Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) on Sunday advised American owners of 65 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango SUVs to not drive the cars until they are inspected and a potentially faulty part replaced.
"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," according to an FCA press release.
An additional 7,690 of the SUVs that are in dealers or being shipped to dealers will also be recalled and inspected before delivery because they were built during the same period as the 65 recalled Cherokees and Durangos, the company said.
The 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokees and Dodge Durango SUVs being recalled were assembled from June 12 through June 20. About 5,608 are believed to be in the U.S., 255 in Canada and 65 in Mexico. Another 1,829 await inspection before shipment to markets outside the NAFTA region.
FCA US is phoning the 65 SUV owners 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," FCA said in the press release.
The component supplier alerted FCA US upon discovering the potential problem during an internal quality review. FCA promptly suspended shipments of the SUVs from its assembly plant. Production has resumed as the supplier replaced the parts.
FCA set up a webpage where 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 (VIN) in the online search engines at https://recalls.mopar.com/ or https://vinrcl.safercar.gov/vin/. The 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.
Concerned customers may also call the FCA US Customer Care Center at 1-800-853-1403.
FCA's advisory comes as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration scheduled a Thursday hearing into whether the company failed to promptly fix safety defects in about 20 separate recalls covering at least 10 million vehicles, according to The New York Times.
In March, FCA also recalled certain Dodge Grand Caravan, Dodge Journey, and Chrysler Town & Country vehicles after finding that rough road conditions can cause the cars' ignition switch to move into the "off" or "accessory" position during driving and unexpectedly turn off the engine or disable the airbags, power steering and power braking, according to Motor Trend.
The following month, FCA started replacing the entire ignition switch of recalled cars from the 2008 and 2009 model years.
Owners with 2010 model year vehicles will get their fix in dealers in August. Pending the repair, FCA advised drivers to remove all extra keys and items from the key fob.
