At the time the recall was announced, FCA said the “fix” would consist of a software update to include an additional mechanism to “mitigate the effect of operator error in failing to shift the monostable gear selector into PARK prior to exiting the vehicle”.
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Officer Jane Kim said the investigation will look into whether the actor’s vehicle was in gear or in park at the time of the accident. The SUV began rolling backward and hit another parked vehicle, injuring a passenger. But the Jeep was part of a recall by Fiat Chrysler in April of nearly 812,000 vehicles, including the 2014 and 2015 Grand Cherokee models.
FCA is readying a recall for the Jeep Grand Cherokee following the death of actor Anton Yelchin. That’s technically true, but other automakers that use the ZF eight-speed transmission have a safety mechanism that activates the electronic park brake if the driver tries to exit with the vehicle in gear.
He is believed to have stepped out of his 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee and left the engine running, before the vehicle rolled down and pinned him to a brick pillar and security fence. Newer model years are not affected because of a new shift lever design.
The gear shifter had raised concerns because some drivers weren’t clear whether their cars were in “drive” or “park”. FCA issued a voluntary recall for some 1.1 million vehicles, and one of the Jeep Grand Cherokees recalled could have been owned by Anton Yelchin – a young actor who was just killed in a roll-away accident involving his 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee.
As of April, the company had reports of 212 crashes, 41 injuries and 308 property damage claims potentially caused by the shifters, it said in documents filed with the government.
Yelchin’s death comes a month before the release of Star Trek Beyond, in which he played Chekov, the young Russian navigator of the starship USS Enterprise.
“NHTSA initiated an investigation into the issue in February of this year”.
He says drivers have brought vehicles in with the same problem.
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Peoples notified Chrysler, the maker of Jeep, and they examined her vehicle. In the meantime, many in the industry have gathered to grieve and honor Yelchin-someone Star Trek director JJ Abrams recognized as “brilliant”.
