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.”
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1.’Safety advocates demand…’ view
The 2011 Grand Cherokee is easily the most important vehicle Jeep has launched in the past few years in terms of finances and image. It had to not only be capable enough off-road to silence the purists who were likely to balk at its lack of solid axles, but also refined and luxurious enough to appeal to the broad range of demanding customers in its cutthroat midsize SUV segment. Given the shortage of angry Internet posts about its TrailRated badge and 68-percent year-on-year sales increase in 2010, Jeep seems to have hit the mark. While we've had some experience with the latest and greatest Jeep-we gave it the trial-by-fire treatment against a Land Rover LR4 and a Toyota 4Runner (October 2010) and tortured it at Sport/Utility of the Year (December 2011) -- we wanted to spend some more time with one, so we hit up Auburn Hills and convinced Jeep to part with one for a year. We all know the Hemi V-8 is good, so we asked Jeep to send us a version equipped with the shiny new Pentastar V-6 (ruling out the V-8-only range-topping Overland model). Jeep promptly obliged and handed over the keys to a nicely equipped silver-on-black Limited 4x4.
This flavor of Grand Cherokee starts at $39,995, but ours came with a few extras. Making things more comfortable for us is the $1495 Luxury Group II package, which provides a heated steering wheel, the ever-convenient power tailgate, power-adjustable steering column, and cooled front seats that will surely prove useful when the thermometer hits triple digits. Jeep also figured we'd be taking it off-road, so the equipment list includes skidplates, off-road tires, and a full-size spare via the $650 Off-Road Adventure I package. With destination, the total price is $42,040. One detail we couldn't option out was a replacement for the standard five-speed automatic. We've docked the Jeep points in the past for its shortage of cogs, and that's sure to be a common point of conversation during its stay. We'll find out in the coming months if the Jeep's overall appeal and balanced combination of luxury and capability will be enough to overlook this shortcoming and turn the whole staff into fans. For now, we're just getting acquainted. Again.
