In their press release,
Chrysler mentioned that the hitch install would "better manage crash forces in low-speed impacts," not NHTSA.
My comment was aimed at the web sites and alarmists who have been pushing for this recall. For example, there is a well-known
web petition which was trying to get the government to force Chrysler to recall the Jeeps. The gal who started the petition was on scene when there was a rear-end crash and resulting fire that killed two people. She does a wonderful job of painting a picture of the horrific scene, and she goes on and on about how unsafe the Jeep is. What she conveniently forgot to mention on her petition web site--
but she was able to tell police and reporters at the scene--is that the Jeep was at a stand still in an interstate traffic jam when it was rear-ended
by a semi truck traveling at full speed. That was hardly a low-speed parking lot mishap, now, was it?
Depending who you believe, somewhere between 51 and 287 people have died in crashes involving fire while riding in a 1993-2004 Grand Cherokee. Jeep built over 1,428,000 ZJs alone; I don't know how many WJs they built. But even if we ignore the WJs, use the highest death figure of 287
and say all the deaths occurred in a ZJ, that means the number of "deadly" Grand Cherokees constitute a pretty damn small figure: about one
five thousandth of the total production.
Long story short, there is no safety defect here. Chrysler got railroaded into this. Yes, I am a Jeep fan. Nevertheless, I would be every bit as vocal about it if it were happening to any other company. It is complete, utter horse crap.
