Anton Yelchin’s freak death was ruled an accident today by the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office.
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Yelchin, who was best known for playing Chekov in the new “Star Trek” franchise, was killed by his own auto early Sunday when it rolled backward down his steep driveway and pinned him against a brick mailbox pillar and security fence, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Fiat Chrysler voluntarily recalled 1.1 million vehicles that had these transmission shifters just months later, including 2012-2014 Dodge Chargers, Chrysler 300s, and 2014-2015 Jeep Grand Cherokees (like Yelchin’s).
Anton Yelchin died around a minute after his vehicle accident, the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office has confirmed to ET. The results of toxicology tests to determine if the actor was under the influence of any substances are not due back for at least six weeks, he added.
The automaker expects to have a fix for the problem in July or August.
There’s no doubt in my mind that FCA will try to pass the blame off on Yelchin to prevent being liable for his death, but in the end, the mass amount of safety-related recalls lately is absolutely ridiculous.
Fiat Chrysler expected to send recall notification letters to owners on May 16, according to a memo to dealers, but it’s not known whether Yelchin received or saw his letter.
The 27-year-old actor’s body was found Sunday (June 19) pinned against an iron gate at the end of his driveway by the 4,900 pound vehicle.
The changes are created to automatically prevent the vehicle from moving under certain circumstances, even if the driver doesn’t select “park”.
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigated hundreds of reports that the model would continue to move freely when drivers thought they had locked it in “park”.
“ALWAYS DO A VISUAL CHECK that your vehicle is in “PARK” by looking for the “P” in the Electronic Vehicle Information Center (EVIC) or on the shift lever knob”, the recall notice said.
The agency also urged owners of recalled vehicles to use their parking brakes and turn them off completely every time they exited until their vehicles were fixed.
More than 100 crashes have been reported due to a gear selector problem that caused confusion about whether the vehicle was in park.
Along with his role in the Star Trek series, Yelchin was known for acting in movies such as Like Crazy and Charlie Bartlett. You were amusing as hell, and supremely talented. “And you weren’t here almost long enough”, Abrams tweeted.
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“I loved Anton Yelchin so much”, he wrote. “They were very sweet”.
