OREANDA-NEWS. July 01, 2015. FCA US LLC is advising approximately 65 SUV owners in the U.S. to stop driving their vehicles.
 
The SUVs, assembled earlier this month, are being recalled because they may have been inadvertently equipped with improperly heat-treated suspension components. This condition, which was not apparent during the assembly process, could lead to component breakage, rear-end instability and/or reduced braking power.
 
FCA US is unaware of any related injuries, accidents or customer complaints.
 
The component supplier discovered a potential problem during an internal quality review. FCA US was alerted, launched an investigation to determine if any vehicles were affected and, out of an abundance of caution, halted vehicle shipments from its assembly plant.
 
Production has since resumed with components that adhere to the Company’s strict manufacturing specifications.
 
Additional vehicles numbering approximately 7,690 are also subject to recall because they were built during the same eight-day period as the 65 in the field. However, because the supplier’s production anomaly was detected quickly, the number of vehicles actually affected by the suspect components is estimated to be no more than 13 percent of the total.
 
Further, the larger population is limited to vehicles that are not yet in service. They are in dealer hands or are in transit to dealers. Their locations are precisely known. All will be inspected and serviced – if necessary– before delivery or sale.
 
FCA US is phoning those customers who have taken delivery to arrange on-site vehicle inspections
. If an inspection determines a vehicle is equipped with a suspect component, the vehicle will be transported to a dealership for service.
 
In the interim, owners of new Grand Cherokee or Dodge Durango SUVs may determine if their vehicles are in the recall population by entering their vehicle identification numbers in the online search engines at http://recalls.mopar.com/ or https://vinrcl.safercar.gov/vin/.
 
A vehicle identification number, or VIN, can be found at the base of a vehicle’s windshield – on the driver’s side – or on the placard affixed to the driver’s-side doorjamb. The placard also indicates when the vehicle was assembled.
 
Included in the recall are model-year 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokees and Dodge Durango SUVs assembled from June 12 through June 20. While 5,608 are believed to be in the U.S., it’s estimated that 255 are in Canada and 65 are in Mexico. An estimated 1,829 are destined for markets outside the NAFTA region, but they have not been shipped and await inspection.
 
Customers with questions or concerns may call the FCA US Customer Care Center at 1-800-853-1403.