UPDATE 2-U.S. expands fire risk probe of older Jeep models

By Bernie Woodall
DETROIT, June 14 (Reuters) - A probe into the risk of fire
after a rear-impact crash for older model Chrysler Group Jeep
vehicles has been raised a step closer to a possible recall and
expanded to include a total of about 5.1 million vehicles, U.S.
safety regulators said on Thursday.
The expanded probe includes about 3 million 1993-2004 Jeep
Grand Cherokee SUVs, 1.1 million 1993-2001 model year Jeep
Cherokee SUVs and about 975,000 2002-2007 Jeep Liberty SUVs.
Nearly two years ago, the U.S. National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration opened a preliminary investigation into
the possible extraordinary fire risk of 3 million Jeep Grand
Cherokee SUVs in the event of a rear-end collision. On Thursday,
NHTSA raised the level of that probe to an engineering analysis
and expanded it to include the other two Jeep SUV models.
Chrysler's primary executive liaison with U.S. federal
regulators, Dave Dillon, said that the risk of fire is not
higher among the three models than for comparable models from
other automakers, and that the models are safe.
"The vehicles are absolutely safe," said Dillon in an
interview.
However, on its website on Thursday, the regulator said,
"NHTSA's assessment of the data collected during preliminary
evaluation indicates that rear-impact-related tank failures and
vehicle fires are more prevalent in the Jeep Grand Cherokee than
in the non-Jeep peer vehicles."
The action by NHTSA is short of a recall but may lead to
one. A probe goes to engineering analysis from a preliminary
investigation when NHTSA officials want to analyze an issue more
completely before deciding to ask that the manufacturer conduct
a recall.
Chrysler Group, majority-owned by Fiat SpA, no
longer makes the Jeep Cherokee, but the Grand Cherokee and
Liberty remain two of Jeep's best-selling models.
NHTSA's investigation began in 2010 almost a year after
consumer watchdog group The Center for Auto Safety contended
that the Grand Cherokee fuel tank storage system was defective
and posed a hazard in a crash, in part because its fuel tank is
located behind the rear axle, which it said increased the chance
of leaks and fire risk after a crash.
Chrysler's Dillon said the fire risk is not higher than in
competitive vehicles from other manufacturers and the fact that
Jeep moved the Grand Cherokee's fuel tank to in front of the
rear axle in models since the 2005 model year was due to a
design change and not because previous models were not as safe.
NHTSA reported that through 2010 Jeep Grand Cherokee
vehicles had been involved in crashes with fires that led to 15
deaths and 46 injuries. The regulator offered no similar figures
for the other two Jeep models involved in the engineering
analysis.
Chrysler is, as automakers normally do when an investigation
is ongoing, supplying NHTSA with its own research and evidence
that a recall should not be undertaken. Recalling millions of
vehicles is a costly endeavor, but Chrysler did not say how much
such a recall could cost nor how much the automaker has spent on
its evaluation so far of the fire risk issue.
Dillon said Chrysler researchers found fewer crashes leading
to fire in Grand Cherokees than those of other automakers after
analyzing 21,322 accident reports from three U.S. states from
2000 through 2008.
The states, Florida, Illinois and North Carolina were chosen
because they are large states where data could be sorted to
include crashes that required that the vehicle be towed away,
which yields a much larger sample than NHTSA's analysis of fatal
accidents.
Those reports involved rear-end collisions of 1993-2004
Grand Cherokees and similarly aged peer SUVs Chevrolet Blazer
from General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co's Explorer
and the Toyota Motor Corp 4runner.
The incidence of fire was shown to be "extremely rare" for
all of the models tested, and "almost always involve rear
impacts so severe that no fuel system design in any vehicle
could reasonably be expected to guarantee against fuel leakage
or fire," Chrysler said in a research paper given to NHTSA.
The incidence of fire in the 21,322 rear-impact crashes
ranged from 0.19 percent of rear-impact crashed for the Grand
Cherokee to 0.33 percent for the Chevy Blazer, Chrysler said.
NHTSA said that the number of affected vehicles on U.S.
roads is less than 5.1 million due to attrition, but offered no
alternative figure.