Auto blog

NHTSA investigating power modules on Chrysler Group SUVs and minivans

The Center for Auto Safety is officially petitioning the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to begin scrutinizing alleged problems with the totally integrated power module (TIPM) on about 24 Chrysler Group SUVs and minivans. The advocacy group claims that the part's failure can cause affected vehicles to stall or not start at all. NHTSA is still looking into the accusations and deciding whether a full investigation is actually warranted.
The CAS petition claims at least 70 TIPM failures, but according to NHTSA, six of the complaints are for models that don't have the modules. In 34 of the reported cases, the vehicles refused to start, and in 17 of them the engine stalled. There were also two allegations of smoke and one of a fire. However, none of these affected airbag deployment or resulted in a crash.
This petition isn't the first TIPM-related problem for Chrysler Group. A recent report in the New York Times alleged that it found 240 complaints potentially related to the issue on NHTSA's website alone. In September, the automaker also recalled 230,760 examples worldwide (188,723 in the US) of the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango replace the fuel pump relay circuit inside of the TIPM-7 with one external to the unit. The original part could allegedly cause the models to stall without warning. Even earlier, the company also recalled about 80,000 examples of the Jeep Wrangler and Dodge Nitro in 2007 to have the module reprogrammed.

Auto Mergers and Acquisitions: Suicide or salvation?

We love the Moses figure. A savior riding in from stage right with the ideas, the smarts, and the scrappiness to put things right. Alan Mullaly. Carroll Shelby. Lee Iacocca. Andrew Carnegie. Steve Jobs. Elon Musk. Bart Simpson. Sergio Marchionne does not likely view himself with Moses-like optics, but the CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles recently gave a remarkable, perhaps prophetic interview with Automotive News about his interest and the inevitability of merging with a potential automotive partner like General Motors. Marchionne has been overtly public about his notion that GM must merge with FCA. For a bit of context, GM sold 9.9 million vehicles in 2014, posting $2.8 billion in net income, while FCA sold 4.75 million units and earned $2.4 billion in net income, painting a very rosy FCA earnings-to-sales picture. But that's not the entire picture. Most people in the auto industry still remember the trainwreck that was the DaimlerChrysler "merger" written in what turned out to be sand in 1998. It proved to be a master class in how not to fuse two companies, two cultures, two continents, and two management teams. Oh, it worked for the two individuals at both helms pre-merger. They got silly rich. And the industry itself was in a misty romance at the time with mergers and acquisitions. BMW bought Rolls-Royce. Volkswagen Group bought Bentley, Bugatti, and Lamborghini, putting all three brands into their rightful place in both products and positioning. No marriages there, so no false pretense. Finally, Nissan and Renault got married in 1999. A successful marriage requires several rare elements in this atmosphere of gas fumes and power lust. But a successful marriage requires several rare elements in this atmosphere of gas fumes and power lust, the principle part being honesty. Daimler and Chrysler lied to each other. The heads of each unit, the product planners, and finance all presented their then-current and long-range forecasts to each other with less-than-forthright accuracy. Daimler was the far greater equal and no one from the Chrysler side enjoyed that. The cultures were entirely different, too, and little was done to bridge that gap. Which brings me back to the present overtures by Marchionne to GM. "There are varying degrees of hugs," Marchionne stated in the Automotive News piece. "I can hug you nicely, I can hug you tightly, I can hug you like a bear, I can really hug you." Seriously?

Junkyard Gem: This 1987 Dodge 600 SE Sedan is suspiciously Benz-ish

The K Platform, introduced for the 1981 model year, saved Chrysler from certain bankruptcy. By 1983, a stretched-out K chassis had been developed; the Chrysler version was the E-Class, while Dodge had the 600. These cars have become all but extinct now, so this '87 600 sedan in a Denver-area wrecking yard is a noteworthy Junkyard Gem. Ford explicitly compared the appearance of the late-1970s Granada to that of the Mercedes-Benz W123 in their advertising, and so the ground was broken for Chrysler to make the allusions to Stuttgart machinery even more obvious a few years later. The name of the Chrysler E-Class was about as subtle as a tire iron blow to the kidneys, and the badging on its Dodge 600 sibling left little to the imagination. 600s came from the factory with several variations of the Chrysler 2.2/2.5 engine, as well as the Mitsubishi "Hemi 2.6" four-cylinder. This car has the 2.5 Chrysler engine, rated at 97 horsepower. Base price was $10,553, about $23,500 in 2017 dollars (the cheapest new Mercedes-Benz E-Class cost $38,600 in 1987, so there wasn't much customer overlap between the two cars). The 600s weren't bad cars for the price, though the build quality wasn't quite up to Mercedes-Benz standards. You'll find this thumbtack treatment on most K-Car headliners that still drive today. The interior is all tan and brown, with plenty of tough industro-velour upholstery and not-so-convincing artificial wood. Aluminum-faced home audio equipment was all the rage during the 1980s, and the trend spread to automotive controls. No cassette in this car, but at least it had AM and FM radio (even plain old mono AM radios were still expensive options on many cars as late as 1987, so the standard AM/FM stereo rig in the 600 was an attractive deal). This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. You can't beat the 600!