2007 Dodge Nitro Recalls

In a letter dated August 21, 2014, the Center for Auto Safety (CAS) petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to initiate a defect investigation of alleged failures associated with the Totally Integrated Power Module (TIPM) installed in Chrysler SUV?s, trucks, and vans beginning in the 2007 model year. The petitioner alleges that TIPM defects may result in engine stall, airbag non-deployment, failure of fuel pump shutoff resulting in unintended acceleration, fire, and other symptoms. On September 25, 2014, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened DP14-004 to evaluate the petition for a grant or deny decision. ODI analyzed complaint data provided by CAS as well as complaints submitted to ODI from consumers. In total, there were 296 complaints submitted by the petitioner in the original petition and five supplements, including 271 complaints related to the subject vehicles equipped with TIPM-7. Approximately 3 percent of CAS complaints are related to vehicles equipped with TIPM-6 and ODI?s review of these complaints did not identify any safety defect trends. ODI conducted a detailed review of complaints narratives submitted by CAS and consumers including careful analysis of vehicle repair histories, warranty claims obtained from the manufacturer and any available Customer Assistance Inquiry reports (CAIR). Analysis of the field data indicated that MY2011-2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango vehicles exhibited significantly higher complaint rates related to fuel pump relay (FPR) failures than other subject vehicles. In a September 3, 2014 letter to NHTSA, Chrysler submitted a Defect Information Report (DIR) identifying a defect in the FPR within the TIPM-7 which can result in a no start or stall condition in approximately 188,723 model year (MY) 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee (WK) and Dodge Durango (WD) vehicles manufactured from January 5, 2010 through July 20, 2011 (14V-530).In a February 24, 2015 letter, Chrysler submitted a second DIR expanding the scope of the FPR defect condition to include an additional 338,216 MY 2012 through 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee vehicles manufactured from September 17, 2010 through August 19, 2013 and MY 2012 through 2013 Dodge Durango vehicles manufactured from January 18, 2011 through August 19, 2013 (15V-115).ODI analysis of the CAS allegations of TIPM defects resulting in stall while driving, airbag non-deployment, unintended acceleration, fire and other faults identified a single defect condition related to 1 of over 60 different circuits in the TIPM assembly. The most common effect of this defect condition, related to the fuel pump relay, was a no-start concern, but it could also result in stall while driving (76 complaints). No valid evidence was presented in support of claims related to airbag non-deployment, unintended acceleration or fire resulting from TIPM faults and these claims were found to be wholly without merit based on review of the field data and design of the relevant systems and components.Except insofar as the petitioner's contentions relate to the defect condition addressed by the Chrysler recalls, the factual bases of the petitioner's contentions that any further investigation is necessary are unsupported. In our view, additional investigation is unlikely to result in a finding that a defect related to motor vehicle safety exists or a NHTSA order for the notification and remedy of a safety-related defect as alleged by the petitioner at the conclusion of the requested investigation. Therefore, in view of the need to allocate and prioritize NHTSA's limited resources to best accomplish the agency's safety mission, the petition is den

On November 18, 2010, NHTSA's Recall Management Division (RMD) opened an audit query (AQ10-001) to investigate recall remedy completion by rental car companies on safety recall campaigns.It was expected to provide the agency an indication of how completely and how quickly rental car fleets perform necessary recall-related remedies on the vehicles owned and then rented/leased for use on the roadways.RMD queried three (3) major motor vehicle manufacturers (Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors) and requested data regarding completion figures for fifteen (15) discreet safety recalls.Analysis of this data demonstrated that rental car recalls completion was neither complete nor consistent.The rental car companies representing the largest market share in the industry were then queried as to their respective policies for the rental, lease, and sale of vehicles with open recalls.The data and responses from the manufacturers and the rental car companies can be found in the document repository by accessing the ?Associated Documents link above.In December 2015, Congress enacted the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.One section of the Act prohibits rental car companies from renting, leasing, or selling motor vehicles subject to open safety recalls.With the passage of the FAST Act and its prohibition, there is no continuing need for the agency to investigate rental car recall completions.Accordingly, this investigation is closed.The agency reserves the right to open any future investigations, including audits of individual recalls, or groups of recalls, or rental car companies, to examine more closely safety recalls performance and completion issues in this area.

