2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo Sport Utility 4-door 3.7l on 2040-cars

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Watch this 9-year-old drive Jeep Wrangler off-road [w/poll]

This nine-year-old girl might be better at rock crawling than some people twice her age. But is it worth putting her in danger to do it? According to her father on the Jeep Experience Facebook page, her name is Faith, and she has been offroading with her family since she was two. At nine years old, she's now driving her dad's Jeep over the rocks by herself.
As you can see she's belted in and under her father's direct supervision and guidance. She shows immense confidence for someone her age and follows her dad's instructions on exactly what to do. Although, this could still be a very dangerous situation if something went wrong.
Previously, we saw a similar video with a six-year-old on a motorcycle driving on public roads through the desert. Voters decided by only a six-point margin that the adult should be in trouble for letting the kid ride the bike. Here, we have a slightly older child driving a vehicle off road. Where do you fall in this case? Is it still wrong to hand over control to a child? Let us know in the poll below and scroll down to watch the video.

2014 Jeep Cherokee will keep Liberty designation in China... sort of

Chinese buyers will get their first live look at the 2014 Jeep Cherokee during the Shanghai Motor Show, but CarNewsChina is reporting that it will go by a different name - Ziyou Guan, which translates to "Liberty Light." The article states that our Jeep Liberty was never sold in China, but the iconic XJ Cherokee was sold and produced there as the Qinuoji (a phonetic translation of Cherokee).
The new Jeep Liberty Light will be built alongside the Fiat Viaggio (China's Fiat-badged version of the Dodge Dart) at the Guangzhou-Fiat plant, and the two models will share the same powertrains: a 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder base engine paired to a five-speed manual or a dual-clutch transmission and a 2.4-liter four-cylinder (the base engine for the US-spec 2014 Cherokee) as an optional engine. It doesn't sound like the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 will be offered in China.
We'll be on hand when the new Jeep debuts in Shanghai, so stay tuned to Autoblog this Friday night and Saturday for our live coverage of the show.

NHTSA closes book on Jeep 'trailer hitch' recall after all

After much debating and hand-wringing, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration now says it has "no reservations" with Chrysler's plan to recall certain Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee models over concerns that their fuel tanks, which are located behind the rear axle, could rupture or leak in the event of a rear impact. The longstanding argument between the two entities saw Chrysler openly defy the Feds after a request to recall 2.7 million units back in June.
Chrysler's "voluntary campaign" will instead see it recall 1.56-million 1993-2004 model year Grand Cherokee SUVs, along with 2002-2007 Liberty models. Affected vehicles will get a trailer hitch installed free of charge, which Chrysler says will provide an additional degree of protection for the fuel tanks in the event of a crash. Jeeps with Mopar-branded hitches or hitches that were installed at the factory aren't affected by this recall.
Chrysler's argument throughout this battle has been that the Jeeps in question are no more susceptible to fires than comparable vehicles from the same time period, a position that NHTSA has seemingly arrived at as well. "Those vehicles performed at a rate similar to their peers. That is the keystone analysis as to whether something poses an unreasonable risk to safety," said outgoing NHTSA boss David Strickland during an interview with the The Associated Press.