Safety advocate seeks reopening of Jeep probe

Associated Press

DETROIT

An auto-safety advocate is calling on the government to reopen an investigation of rear-crash fires in older Jeep SUVs after finding at least 11 more deaths since the vehicles were recalled.

The deaths show that the recall repair – installing a trailer hitch to protect gas tanks in low-speed crashes – hasn’t been effective, said Clarence Ditlow, head of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety.

He is calling on the government to investigate, saying the Jeeps are unsafe and a remedy should be developed that saves lives.

“As far as Fiat Chrysler is concerned, Jeeps can continue to crash and burn until they are all off the road,” Ditlow wrote in a letter to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx dated Thursday.

It’s been almost three years since Fiat Chrysler, which makes Jeeps, began recalling 1.56 million SUVs with plastic gas tanks that are mounted behind the rear axle and can rupture in a crash, spilling gasoline.

Ditlow said he found a total of 19 fire deaths in older Jeeps in a fatal-accident database maintained by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Eleven were in Jeeps that had been recalled, with eight more in SUVs not included in the recall, he said.

The deaths since the June 2013 recall bring the number of people killed in fiery crashes involving the Jeeps to as many as 86. Before the recall, NHTSA counted 75 deaths. The recalled vehicles include 1993-1998 Grand Cherokees and 2002 to 2007 Libertys.

NHTSA spokesman Gordon Trowbridge said Friday that he had just seen the letter and couldn’t comment. The agency has fined Fiat Chrysler a total of $175 million in the past two years for moving too slowly on recalls or failing to report safety defects and deaths.

Fiat Chrysler maintains that the Jeeps are just as safe as comparable vehicles from the same era when weighted by years of vehicle operation.

Of the 100 car and SUV models from that era with the highest rear-crash fire death rates, the Liberty was lower than 24 models and the Grand Cherokee was lower than 60, according to FCA’s analysis of NHTSA data through 2010.