicles that use a similar totally-integrated power module (TIPM).

“Consumers report frequent vehicle shutdowns with no restart capability on the highway, airbag non-deployment, random horn, headlight, taillight, door lock, instrument panel and windshield wiper activity, power windows going up and down on their own, failure of fuel pump shutoff resulting in unintended acceleration, and fires,” the Center for Auto Safety wrote in its August petition to the NHTSA. “The TIPM is in millions of 2007-2014 Chrysler vehicles and fails at such a high frequency that Chrysler has run out of replacement parts.”

Chrysler has been given a month to respond to the TIPM inquiry before the NHTSA makes a formal decision to move forward with a deeper investigation.