CNBC reports Fiat Chrysler faces a penalty of $105 million by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as a result of their shoddy performance vis-a-vis recalls on Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee vehicles. In my experience, the penalty is justified.
The DrsC own a 2003 Liberty, a nice little car. We had the fuel tank vulnerability recall for 2-3 years before they finally got the parts to remedy the issue.
The remedy, when finally installed, consisted of adding a trailer hitch to those vehicles which did not come with one standard. Apparently, experience had shown Chrysler a Liberty equipped with the hitch did not have the tank puncture problem when rear-ended.
There is nothing high tech or developmental about a trailer hitch, the design was long-since complete. Any metal fab shop could turn out hundreds per week at modest cost. Why it took them multiple years to come up with a piece of welded steel I cannot fathom.
We now have another recall on the car for which parts are "not yet available." I believe it is the car's third recall. We like the car, and our local dealer is nice, but Fiat Chrysler has been laggardly about recalls. I believe they've been slow on purpose - deferring costs to a later accounting period to dress up their balance sheet.
