Fiat Chrysler Automobiles could pay billions of dollars to buy back defective trucks as part of a settlement with U.S. safety regulators, but has the option to recover costs by reselling vehicles once they are repaired. NHTSA also says that owners of more than half a million vehicles (Ram pick ups) with defective suspension parts will “have the opportunity to sell their vehicle back to Fiat Chrysler”.
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“Today’s action holds Fiat Chrysler accountable for its past failures, pushes them to get unsafe vehicles repaired or off the roads, and takes concrete steps to keep Americans safer going forward”, Foxx said.
The owners of over a million older Jeeps with vulnerable rear-mounted gas tanks too would be allowed to trade their vehicles in or be paid by Chrysler to have them repaired.
Over the weekend, NHTSA also released details of two new FCA recalls, totalling more than 1.7 million vehicles, involving Ram pickups from model years 2012-2014 for inadvertent deployment of air bags.
Federal auto safety regulators are set to hit Fiat Chrysler Automobiles with a record fine, as large as $105 million, for mishandling recalls, a government source with knowledge of the issue said Sunday.
The fine was to punish the company for mishandling its recalls of some 11 million vehicles.
The automaker is required to buy back the vehicles from customers who choose to get rid of them for the purchase price, minus the value of any depreciation.
The Italian-American automaker would need to buy back over 500,000 Ram pickup trucks and other vehicles from customers.
Fiat Chrysler’s 1.4 million customers will receive a USB stick to provide a software update to their car’s on board system.
FCA US has also agreed to undertake specific actions to improve its recall execution. The company would also have to pay another $15 million if an independent monitor finds further violations of federal recall regulators.
Fiat Chrysler said the amount it pays to repurchase vehicles will be applied as a credit to the US$20 million it agreed to spend on outreach efforts as part of its US$105 million fine.
Timian claimed that Fiat Chrysler either had problems with the information in its reports, or in other cases failed to report to NHTSA its safety issues and missed deadlines to notify owners of recalls.
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The regulatory agency’s tough move adds to the heightening concerns about the company’s security methods, on the heels of controversial recalls last year by General Motors and airbag supplier Takata.
