Washington DC - Fiat Chrysler is speeding up its software fix for 1.1 million recalled vehicles for rollaway risks, like the recalled Jeep Grand Cherokee involved in the death of actor Anton Yelchin.
The company said that last week it had began providing the software required to up update the SUVs to its 2400 US dealers after initially telling owners the fix would be ready in the fourth quarter of 2016 - but on 24 May, Fiat Chrysler told dealers the software would be ready no later than July or August.
The company will start notifying owners of the availability of the recall fix on Friday. Fiat Chrysler said “advance planning is critical to efficient customer care and represents an acceleration - by several months - of the originally anticipated service launch”.
Some dealers have already started scheduling Grand Cherokees for the upgrade, but it’s not clear how many have been done.
The software is available for variants with 3.6 and 5.7 litre engines, which account for a majority of the recalled vehicles. Fiat Chrysler said the software for the remaining vehicles would be available soon.
Fiat Chrysler Auto SA confirmed that there were 61 Grand Cherokees in South Africa affected by the recall; no rollaway incidents had been reported here, it said, but it was working hard to find all the vehicles and get them into dealers’ workshops for the software upgrade before any occured.
New ‘Auto Park’ feature
The upgraded software includes an “Auto Park” feature that “eliminates the possibility of the driver inadvertently failing to place the transmission into Park before getting out,” according to a document sent to dealers.
Yelchin, best known for playing Pavel Chekhov in Star Trek was killed when his 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee rolled away and pinned him against a fence and mailbox in Los Angeles.
Fiat Chrysler recalled more than 1.1 million cars and SUVs worldwide in April because they can roll away after drivers get out - an issue linked to 41 injuries, 212 crashes and 308 reports of property damage.
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which upgraded its probe into the issue in February, said earlier that its “investigation of the shifter in these vehicles showed it is clearly a safety issue that has led to hundreds of crashes and dozens of injuries.”
The agency said it was monitoring investigations into Yelchin's death by Los Angeles police and Fiat Chrysler. No determination has yet been made if the recall defect was to blame for Yelchin's death.
Reuters
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