DETROIT — U.S. auto safety regulators are a step closer to in search of a recall of nearly one million Dodge Journey SUVs after a girl was trapped and died when her vehicle caught fire in 2022.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration upgraded an investigation opened last 12 months to an engineering evaluation and added 11 model years to the probe.
The agency says in documents posted on its website Friday that it now has 19 complaints from owners and the automaker that inoperative door locks and windows can prevent people from getting out of the small SUVs during an emergency. There have been no additional fires, injuries or deaths.
The probe began with Journeys from the 2009 model 12 months, but has been expanded to incorporate those sold through 2020. Agency documents say investigators will take a look at the reason for the hearth “and its potential effect on the actuation of the door locks.”
Stellantis, which makes Dodge vehicles, said in an announcement that the corporate is cooperating within the investigation and extends sympathy to the girl’s family.
NHTSA says it also will explore other possible causes for any door lock malfunctions. The Journey owner’s manual says the doors could be unlocked manually by pulling up a plunger on the highest of the door trim panel.
A grievance filed with the agency before the investigation began says the girl pulled to the side of a road when warning lights began flashing, windshield wipers got here on, the horn began honking, windows wouldn’t go down and the doors wouldn’t unlock. The grievance alleged that fireplace apparently began within the engine and spread, trapping her inside.
“The motive force was unable to exit the vehicle, leading to her death,” the agency wrote in documents.
Agency documents don’t say where the hearth happened, but the Wisconsin State Journal reported in 2023 that 73-year-old Mary Frahm died when her Journey caught fire on Dec. 9, 2022, near Madison.
Frahm had called her fiance and told him she pulled to the side of the road after the Journey began having electrical problems. Later she called back and said smoke was coming from the dashboard and she or he could smell burning, the newspaper said. She called 911, but by the point first responders had arrived, flames had engulfed the SUV, the newspaper reported.
In 2009, Chrysler LLC recalled about 17,000 Journeys because an unused electrical connector could corrode and short circuit, potentially causing a hearth, in keeping with NHTSA documents.
Michael Brooks, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, said in 2023 that drivers should try to drag up the plunger first to flee if their vehicle’s electrical system malfunctions.
Beyond that, escape is difficult because many windows now have plastic laminated between two layers of glass and are difficult to shatter. He suggested keeping a metal tool within the automobile and becoming accustomed to which windows are tempered glass and could be shattered with the tool.
Laminated glass, he said, helps to stop people from being thrown from cars in a crash.
He said there’s a have to standardize a technique to unlock doors or in some way escape from all cars.
This Article First Appeared At www.autoblog.com
