Federal safety regulators in the U.S. are investigating alleged issues in two Stellantis vehicles that could affect up to 293,426 units in total. The models under scrutiny are the Dodge Journey and Chrysler’s problem child, the Pacifica Hybrid minivan.
The first investigation affects more units, but is less alarming. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a preliminary evaluation into the 2018-2020 Dodge Journey, after receiving 26 vehicle owner questionnaires containing complaints about the back-up camera.
The safety organization says that owners are experiencing a number of issues, including black screens, as well as upside down, flashing, and blurry images. Since this impacts a driver’s ability to use the back-up camera, which all vehicles are required to have, these reports are of concern to NHTSA.
It is now working to assess the scope, frequency, and severity of the problem to determine its impact on driver safety. Depending on the results of its preliminary evaluation, as many as 226,249 Journeys could be involved in a recall.
Read: Chrysler’s Interim Recall Repair May Have Actually Made Pacifica Hybrid Fires Worse
The second action is a “Recall Query,” and it is working to assess the effectiveness of a recall that Chrysler previously launched to fix the 2017-2023 Pacifica Hybrid. Although it only affects 67,177 examples of the vehicle, the pernicious issue has been linked to accidents.
The investigation follows the initiation of a recall campaign in January 2023. The action was taken to fix transmission trouble that could cause a driver to lose power and could leave them vulnerable on the road.
NHTSA reports that Chrysler’s remedy was to update the Power Inverter Module and the instrument cluster software in order to provide drivers with advanced warning that their transmission was experiencing a problem.
The safety agency has taken issue with the fix because the warning, “Stop Safely — Vehicle Will Shut Off Soon” gives drivers no indication of how far they have left to drive. The feds are looking into whether or not the fix adequately addresses the safety concern laid out in the initial recall.
“FCA confirm their remedy does not prevent a loss of motive power, but instead limits torque to the engine and after an unspecified number of miles,” NHTSA writes. “The dashboard messages introduced in the recall remedy may cause the driver to pull over in an unsafe location. Pulling over in an unsafe location may expose the occupants to undue harm.”
As part of its recall query, the agency will look to assess how frequently owners with recalled vehicles experience issues, whether the fix was adequate, and what its safety consequences are. It may then demand a new recall to address the problem.
