The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has determined that a number of new Fiat Chrysler SUVs are installed with electronic gear shifters which have caused over 100 crashes.
The agency says that those cars are installed with a center console shift lever that “is not intuitive and provides poor tactile and visual feedback to the driver, increasing the potential for unintended gear selection.”
This has resulted in a number of owners exiting their vehicles with the engine still running in Drive rather than Park.
When in use, the shift lever can be moved forward or backward to select gears. Like BMW‘s new selector, though, it doesn’t actually run through a gate; instead, it returns to its original position. So instead of moving into a unique position for each gear, the lever simply notifies the driver what gear they’re in through a light.
Currently, the system does sound a chime and display a dashboard warning if the driver opens the door while not in Park. Adding insult to injury, the push-button start-stop engine system is unable to shut off the engine when the car is left in Park.
So far, 314 complaints have been discovered in the investigation, 121 of which resulted in crashes and 30 of them caused injuries, including fractured pelvic bones, a fractured kneecap and even a ruptured bladder. Most involved the Jeep Grand Cherokee.
A recall hasn’t been issued yet, though the investigation was recently upgraded to an “engineering analysis”, bringing it a step closer to an official recall in case additional info is discovered.
Story references: Philly.com
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