Chrysler Defies NHTSA Demand for Jeep Recall

Chrysler Group LLC has refused a request by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to recall 2.7 million Jeep SUVs that the agency claims have unsafe fuel tanks.

NHTSA told Chrysler on Monday that the agency's investigation found "numerous fire-related deaths and injuries" it blames on "defects related to motor vehicle safety."

The agency wants Chrysler to recall 1993-2004 model Jeep Grand Cherokees and 2002-2007 Jeep Liberty SUVs. Both models have fuel tanks mounted between the rear axle and rear bumper. NHTSA that the tanks are vulnerable to rupturing and catching fire if the vehicle is struck from behind.

Chrysler insists that its vehicles are no more likely to be involved in fiery rear-end fatal crashes than other cars and trucks, including many with fuel tanks mounted midship.

The company complains that NHTSA seems to be holding Chrysler Group to "a new standard for fuel tank integrity that does not exist now and did not exist when the Jeep vehicles were manufactured."

In an unusually strong rebuttal, the company argues that the agency's analysis focused on high-speed crashes that involved impact energies as much as 23 times greater than those generated in tests to meet federal fuel system leak standards.

Chrysler says NHTSA's analysis is incomplete and unrepresentative. It points to the agency's own fatality analysis reporting system, which it says shows 24 other models none of them recalled for fuel tank problems with a higher likelihood of fire-related, rear-impact fatalities than the targeted Jeeps.

Chrysler says its "position on this matter is clear" but adds that it intends to work with the agency to resolve the dispute.