Fiat Chrysler to recall cars and SUVs to prevent drivers from forgetting to put the vehicles in park mode

Fiat Chrysler aka FCA recently announced it will voluntarily recall over 1.1 million vehicles worldwide. The coverage of the recall includes the 2012-2014 Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 sedans, as well as the 2014-2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee sport-utility. The recall has something to do with injuries that happened when drivers mistakenly believed they had put the vehicles in "park" prior to exit.

The gearshift design makes it easy for drivers to forget to put the vehicle in park mode before getting out of it. There are about 52,144 vehicles in Canada to be recalled, 811,586 in the U.S., 16,805 in Mexico and about 248,667 outside North America, according to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' press release on April 22, Friday.

FCA U.S. will improve transmission shift strategy and warnings to reduce the effect of a possible driver error. The automaker and the National Traffic Safety found some driver exited their vehicles without selecting "Park," which posed a safety risk if the engine is still running.

There were 41 injuries that involved FCA vehicles, which were inspected but no proof of equipment failure was found. The cars to be recalled are equipped with electronic shift levers that go back to the same position after each manipulation. There are lights that indicate the driver's gear selection but not the position of the gear-selector.

It can be confusing and so it is understandable that people, especially those who are not particularly familiar with the car, are having trouble, according to The Verge. Without due care, the drivers may mistakenly conclude the status of their car.

While vehicles give alert messages and warning signs if the driver-side door is open, the engine is running and the vehicle is not in "park" mode, investigations found these are not enough to stop the drivers from leaving their vehicle. The Italian-American automaker will combine warnings with a strategy for transmission-shift to automatically stop the vehicle from moving under some scenarios, even if the driver failed to activate "park."

Those who are affected by the recall will be informed when the service is already available. Meanwhile, FCA U.S. encourages customers to follow the instructions in the manual.

The video below discusses Fiat Chrysler's recall.