30 January 2024
NHTSA closed a seven-year safety investigation of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles after finding no evidence that rollaway accidents were caused by design or manufacturing defects.
The investigation, launched in December 2016, came after over two dozen vehicle rollaway incidents that resulted in eight injuries. The subjected vehicles were 2013-17 Ram 1500s and 2014-17 Dodge Durangos.
NHTSA closed the investigation Thursday after its Office of Defects Investigation found no evidence that “vehicle-based design or manufacturing defect was the cause of vehicle rollaway incidents on the subject vehicles.”
FCA implemented a software change in 2018 that enabled vehicles to automatically shift the transmission into park when “an operator attempts to exit the vehicle without successfully achieving a Park position” with the rotary shifter.
That strategy was “effective in reducing the frequency of vehicle rollaway incidents in the subject vehicles,” NHTSA said.
A Stellantis spokesperson said in an email that the automaker was “pleased that our update appears to have resonated with customers.”
Stellantis was formed by the merger of FCA and France’s PSA Group in 2021.