In August 2017, a woman was killed when her Jeep SUV’s fuel tank combusted after she was rear-ended. The incident has raised further concerns that the 2013 recall over the Jeep’s fuel tank was not enough to protect motorists.<\/p>\n
The victim’s 2007 Jeep was one of the 1.56 million sport utility vehicles that Fiat Chrysler agreed to install trailer hitches on to protect the fuel tanks. More than five years ago, Chrysler Group recalled 2.7 million sport-utility cars after the vulnerability was linked to the deaths of 51 people after crashes ignited fuel.
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In the accident, the victim was believed to have stopped at the traffic lights when another vehicle hit her from behind. The fuel from her Jeep caught fire, and she was tragically killed<\/strong>. Investigators suggested that excessive speed contributed to the incident, but no confirmation has been made as to how fast the other vehicle was going at the time of impact.<\/p>\n When regulators closed their investigations into the deaths some five years ago, they suggested that the trailer hitch being installed in the vulnerable vehicles provided “incremental safety benefits in certain low and moderate speed crash incidents,” but would “not necessarily be effective in the most severe crashes.”<\/p>\n The fuel tanks were situated between the rear suspension and the car bumpers, and regulators found that there was a huge risk of the fuel tank leaking and setting on fire when impacted in a crash. As such, a recall was carried out and regulators closed their investigations in November 2014.<\/p>\nRisks identified<\/h3>\n