- fiat chrysler automobiles (fca) is considering a recall on about a million vehicles equipped with its 2.4-liter tigershark engine, which may be producing excess tailpipe emissions, as the detroit free press first reported today.
- this issue is unrelated to recent lawsuits claiming that same engine burns oil at an abnormal rate and can stall unexpectedly, fca says.
- fca told car and driver it's working closely with the epa and the california air resources board (carb) to come up with a solution and has not yet said when the recall will be issued.
fca could be preparing a recall on close to one million vehicles that have the company’s 2.4-liter tigershark engine. according to a recent sec filing by the company, the recall could include the chrysler 200, dodge dart, fiat 500x, and the jeep cherokee, compass, and renegade, over excessive emissions that the engine may produce.
an fca spokesman told car and driver that it is working closely with the environmental protection agency and the california air resources board. the automaker didn't specify which makes, models, or model years among a "group of vehicles equipped with the tigershark engine" will be included in the recall but did say, "as this population ages, some vehicles exceed in-use emission requirements, depending on drive cycle and mileage."
details of a future recall will be finalized after the company finishes "conducting test programs to define a remedy" and gets approval from the epa and carb on that remedy. the company emphasized that it is not a safety problem.
in a filing with the sec about the issue, fca said it "will likely initiate a recall campaign. at this stage we are unable to reliably evaluate the likelihood that material costs will be incurred or estimate a range of possible costs."
separately, class-action lawsuits recently filed in michigan and california have claimed that the tigershark engine can burn oil at a faster rate than normal and stall unexpectedly in chrysler, dodge, fiat and jeep vehicles. vehicles involved in those lawsuits include the 2015–2016 chrysler 200, 2013—2016 dodge dart, 2016—2020 fiat 500x, 2014—2020 jeep cherokee, 2017—2020 jeep compass, and 2015—2020 jeep renegade. fca says these complaints are unrelated to the emissions issue it's currently studying.
chrysler, dodge, fiat, and jeep owners can check the national highway traffic safety administration (nhtsa) recalls website or mopar's owner website to see if their vehicle is involved in any future recall that may be announced.