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U.S. DepaMentof Transportation ODI RESUMEational HigbwayTraffic
SafetyAdministra
INVESTIGATION: EAOI-01'1 DATE OPENED: 11110 /01SUBJECT:
InadvertentRoll-away n ReverseWhenParkedPROMPTEDBY: PEO
021PRINCIPAL ENGINEER:PeterKivettMANUFACTURER:
DaimlerChryslerCorporationMODEL: JeepGrandCherokeeMODEL YEARS:
1993-CurrentProductionVEHICLE POPULATION: 1,823,631PROBLEM
DESCRIPTION: Drivers allege hat theyplace he vehicle nto PARK while
stoppedon alevel surfaceandat some ime afterexiting the vehicle
this time varies rom seconds o more han acoupleof minutes),he
vehicle begins o roll'-awayn REVERSE.
FAILURE REPORTSUMMARYODI MANUFACTURER TOTAL
ALL COMPLAINTS: 517 348 865CRASHES: 167 192 359INJURIES: 136 48
184FATALITIES: 4 3* 5*WARRANTY: N/A 74,320 74,320DESCRIPTION OF
FATALITY ODI believeshatonly ne f he
eportedatalitiesromDaimlerChryslers onsistentith he
llegedefect,arrowinghe otalo fatalities.ACTION: n
Engineeringnalysisas een pened.ENGINEER DIV CHF- OFC
DIR-DATEAT9 DA
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Page2.SUMMARY:ODI opened hePreliminaryEvaluationbased n
48complaints or model year 1995-1999 ubjectvehicles. n most cases
29 out of 48), ownersalleged hat the enginewas eft idling
andunattendedwhilethe vehicleself-engagedn PARK andmovedbackwards
nderpower. These48 vehicleroll-awayincidents esulted n 32 crashes
nd 14 njuries. Since he PE wasopened heVOQ complaint numberhasrisen
o 414,with 153crashes nd 121 njuries, or 1995 hrough
1999JeepGrandCherokees.Furthermore,DI became wareof 4 fatalities
llegedo have esultedrom hevehicle'sinabilityostayin PARK.Also,ODI
identified 03complaintsor he
1993and1994JeepGrandCherokees,hatwereconsistentith thealleged
efect.DaimlerChryslereportedo ODI that hey eceived
48complaints,ncluding 92crashes,8 injuries nd3 fatalitiesor
the1995- 1999subject ehicles.ODI's reviewof material elatedo the 3
fatalityncidentssubmittedbyDaimlerChrysleround
hatonlyonewasconsistentith thealleged efect.Compiling ll the
informationetweenODI andDaimlerChrysler,hereare762
consumeromplaints,alleging 45crashes,69 njuries nd5
Fatalities.COMPLAINT DESCRIPTION:ODI interviewed 5
complainantshoallegedhatbetween to 30 secondsftershifting oPARK,
hetransn-~issionngaged EVERSE ODI wasunable o contact
wnersallegingonger ntervals etweenshiftsequencend heroll-away
vent).Two consumers entionedduringhe nterviewshat heyheard
clunking"noise,whichsuggestsheyheard he ransmissionmploy ARK None
of theconsumersremovedhekeyfrom he ignition rior o the ncident.All
of theconsumersnterviewedaid heywereon evelground.In July2001,an
ODI investigator et witha Chrysler ield engineert
aJeepChryslerdealershipnVirginia o inspect complaint ehicle.The
purpose f the nspection as o duplicatehecomplaintdescriptionf
thevehiclegoingntoREVERSEafterbeing hiftednto hePARK
position.TheODIinvestigator asable o duplicatehecomplaint.
hevehicle ngaged EVERSEwhile t was n thePARK position t
theshifterbezel Figure ). A sequencef events ccurredefore
hisphenomena.First, heshifterbuttonwasdepressed.
econd,hevehiclewasshifted hrough EVERSE ntoPARKwhile heenginewas
running.Third,half oftheorangendicator asvisible n thePARK windowof
theshifter ezel.Fourth,he shifter uttonwas eleased. fter 10 to 25
secondshevehicleengagednREVERSE. The vehiclewas henputona lift at
thedealershipnd nspectedrombelow. All thelinkages ppearedo
beproperly djustednd n goodcondition.t is worthnotinghat he irst
sequenceof tests f thevehiclewereperformedn
asteepnclinewithnoPARK-to-REVERSE ailures.Duringheportion f
testinghat he ODI investigatorxperiencedhePARK-to-REVERSE
henomena,hevehiclewas on lat ground.A totalof threePARK-to-REVERSE
ailures ccurred.
