Fires continue amid deadly slow Jeep fuel tank recall
DETROIT — As Kayla White slowed her sport utility vehicle behind two other cars to exit a suburban Detroit freeway on Veterans Day, it was rammed from behind by a Cadillac STS. Her red 2003 Jeep Liberty bounced off a Nissan in front of it, rolled onto its side and exploded in flames.
Other drivers ran to help but were forced back by the heat. Firefighters arrived in just three minutes but were too late. White, 23, a restaurant hostess who was eight months pregnant, died of burns and smoke inhalation.
White is one of more than 70 people killed in fires involving older Jeeps with plastic fuel tanks mounted behind the rear axle.
Fiat Chrysler, which makes Jeeps, recalled 1.56 million of them in June 2013 under pressure from U.S. safety regulators. But only 12 percent of the SUVs have been repaired in the 18 months since the recall, a much slower pace than usual. White's Jeep was not among those fixed.
Last week, prosecutors charged the Cadillac driver with committing a moving violation that caused a death. But safety advocates and the lawyer for White's family say the blame belongs as much, if not more, on Chrysler and an auto industry safety system that moves too slowly to prevent tragedy.
The rear-mounted tanks have little structure to protect them if struck from behind, making them susceptible to punctures and fires. Moving the gas tank in front of the axle would be expensive and difficult. So Chrysler's remedy involved installing trailer hitches on the rear of the Jeeps as an extra layer of protection.
Government testing showed the hitches protected the tanks in crashes of up to 40 mph when stationary Jeeps were hit from behind. But at higher speeds, they would not help.
White tried to get the repair done a few weeks before her death but was told by a Jeep dealer that parts were not available, according to Gerald Thurswell, her family's lawyer. Thurswell contends the gas tank ruptured, spilling fuel that touched off the fire.
A Chrysler spokesman expressed sympathy to White's family but said the company had no written proof that she asked a dealer about the recall.
Two crash reconstruction experts interviewed by the AP say gasoline would not have spilled from White's Jeep if the tank had been mounted in front of the rear axle. Both say a hitch might have prevented the tank from being damaged, but because both vehicles were in motion, neither expert could say for sure.
Jessica Cooper, the prosecutor in suburban Oakland County, says the Cadillac driver, Clarence Heath, was not speeding, meaning he was driving 70 mph or less.
Other Jeep owners have reported difficulties in getting repairs done. Since the recall was announced, more than 840 people complained to the government that Chrysler dealers did not have hitches available, according to an AP review of a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration database.
As of Jan. 14, Chrysler had repaired only 12 percent of the Jeeps — despite two letters from NHTSA demanding faster action. That leaves more than 1.3 million Jeeps still on the road with gas tanks in a vulnerable position.
Chrysler admits that it normally completes 78 percent of repairs in 18 months. The company is offering Jeep owners free oil changes and $150 gift cards for parts and accessories as an incentive to get a hitch. But Chrysler cautions that in recalls such as this, owners can be harder to find because the vehicles are up to 22 years old.
Reports of Jeep fires started in the late 1990s, but NHTSA didn't start investigating until more than a decade later, in the summer of 2010. Three years later, the agency sought a recall of 2.7 million older-model Jeep Grand Cherokees and Libertys — some dating back to the 1993 model year — upon finding 51 fire-related deaths. That number was later raised to 75.
But Chrysler resisted, and the company sent data to NHTSA showing that 24 comparable SUVs made by other automakers had higher rates of fire deaths in rear-end crashes. Both sides agreed that Chrysler would recall 1.56 million of the Jeeps. The remaining 1.2 million would get inspections and perhaps no repairs at all.
