This week, the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced enforcement action and penalties against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) for the company’s mishandling of vehicle recalls. FCA admitted violating the Motor Vehicle Safety Act in three areas:
- Effective and timely recall remedies
- Notification to vehicle owners and dealers
- Notification to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration
As a result, the Department of Transportation has ordered FCA to either repair or buy back the affected vehicles and pay a $105 million civil penalty, the largest penalty ever imposed by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.
Go to Safercar.gov to read the entire story regarding the DOT and FCA hearings, testimony, and the enforcement action. You can also view a complete list of all Chrysler recalls to-date.
The most recent FCA recall was announced last Friday when software hackers showed they could gain control of certain FCA-made vehicles remotely. There are approximately 1.4 million vehicles affected by this recall, which include newer models made by Fiat Chrysler’s Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler and RAM brands. To fix the security issue, FCA has issued a UConnect software update. Owners can elect to download the update to a USB drive and install it to their vehicle’s computer system or have an authorized FCA dealer perform the update.
Go to www.driveuconnect.com/software-update to find out which vehicles need the UConnect Software update.
