Fiat Chrysler has issued a recall order covering 1.1 million vehicles as the cars and SUVs have the risk of rolling away after drivers have exited.
The recall will address the confusion surrounding the automatic transmission of the vehicles, specifically the "park" position.
Drivers claim that they would exit their vehicles while the engine would still be running, believing that they had shifted into park. The vehicles covered by the recall order have electronic shift levers that spring back to their previous position after shifting, and drivers are not able to tell just by looking at the position of the shifter if they have indeed shifted to park. Instead, the drivers rely on indicator lights, which at times have been overlooked.
According to the company, 41 injuries and over 100 accidents have been linked to the issue, with injuries including broken ribs, a fractured pelvis, sprains, cuts and bruises. The National Highway Traffic has escalated its investigation back in February, and the agency said its findings clearly show that safety is compromised with the problem, which has resulted in the hundreds of crashes and dozens of injured drivers and passengers.
Regulators said the vehicles' shifters are not providing proper visual and tactile feedback to the driver, carrying the risk of drivers selecting the wrong positions for their transmission.
"I think it's a complete lack of human-factors engineering and a lack of built-in fail-safes," said Safety Research and Strategies' Sean Kane.
The recall will include Dodge Chargers and Chrysler 300 sedans with model years 2012 to 2014 and Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs with model years 2014 to 2015. Of these vehicles, 811,000 are in the United States, 52,000 are in Canada, almost 17,000 are in Mexico and the remaining nearly 250,000 are outside North America.
Fiat Chrysler said it will be making updates to the recalled vehicles to prevent them from rolling away, in certain instances, even if the driver fails to place the shifter into the park position. However, the company did not reveal when the fix will be made available.
