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Dodge and Jeep are announcing recalls of a total of 895,000 Durango and Grand Cherokee models worldwide from the 2011 through 2014 model years. There's a possibility that the wiring in the sun visor can short circuit and cause a fire. It specifically affects vehicles built between January 5, 2010, and December 11, 2013, and there are approximately 651,000 of them in the US, 45,700 in Canada, 23,000 in Mexico and 175,000 outside of North America.

Screws that fasten the sunvisor to the headliner may pierce wires in the visor, if the part has been removed or serviced, potentially causing a fire risk. If the wires short circuit, they could overheat and potentially combust. The automakers report three injuries caused by this defect, and according to the investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, "there may be a total of 52 unique fire incidents."

To fix the problem, Dodge and Jeep will inspect the vehicles for suspect wiring, and all of the models, whether damaged or not, will get a new sun visor spacer with a wire guide to stop the possibility of short circuits. According to the automakers' announcement, "this condition is not present in vehicles which have not had the headliner or vanity mirror serviced." They will notify affected owners, and repairs will begin in August.

NHTSA began its investigation into the potential problems last year. It initially started with only the Grand Cherokee, but the Dodge Durango was added later as well because it uses the same headliner assembly. Scroll down to read the automakers' announcement, the NHTSA recall report and a summary of the regulator's investigation. The full defect notice can be downloaded as a PDF, here.Continue reading Dodge and Jeep recalling 895k SUVs for possibility of headliner fires

Dodge and Jeep recalling 895k SUVs for possibility of headliner fires originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 11 Jul 2014 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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