Chrysler Group has refused to recall 2.7 million of its Jeep Grand Cherokees and Libertys, due to faulty gas tanks CNN Money reported, Tuesday.
In a rare move against the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's call for removal of 1993 to 2004 Grand Cherokees and 2002 to 2007 Libertys, Chrysler has shook its head 'no,' saying that the request was unfounded.
"We believe NHTSA's initial conclusions are based on an incomplete analysis of the underlying data," the carmaker said in a statement. "We are committed to continue working with the agency to resolve this disagreement."
This is the first time in 17 years that an automaker has gone against a U.S. government safety agency's word. The 1996 case, which also involved Chrysler Group, was over a wonky seat belt system with which 91,000 cars were equipped. Chrysler won the case in a federal court two years after.
Chrysler is now owned by Italian carmaker Fiat.
The company claims that the gas tanks in question are usually accepted and used in a whole host of other vehicles. They also said that the cars involved in the accidents were driving at high speeds, which rendered the faulty design argument useless.
In one crash, they claimed, a tractor-trailer truck driving at 65 miles per hour slammed into a stopped Grand Cherokee.
But Clarence Ditlow, executive director at the Center for Auto Safety, still requested Chrysler bring back those Grand Cherokees, in a letter to NHTSA detailing his stance.
"The only way to prevent more fire deaths is for NHTSA to order a mandatory safety recall and require Chrysler to design an effective remedy," Ditlow's letter said.
Some say Chrysler's main reason for holding back on the recall is a financial one. Senior analyst at Edmunds.com, Michelle Krebs, told CNN that Chrysler might not benefit from dismissing the recall request.
"Yes it costs a lot of money to fix and it's a lot of vehicles," she said, "but it can cost a lot of money in terms of future sales if it backfires... It's damned if you do, damned if you don't."