ON JULY 3, 2007, DAIMLERCHRYSLER CORPORATION (DCC) SUBMITTED A DEFECT INFORMATION REPORT TO NHTSA DESCRIBING A DEFECT THAT COULD RESULT IN ENGINE STALL WHILE DRIVING IN APPROXIMATELY 80,894 MODEL YEAR (MY) 2007 JEEP WRANGLER AND DODGE NITRO VEHICLES MANUFACTURED BETWEEN JANUARY 30, 2006 AND JANUARY 22, 2007 (NHTSA RECALL 07V-291, DCC RECALL G25).ACCORDING TO DCC, THE TOTALLY INTEGRATED POWER MODULE (TIPM) IN THESE VEHICLES WAS PROGRAMMED WITH SOFTWARE THAT MAY ALLOW THE ENGINE TO STALL UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS.DCC WILL REPROGRAM THE TIPM IN THE RECALLED VEHICLES WITH REVISED SOFTWARE. ODI OPENED PE07-027 ON MAY 29, 2007, BASED ON 53 COMPLAINTS ALLEGING ENGINE STALL AND/OR LOSS OF ELECTRICAL POWER IN MY 2007 JEEP WRANGLER VEHICLES.ODI WAS ALSO MONITORING SIMILAR COMPLAINTS IN MY 2007 DODGE NITRO VEHICLES.DCC'S ANALYSIS OF COMPLAINTS TO DCC AND NHTSA FOUND THAT MANY DESCRIBED EVENTS WITH A MOMENTARY LOSS OF ELECTRICAL POWER INSIDE THE VEHICLE AND A CORRESPONDING LOSS OF ENGINE POWER.MANY OF THE REPORTS ALSO INDICATED THAT THE INSTRUMENT CLUSTER TELLTALE LAMPS MOMENTARILY ILLUMINATED DURING THE EVENT. DCC'S ENGINEERING ANALYSIS DETERMINED THAT THE TIPM COULD INITIATE AN INTERNAL RESET CYCLE LASTING APPROXIMATELY 75 MS IN RESPONSE TO ERROR MESSAGES ON THE COMMUNICATION BUS.THE KEY ON SIGNAL FROM THE TIPM TO THE POWERTRAIN CONTROL MODULE (PCM) IS LOST DURING A TIPM RESET.IF THE PCM LOSES THE KEY ON SIGNAL FOR LONGER THAN 40 MS, IT INTERPRETS IT AS THE VEHICLE IGNITION BEING TURNED OFF AND BEGINS A POWER DOWN ROUTINE.AFTER THE TIPM RESET, THE KEY ON SIGNAL IS RESTORED AND THE PCM POWERS BACK UP.IF THE ROTATING COMPONENTS OF THE ENGINE CONTAIN SUFFICIENT INERTIA, THE VEHICLE MAY RESTART WITH NO INPUT FROM THE OPERATOR AS REPORTED IN SOME OF THE COMPLAINTS.IF THE ENGINE DOES NOT RESTART IN THIS MANNER, IT CAN BE RESTARTED BY THE OPERATOR.A REVISION TO THE TIPM SOFTWARE ON JANUARY 22, 2007 CHANGED THE TIPM RESET TIME TO 17 MS, REMOVING THE POTENTIAL FOR PCM POWER DOWN AND ENGINE STALL. ODI HAS RECEIVED 178 COMPLAINTS POTENTIALLY RELATED TO THE ALLEGED DEFECT IN MY 2007 JEEP WRANGLER VEHICLES AND 52 COMPLAINTS INVOLVING MY 2007 DODGE NITRO VEHICLES.TWO OF THE NITRO COMPLAINTS ALLEGE THAT A CRASH RESULTED FROM AN ENGINE STALL INCIDENT, ONE OF WHICH CAUSED MINOR INJURIES TO A PASSENGER.AS OF JUNE 1, 2007, DCC IDENTIFIED 151 WRANGLER COMPLAINTS AND 128 NITRO COMPLAINTS. THIS INVESTIGATION HAS BEEN CLOSED WITH DCC'S RECALL.