Photo Credit: Courtoisie
Chrysler is issuing a serious warning to the public, as 490,000 vehicles are currently undergoing a major recall in North America.
The reason for the recall is rather disturbing because it concerns an electronic failure that makes it impossible to disengage the cruise control system
Normally, cruise control maintains speed on road grades by accelerating as needed.
It can then be deactivated manually or by using the brakes.
However, the electronic failure means that if the driver manually deactivates the cruise control, the vehicle could then maintain speed or even accelerate.
Obviously, this issue increases the risk of a crash.
For the moment, authorities say that the vehicle brakes can overpower the acceleration and that the vehicle can also be stopped by shifting into neutral. That last action would cancel the cruise control.
But according to the RPM Web site, for this dangerous situation to occur, two particular situations must occur simultaneously. In fact," The cruise control would need to be accelerating the vehicle – like for a road grade – at the same time that a short circuit in the system occurs".
According to Transport Canada, it will be the car dealers who will have to check the software of the Powertrain Control Module (PCM) and update it as needed.
If your vehicle is one of the models listed below, it is highly recommended that you do not use your cruise control until the situation is solved.
Here is the list of recalled vehicles:
CHRYSLER 200 2015 2016 2017
CHRYSLER 300 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
CHRYSLER PACIFICA 2017 2018
DODGE CHALLENGER 2015 2016 2017 2018
DODGE CHARGER 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
DODGE DURANGO 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
DODGE JOURNEY 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
JEEP CHEROKEE 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
JEEP WRANGLER 2018
RAM 1500 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
RAM 2500 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
RAM 3500 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
RAM 4500 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
RAM 5500 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
We remind you to take the time to check if your car is on this list and if your car dealer has not contacted you, do not hesitate to do so.