NHTSA Investigation RQ17005

Door Latch Open While Driving

On June 11, 2015, Jaguar-Land Rover (JLR) submitted a Defect Information Report (DIR) to NHTSA describing a defect condition in the electronically controlled door latch systems of approximately 65,372 model year (MY) 2013-2016 Range Rover and MY 2014-2016 Range Rover Sport that may result in incidents of door opening while driving (NHTSA Recall No. 15V-385, JLR Recall P068).On August 4, 2017, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened Recall Query RQ17-005 to investigate claims of doors failing to latch and/or inadvertently opening while driving (latch malfunctions) on MY 2013-2016 Range Rover and MY 2014-2016 Range Rover Sport vehicles that had received the remedy for 15V-385 or were built after the recall remedy had been implemented in production (the subject vehicles). ODI has received 5 unique reports (VOQs) related to the alleged defect in the subject vehicles. All five VOQs allege experiencing at least one incident of a door opening inadvertently while the vehicle was in motion and were repaired by replacing the malfunctioning latch assembly. One minor injury was reported where the consumer did not seek medical care.ODI's analysis of information provided by JLR in response to the Information Request (IR) letter for RQ17-005 identified 43 additional complaints and field reports related to door latch malfunctions in the subject vehicles, including 14 additional allegations that a door opened while the vehicle was in motion. In addition, ODI's analysis of JLR warranty claim data provided in the IR response identified an additional 564 vehicles that received latch replacements to address customer concerns with latch malfunctions, including 72 additional incidents of doors opening while in motion based on ODI's analysis of customer concern narratives.ODI has upgraded this investigation to an Engineering Analysis (EA18-004) to further assess the recall remedy, scope, and frequency. See attached pages for additional information.

An investigation is a separate record from a recall and from a manufacturer communication. A manufacturer campaign to repair a safety defect or a failure to meet a federal safety standard.