New vehicles don’t always arrive to owners in perfect condition. This is what many drivers expect, but it’s simply not the case. Unfortunately, many cars are bought with defects in their system. While it’s not exactly common, it is a danger that drivers often underestimate.
Some big, recent news may have hit this message home for many.
The case of Anton Yelchin
It’s hard to believe that it’s already been a couple of months since the death of actor Anton Yelchin. Of course, there’s no guarantee that you ever know what i’m talking about here. So in case the news missed you, here’s what happened, and why it’s so important to discuss these matters on a car website.
Anton Yelchin was an American actor of Russian descent. You may know him from the recent Star Trek movies in which he played Pavel Chekov. Those of you who caught the most recent installment, Star Trek Beyond, would have seen the film after the actor’s death. He was also seen in the fantastic horror movies Only Lovers Left Alive and Green Room. On June 19 of this year, he was found by his friends on the driveway of his California home. He was pinned between his Jeep Grand Cherokee and a brick pillar. Soon after, he was pronounced dead, having suffered from severe blunt traumatic asphyxia. (This happens when crushing pressure is applied to the chest. It prevents breathing and causing blood to flow back in the wrong direction.) He had not longed turned 27.
So what happened? In the opening hours of the news breaking, the term being thrown around was “freak accident”. It seemed too strange and brutal for words. Fans and other commenters, already upset that such a talent had been lost, were left puzzled by the events. How exactly could someone get caught between a pillar and their own Jeep? Authorities said that they didn’t suspect foul play, suggesting that Anton had been alone. So how could it have taken place?
It later emerged that the Jeep Grand Cherokee hadn’t been placed in park correctly. When Anton left the vehicle and went to his mailbox, the car rolled backwards and pinned him against a nearby brick pillar.
At first, that may have sounded like an open and shut case. A tragic accident, occurring due to an oversight that could have happened to many of us. But then things began to get legally complex. It turns out that the Jeep Grand Cherokee that Anton owned had been recalled by Fiat Chrysler. Notices had been sent out to several owners just the previous month. Why? Because of a fault with the gear shift of the vehicle and its visual feedback. The fault led drivers to believe that the car was parked correctly and wouldn’t move - despite the opposite being true.
The Jeep Grand Cherokee recall
So it could be easy for some people to jump to conclusions here. For the record, we’d like to state that a thorough investigation into the matter is ongoing. There is no guarantee at this time that the car fault is the direct cause of the accident that killed Anton.
But things do not look good for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. If the death of Anton is ruled to be a direct result of this gear shift fault, then it would be the first death to be linked as such. But it is far from the first accident to be linked with the fault. Back in February, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration became involved. They declared to Fiat Chrysler that more than one hundred crashes were linked with this fault. You can see more about the NHTSA involvement at http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov.
Models from 2014 and 2015 could still move despite the fact that the visual feedback suggested the car was locked in “PARK”. It’s not hard to see why this sort of fault would be linked to accidents. In Anton’s case, his driveway was slanted, and he was at the bottom of his driveway. The car would easily have rolled down the drive and would have accumulated a dangerous speed in that time.
The US branch of Fiat Chrysler issued a recall of several of their automobiles. It wasn’t just the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Several Fiat Chrysler vehicles had been found to have transmission errors that led to rolling. Hundreds of thousands of owners apparently were sent notices that their cars had to be recalled. As previously stated, this had taken place before Anton’s death. But at the time of his death, no repairs on these vehicles had ever been made. There is also no guarantee that a recall notice had been sent out to Anton. (There are usually too many drivers of a given vehicle for recall notices to reach every driver at once.)
A “confusing” gear shift
So what exactly was so different about the gear shift in this vehicle? Well, picture your usual gear shift. You grab the lever, push or pull it to the desired gear, and the lever stays in place. A glance at the mechanism will show you immediately what gear your car is in, because the lever won’t have moved. It’s how gear shifting has functioned for decades, and is one of the most important things to learn when you start driving.
But this model of Jeep Grand Cherokee doesn’t use a traditional gear shift system. This one is electronic. There are none of the typical grooves you would find in your regular system. Instead, the driver is presented with the selection of gears on the lever. The selected gear will light up. In order to switch from one gear to another, the driver must move the lever forward as many times as it takes to move to the gear they want. They would have to move the lever backwards to ‘go back’ to previous gears. The lever springs back to its neutral position every time it’s pulled or pushed.
