Chrysler Group LLC is recalling about 469,000 sports utility vehicles (SUVs) worldwide to update software after some vehicles’ circuit boards were found to be transmitting signals that trigger inadvertent gear shifts to neutral, the No. 3 US automaker said on Saturday.
Included are 2006 to 2010 Jeep Commanders models and 2005 to 2010 Jeep Grand Cherokees, about 295,000 of which are in the US, 28,500 in Canada and 4,200 in Mexico. The remaining 141,000 are outside of North America.
Chrysler was aware of 26 accidents and two injuries related to the gearshift problem, but no fatalities, a company spokesman said.
Photo: EPA
It was Chrysler’s largest recall since more than 900,000 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Liberty SUVs were recalled worldwide in November last year to fix a part that could cause airbags to deploy inadvertently.
Chrysler, an affiliate of Italy’s Fiat SpA, also said it is recalling 532 of this year’s Ram 1500 pickup trucks in the US and Canada, one-third of which remain in dealer inventories, to inspect and possibly replace windshield defrosting and defogging components.
Additionally, the company said it is recalling about 5,330 right-hand-drive 2008 to 2012 Jeep Wranglers to install dust shields to prevent dust buildup that could compromise airbag operation. All of the vehicles, used mostly for rural mail delivery, are in the US.
Chrysler said it was unaware of any accidents or injuries linked to the Ram and Wrangler recall issues.
The company said it will directly contact affected customers and make the repairs for free.
Chrysler, which emerged from a US government-sponsored bankruptcy four years ago, last month reported a steep drop in quarterly profits due to an aggressive new vehicle launch schedule, but said it was on track to meet its business targets and is expecting a strong second half this year.
Chrysler and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said there was a 50-50 chance that Fiat’s buyout of Chrysler would be finalized by June next year. Fiat currently owns 58.5 percent of the US automaker.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure