In June 2009, the “New Chrysler” emerged from Bankruptcy Court and was able to eliminate any responsibility for product defect claims based on either unsafe design or manufacture, with regard to any vehicle sold prior to the date that they emerged from the protection of the Bankruptcy Court.
 
Not only did this decision wipe out any hope of recovery for those individuals with pending injury claims against Chrysler but it has also shielded Chrysler from suits filed by anyone injured in a future accident which at the time involved approximately 31,000,000 Chrysler vehicles on the road.
 
At the time that the Federal Government assisted in the bailout of Chrysler and General Motors, it did not make any provision to provide any protection for consumers with pending claims but most importantly failed to protect those individuals who might be affected as a result of undisclosed defects which would result in future injury.
 
At the time of the automotive bailout, involving both Chrysler and General Motors, it was estimated about 74,000,000 General Motors vehicles were on the road.  Federal statistics show that approximately 5,900 people were killed in crashes involving Chrysler vehicles in 2007.  The concern by knowledgeable skeptics, at the time that Chrysler obtained their bankruptcy relief was how it would affect the future claims for undiscovered vehicle defects.
 
Evidently, everyone’s worse fears have been realized with the discovery of the approximately 2.7 million vehicles who are currently at risk of a fuel tank fire in a rear-end collision.   Chrysler has refused the Federal Government’s request to recall the Jeep Grand Cherokees that were manufactured from 1993-2004 and the Jeep Liberty that were manufactured from 2002-2007.
 
Unfortunately, the government’s failure to have properly protected the American consumers, in connection with the massive automotive bailout that was funded through taxpayer monies, also abandoned the consumer protection.
 
Although Chrysler has refitted the Grand Cherokee’s in 2005, as well as the 2007 Liberty, it estimates that retrofitting the older Jeeps, with repositioned tanks, would be both time consuming and costs over $240,000,000.

 
Unfortunately, there does not appear to be an optimistic solution to this extremely significant safety problem.  Chrysler previously refused to accept theNational Highway Traffic Safety Agency requests that it recall 91,000 Dodge Stratus and Chrysler Cirrus vehicles to rectify an alleged seatbelt defect.  Although NITHSA has successfully sued Chrysler in Federal Court, in 1998, that decision was reversed on appeal.   Chrysler’s lawyer in that case, on appeal, was John Roberts, who is now the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
 
Unfortunately, this is just one other indication, of how large companies are able to obtain maximum influence to avoid responsibility for their failure to have complied with the appropriate government safety guidelines to protect the American consumer.
 
I have been holding automotive manufacturers accountable for the safety defects contained in the vehicles, which have inflicted significant and usually catastrophic injuries to my clients.  I don’t believe that there is any more serious safety defect than the lack of fuel tank integrity.
 
As we all know, after the Fuel Pinto case, when Ford neglected to have a $10.00 part which would have significantly protected against fuel tank rupture from rear-end collision, these defects produced horrendous and catastrophic injuries on the occupants of the vehicles that failed.
 
Unfortunately, in this instance, the legal rights and remedies that were available to hold Chrysler accountable have been erased by the blank check that they were given during the governmental rollback that rescued their company from oblivion.
 
Hopefully, Chrysler will reconsider its position, in light of the significant relief that they have received, in order to eventually comply with the government’s request to rectify this extremely serious defect.
 
Photo Credits: Motorclan, Flickr.