Supposedly, this is more intuitive. But many drivers didn’t seem to agree. An explanatory video on YouTube got a lot of negative feedback due to the complicated nature of the gear shifting. Personally, I would say that the mechanism itself isn’t very confusing, once you get the hang of it. But it certainly doesn’t feel as natural nor as simple as a traditional gear shift.
The problem that worried people the most is that the driver must rely on a functioning electrical system to tell them what gear they’re in. They can’t tell what gear they’re in by the position of the lever, which has always been a flawless way to assess gear shifting. Instead, they have to hope that the lit up letters on the lever are accurate. The gear in question, park, is signified by the letter P on the lever. As it turned out, the P being lit up on the lever didn’t necessarily mean that the car wouldn’t move.
When the law gets involved
Recalls are generally triggered by the discovery of a defective car part. It’s great the companies continue to assess potential problems and issue recalls when they have to. Unfortunately, such faults are often discovered when a driver has an accident.
The legalities of car accidents are already complicated without taking such things into account. When someone is in a car accident that isn’t their fault, it’s generally the case that the other driver is to blame. They were at fault in some way, having been speeding or not paying enough attention. Perhaps they were even drunk. Even when things are as clear-cut as this, the legal cases aren’t simple.
But what if neither driver was technically at fault? Or what if there wasn’t even a second driver? What if the problem was actually a manufacturing problem inside the vehicle? It’s important to understand that this, generally, still falls into the “not your fault” category. If this ever happens to you, then you need to get legal protection the same way you would for other sorts of car accidents. If you need to, you can find information about car accident lawyers at www.warriorsforjustice.com/fort-worth-car-accident-lawyer.
The dangers of not complying with a recall
Earlier this month, Anton Yelchin’s parents announced their plans to sue Fiat Chrysler. A wrongful death lawsuit will be taken against the company. But how successful with the lawsuit be? Much of this case may come down to a specific determination. Did Anton Yelchin know about the recall? If Anton did receive a recall notice, then the company may have that as a strong defence.
Either way, it’s simply not a good idea to speculate too much. We shouldn’t condemn or blame any party involved until all of the facts can be seen through settling dust. But we can leave you with some important reminders about the nature of car recalls. (Which, again, isn’t meant to imply that Anton ignored such advice at any time.)
If you receive a notice that the car manufacturer has recalled your vehicle, you should comply. Get your vehicle sent back for investigation and repair or replacement. Whether or not the fault in question caused Anton’s death, there’s no denying that car faults do cause deaths. Alarmingly, it’s estimated that around 30% of car owners will actually ignore a car recall notice. You can read more about this at www.marketwatch.com/story/why-honda-and-gm-drivers-will-ignore-recalls-2014-03-18.
To ensure that you do receive such recall notices, much sure the car manufacturer knows your address. If you change it, alert them. Stay up-to-date on their website, as there should also be relevant news released there.
So what happened? In the opening hours of the news breaking, the term being thrown around was “freak accident”. It seemed too strange and brutal for words. Fans and other commenters, already upset that such a talent had been lost, were left puzzled by the events. How exactly could someone get caught between a pillar and their own Jeep? Authorities said that they didn’t suspect foul play, suggesting that Anton had been alone. So how could it have taken place?
It later emerged that the Jeep Grand Cherokee hadn’t been placed in park correctly. When Anton left the vehicle and went to his mailbox, the car rolled backwards and pinned him against a nearby brick pillar.
At first, that may have sounded like an open and shut case. A tragic accident, occurring due to an oversight that could have happened to many of us. But then things began to get legally complex. It turns out that the Jeep Grand Cherokee that Anton owned had been recalled by Fiat Chrysler. Notices had been sent out to several owners just the previous month. Why? Because of a fault with the gear shift of the vehicle and its visual feedback. The fault led drivers to believe that the car was parked correctly and wouldn’t move - despite the opposite being true.
The Jeep Grand Cherokee recall
So it could be easy for some people to jump to conclusions here. For the record, we’d like to state that a thorough investigation into the matter is ongoing. There is no guarantee at this time that the car fault is the direct cause of the accident that killed Anton.
But things do not look good for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. If the death of Anton is ruled to be a direct result of this gear shift fault, then it would be the first death to be linked as such. But it is far from the first accident to be linked with the fault. Back in February, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration became involved. They declared to Fiat Chrysler that more than one hundred crashes were linked with this fault. You can see more about the NHTSA involvement at http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov.
