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NHTSA preparing to wallop FCA, automaker 'failed to do its job'

As embattled the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration may be, but that certainly doesn't mean it isn't willing or able to put the smack down on automakers that violate its recall procedures. Following a public hearing on Thursday, the government safety arm is preparing what will likely be some very serious punishments for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. FCA stands accused of mishandling 23 individual recalls covering some 11 million vehicles since 2013, with NHTSA claiming the Italian-American automaker kept it "in the dark," failing to notify the government of safety defects. Uncle Sam also alleges that FCA failed to notify consumers of important safety notices and didn't provide a steady supply of replacement parts. For these charges, the automaker could be fined up to $35 million per recall, which could mean a maximum of $805 million in fines. FCA could also be forced to buy back the unrepaired vehicles. "We have serious concerns with Fiat Chrysler notifications to owners and to NHTSA about its recalls. In every one of the 23 recalls, we have identified ways in which Fiat Chrysler failed to do its job," Jennifer Timian, the head of the Office of Defects Investigation, said during the FCA hearing, The Detroit News reports. The company also "repeatedly failed to provide NHTSA with other critical information about its recalls, including changes to the vehicles impacted by the recalls and its plans for remedying those vehicles." Fiat Chrysler, for its part, didn't really fight back during its hearing, although Scott Kunselman (shown above during the hearing), the senior vice president of vehicle safety and regulatory affairs at FCA, did tell The News that, "We absolutely had no mis-intent." "The plan is to move forward," Kunselman said, adding that the company has "fallen short," and that "some of the things we've done were sloppy." NHTSA administrator Mark Rosekind told The News that the regulator would issue its sanctions by the end of July, adding that he saw no way that FCA could avoid punishment.

Detroit and Silicon Valley: When cultures collide

Culture is a subject that rarely, if never, gets discussed when traditional auto companies buy — or hugely invest — in Silicon Valley-based companies. The conversation surrounding the investments is usually about how the tech looks appealing and how it's an appropriate step to move the automakers toward autonomy. Culture — the way things are done, the expectations, and the approaches — is something that is overlooked only at one's peril. The potential cultural gap is almost always evident in the obligatory photos of the participants in these deals, with is essentially a photo op of auto execs with their Silicon Valley counterparts. The former — rocking jeans and no ties — look like parochial school kids playing hooky. Don't worry: The regimental outfits will be back in place once they get back in the Eastern time zone. Consider what happened back in 1998 when Daimler bought Chrysler. First of all, there was a denial in Detroit that it happened. It was positioned as a "merger of equals." Which it wasn't. In any corporate situation, when one has more than 50 percent of the business, it owns the whole thing. And the German company was in the proverbial driver's seat. People who were around Auburn Hills back then kept their heads down and their German Made Simple books at hand. Things did not go well. Daimler had had enough by 2007, when it offloaded Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management — which brought ex-Home Depot CEO Bob Nardelli into the picture, which is a story onto itself. But when you think about the Daimler-Chrysler situation, realize that these were two car companies (at least the Mercedes part of the Daimler organization), so they had that in common, and the language of engineers is something of an Esperanto based on math, so there was that, too. Yet it simply didn't work. It doesn't take too many viewings of HBO's Silicon Valley to know that the business people in that part of the world are far more aggressive than people who ordinarily head and control car companies in Detroit. About 20 years ago, a book came out about the founder of Oracle titled The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison* - and the asterisk on the book jacket leads to: God Doesn't Think He's Larry Ellison. It would be hard to imagine a book about a Detroit executive, even a book that had the decided bias that the tome about Ellison evinces, that would be quite so searing. Sure, there are egos. But they are still perceived to be, overall, "nice" people.

Fiat Chrysler recalls 1.6M vehicles to fix Takata airbags

DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler is recalling more than 1.6 million vehicles worldwide to replace Takata front passenger airbag inflators that can be dangerous. Takata inflators can explode with too much force, hurling shrapnel into drivers and passengers. At least 23 people have died from the problem worldwide and hundreds injured. The recall covers the 2010 through 2016 Jeep Wrangler SUV, the 2010 Ram 3500 pickup and 4500/5500 Chassis Cab trucks, the 2010 and 2011 Dodge Dakota pickup, the 2010 through 2014 Dodge Challenger muscle car, the 2011 through 2015 Dodge Charger sedan, and the 2010 through 2015 Chrysler 300 sedan. It's part of the largest series of automotive recalls in U.S. history. About 10 million inflators are being recalled this year. Already Ford, Honda and Toyota have issued recalls in the latest round. Fiat Chrysler owners will be notified by letter and dealers will replace the inflators with safe ones. The company says it's not aware of any injuries in vehicles involved in this recall, but says it has plenty of replacement parts and is urging people to get the repairs done. "Recall service is free, we have replacement parts and dealers are ready to help," Mark Chernoby, FCA's head of safety for North America, said in a statement. The recall includes 1.4 million vehicles in the United States. Takata used the chemical ammonium nitrate to create a small explosion to inflate the airbags. But the chemical can deteriorate over time due to high humidity and cycles from hot temperatures to cold. The most dangerous inflators are in areas of the South along the Gulf of Mexico that have high humidity. The Fiat-Chrysler recall is part of a phased-in replacement of Takata inflators being managed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Owners can check to see if their vehicles have been recalled by going to airbagrecall.com and keying in license plate or vehicle identification numbers. More than three years after the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration took over management of recalls involving Takata inflators, one third of the recalled inflators have not been replaced, according to an annual report last year from the government and a court-appointed monitor. The report said 16.7 million faulty inflators out of 50 million under recall have yet to be fixed. Safety advocates say the completion rate should be far higher given the danger associated with the inflators.