Chrysler refuses US request to recall vehicles

Source: AP-Excite

By TOM KRISHER and DEE-ANN DURBIN

DETROIT (AP) - A defiant Chrysler is refusing to recall about 2.7 million Jeeps the government says are at risk of a fuel tank fire in a rear-end collision.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent Chrysler a letter asking that the company voluntarily recall Jeep Grand Cherokees from 1993 through 2004 and Jeep Libertys from 2002 through 2007.

Chrysler Group LLC, which is majority-owned by Italy's Fiat SpA, said in a statement Tuesday that the Jeeps are safe and it "does not intend to recall the vehicles."

Such a refusal by an auto company is rare. NHTSA can order a recall but needs a court order to enforce it.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130604/DA6N72B00.html

---

In this file photo taken Fed. 2, 2001, rows of 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokees are lined up outside the Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit. Chrysler is refusing a request by U.S. safety regulators to recall about 2.7 million vehicles to fix fuel tanks that could leak and cause fires in rear-end collisions.The company says it's been asked by the government to recall Jeep Grand Cherokees from 1993 through 2004 and Jeep Libertys from 2002 through 2007. But Chrysler says in a statement that the SUVs are safe and not defective. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)