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11 Figure IPage3
SUBJECT COMPONENT:Model year MY) 1993was he first year of
theJeepGrandCherokee. t utilizes a floor-mountedshifteranda setof
cables o mechanically hift thetransmission.Thekeymustbe n the
gnition, the servicebrakemustbeengaged nd he shifter buttonmust
bedepressedor the vehicle o be shifted out of PARK.Theonly other
ime the shifter button s required n the shiffingsequences to shift
from NEUTRAL toPARK. Eachgearcorrespondso a bezelwindowthat,when
lluminated,ndicates he ransmissionposition o the driver.DESIGN
CHANGES:From MY 1993 o 1998 heJeepGrandCherokees ere badged nder he
ZJ models. Starting n MY1999 he WJ modelswere ntroduced. In 1995
our revisionsweremade o thesubjectcomponentsincluding:
1)added oam sleeve o the shift cable;2)revised ever
designutilizing the samegeometry;3) changedherouting of the PARK
nterlockcable;and4) revised he shifter o improve theassembly
rocess.In MY 1998 herewas a valvebodychange o accommodate new
filter andpan design.Additionally, thehousingandshifter
assemblieswerechromeplated. The WJmodels ncorporatedmajor changes o
theshiffingmechanisms ndhousingcomponents roducingsix part
numberchanges.WARRANTY CLAIMS:A total of 74,320warrantyclaimswere
iled associated ith the subjectcomponents.Three of the 17warranty
abor codeoptions accountedor 73 percent f the otal warrantyclaims n
DaimlerChrysler'ssubmission:
1) bezel,gearshift ever - replace;2)valve body- replace;and3)
shifter cable- adjusted.
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Page4
PEERVEHICLES:Analysisof ODI data orMY 1993 hrough 1999
subjectandpeerSUV's shows hat the subject ehiclePARK-to-REVERSE
xperiences more han ive timesgreater han he
closestnon-DaimlerChryslervehicle.
PARK4o-REVERSEncidentRates1brPeerSUVs:0131
ataOldsmobileravada.00
MercedesL320/W-430.00Mazda avajo0.00Lex sRX300.00
Lexus X450/LX4700.00Land over iscovery.00
Isuzu rooper.00Infinity X40.00
BWVX50.00Acura LX0.00
Toyota-Runner0.04GMCS/T 0.10
Nissanathfinder 0.11Ford xplorer 0.19Isuzu odeo 0.19
Mercuryountaineer 0.23.Toyotaand ruiser 0.28ChevroletfrBlazer
0.29
Mitsubishiontero/Sport 0.~JeepCherokee0.39Honda assport tO
.53Dodge urango# ~ 0.67Jeeprandherokee 2.62
000 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00Complaintser
00,000egisteredehicleears
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Page5DAIMLERCHRYSLERIS POSITION:"DaimlerChryslerbelieves hat
thevirtually universal causalor contributory actor' of unintended
ehiclemovementn thesubject ehicles s the driver's decision o exit
the vehiclewith the enginerunningandwithouttryingto remove hekey
(which ensureshevehicle s in "PAIW') or setting heparking
brake.DaimlerChryslers unawareof anyvehicledesign
romanymanufacturerhat s nottheoreticallysusceptibleo unintended
ehicle motion under hese ircumstances."According o
DaimlerChryslerthirty-eight states avepassedawsrequiringdrivers o
turntheengineoff beforeexitingthe vehiclesandtwenty-eightstates
equire hat thekeybe removedbefore he driver exits
thevehicle.SCOPE:PEO 021 nvolvedMY 1995-99 eepGrand Cherokee
ehicles.The scope f the nvestigationhasbeenexpandedo includeMY 1993
o currentproduction,basedon ODI analysisof field experience
ndpartusage.
Complaint and Crash Rates for1993-2001 Model Year Grand Cherokee
(per 100k), ODI Data60.00
50.00
~4C> 40.00CD
30.00IM
E 20.000
10.00
0.00
ACTION:ODI will upgrade hePreliminaryEvaluation o
anEngineeringAnalysis o fiu-therevaluate he safetyconsequencesf
this issue.
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
