Fuel tanks mounted between the rear axle and the rear bumper on the first two generations of Jeep’s Grand Cherokee are cause for concern, says the Center for Automotive Safety.
“For the Center for Auto Safety, this is the most dangerous vehicle on the road today and we want it recalled,” said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the advocacy organization, in an interview with ABC News.
The safety watchdog group is putting pressure on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Chrysler to recall about 2.2 million Jeeps, some of which are almost 20 years old, over fears that the tanks could rupture and leak fuel in a rear impact. Those Grand Cherokees had a composite fuel tank located just behind the rear bumper. Some Grand Cherokees were equipped with steel skid plates, but most had little shielding.
The first generation Grand Cherokee, which went on sale in 1992, and the second generation model, which went on sale in 1998, are both the targets of the Center for Auto Safety’s investigation.
When the Grand Cherokee was redesigned for its third generation in 2005, Chrysler moved the fuel tank ahead of the rear axle. The fourth generation 2011 model continues this placement for its tank.
“You can have the tank itself rupture, you can have the filler hoses pull off as they did in some of our crash tests, and it’s just a terrible design,” Ditlow said.
The Center for Auto Safety says it has turned over its own crash test results to the government, which is now investigating the Grand Cherokees.
Chrysler, meanwhile, says that the watchdog group’s testing was “three times as severe” as NHTSA’s government standard. Furthermore, Chrysler says that “rear impacts resulting in a fire are extremely rare… [and] occur no more often in 1993-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee vehicles than in peer vehicles.”
References
1.’Safety advocates demand…’ view
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