Stellantis is telling owners of nearly 220,000 Jeep Cherokee SUVs worldwide to park them outdoors and away from other vehicles because the power liftgates can catch fire even when the engines are off.
The company is recalling certain Cherokees from the 2014 through 2016 model years. Water can get into the liftgate control computer, causing an electrical short that can touch off a fire.
The company says it hasn’t developed a fix yet. Owners will get notification letters starting June 30. Stellantis says the problem was caught in a routine review of customer data.
It's not clear how many of the small SUVs have caught fire. Stellantis says in documents posted Tuesday by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it has 50 customer assistance records, 23 warranty claims and 21 field reports due to the issue. The company says it's not aware of any injuries.
The power liftgates may stop working before the SUVs catch fire.
Stellantis recalled many of the same vehicles in 2015 to fix a similar problem.
“Extraneous materials” triggered nine recalls in 2022 of more than 477,000 pounds of food regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service — triple the number of recalls tied to food contaminated with toxic E. coli bacteria.
About 146,000 U.S. auto workers are set to go on strike this week if General Motors, Ford and Stellantis fail to meet their demands for big pay raises and the restoration of concessions the workers made years ago when the companies were in financial trouble.
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