Fiat Chrysler is recalling 1.9 million vehicles that were produced since 2010, including models such as the Chrysler Sebring, Jeep patriot, and other Compass SUVs. The said vehicles were installed with defective airbags that resulted in three deaths and five injuries.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles announced this Thursday that they have produced defective airbags for 1.9 million vehicles that it produced over the last few years. These were counted from those produced in 2010 through 2014. The Fiat Chrysler recall will involve 1.4 million units in the U.S. alone and 142,959 vehicles in Canada.
According to Auto News, tens of millions of vehicles are estimated to be affected by this defect. In fact, the mishap was blamed on a software malfunction that would prevent the deployment of airbags during impact. Recent accidents resulted in deaths and injuries because of the airbag defect.
The said software defects were particularly those that had an occupant restraint control module along with the front impact sensor wiring design.
In other news, CNBC reported that the software defect was supposed to address the hypersensitivity of vehicle safety features incorporated in modern automobiles, according to Scott Upham of Valient Market Research.
Despite the defect, the Fiat Chrysler recall mirrored initial issues with the vehicles when it first attested the occupant restraint controllers or routing design had to be finalized before the release of said models. Since they were made available for purchase, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had called out the company due to recall issues.
Furthermore, last July 2015, NHTSA fined Fiat Chrysler a whopping $105 million worth of damages due to recall campaigns that affected 11 million of its produced vehicles. By December of that same year, the company was fined with another $70 million for its failure to report vehicle crash deaths since 2003. Thus, the recall had been deemed to be a remedy to prevent the company from incurring further fines.
Thus, Fiat Chrysler recalled 1.9 million of vehicles that were made available for purchase from 2010 to 2014 including its flagship models 2012 and 2013 Lancia Flavia mid-sized car, the Chrysler Sebring, Chrysler Avenger, Chrysler Jeep Patriot, Compass SUVs and the Dodge Caliber.
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