Models from 2014 and 2015 could still move despite the fact that the visual feedback suggested the car was locked in “PARK”. It’s not hard to see why this sort of fault would be linked to accidents. In Anton’s case, his driveway was slanted, and he was at the bottom of his driveway. The car would easily have rolled down the drive and would have accumulated a dangerous speed in that time.
The US branch of Fiat Chrysler issued a recall of several of their automobiles. It wasn’t just the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Several Fiat Chrysler vehicles had been found to have transmission errors that led to rolling. Hundreds of thousands of owners apparently were sent notices that their cars had to be recalled. As previously stated, this had taken place before Anton’s death. But at the time of his death, no repairs on these vehicles had ever been made. There is also no guarantee that a recall notice had been sent out to Anton. (There are usually too many drivers of a given vehicle for recall notices to reach every driver at once.)
A “confusing” gear shift
So what exactly was so different about the gear shift in this vehicle? Well, picture your usual gear shift. You grab the lever, push or pull it to the desired gear, and the lever stays in place. A glance at the mechanism will show you immediately what gear your car is in, because the lever won’t have moved. It’s how gear shifting has functioned for decades, and is one of the most important things to learn when you start driving.
But this model of Jeep Grand Cherokee doesn’t use a traditional gear shift system. This one is electronic. There are none of the typical grooves you would find in your regular system. Instead, the driver is presented with the selection of gears on the lever. The selected gear will light up. In order to switch from one gear to another, the driver must move the lever forward as many times as it takes to move to the gear they want. They would have to move the lever backwards to ‘go back’ to previous gears. The lever springs back to its neutral position every time it’s pulled or pushed.
Supposedly, this is more intuitive. But many drivers didn’t seem to agree. An explanatory video on YouTube got a lot of negative feedback due to the complicated nature of the gear shifting. Personally, I would say that the mechanism itself isn’t very confusing, once you get the hang of it. But it certainly doesn’t feel as natural nor as simple as a traditional gear shift.
The problem that worried people the most is that the driver must rely on a functioning electrical system to tell them what gear they’re in. They can’t tell what gear they’re in by the position of the lever, which has always been a flawless way to assess gear shifting. Instead, they have to hope that the lit up letters on the lever are accurate. The gear in question, park, is signified by the letter P on the lever. As it turned out, the P being lit up on the lever didn’t necessarily mean that the car wouldn’t move.
When the law gets involved
Recalls are generally triggered by the discovery of a defective car part. It’s great the companies continue to assess potential problems and issue recalls when they have to. Unfortunately, such faults are often discovered when a driver has an accident.
The legalities of car accidents are already complicated without taking such things into account. When someone is in a car accident that isn’t their fault, it’s generally the case that the other driver is to blame. They were at fault in some way, having been speeding or not paying enough attention. Perhaps they were even drunk. Even when things are as clear-cut as this, the legal cases aren’t simple.
But what if neither driver was technically at fault? Or what if there wasn’t even a second driver? What if the problem was actually a manufacturing problem inside the vehicle? It’s important to understand that this, generally, still falls into the “not your fault” category. If this ever happens to you, then you need to get legal protection the same way you would for other sorts of car accidents. If you need to, you can find information about car accident lawyers at www.warriorsforjustice.com/fort-worth-car-accident-lawyer.
The dangers of not complying with a recall
Earlier this month, Anton Yelchin’s parents announced their plans to sue Fiat Chrysler. A wrongful death lawsuit will be taken against the company. But how successful with the lawsuit be? Much of this case may come down to a specific determination. Did Anton Yelchin know about the recall? If Anton did receive a recall notice, then the company may have that as a strong defence.
Either way, it’s simply not a good idea to speculate too much. We shouldn’t condemn or blame any party involved until all of the facts can be seen through settling dust. But we can leave you with some important reminders about the nature of car recalls. (Which, again, isn’t meant to imply that Anton ignored such advice at any time.)
If you receive a notice that the car manufacturer has recalled your vehicle, you should comply. Get your vehicle sent back for investigation and repair or replacement. Whether or not the fault in question caused Anton’s death, there’s no denying that car faults do cause deaths. Alarmingly, it’s estimated that around 30% of car owners will actually ignore a car recall notice. You can read more about this at www.marketwatch.com/story/why-honda-and-gm-drivers-will-ignore-recalls-2014-03-18.
To ensure that you do receive such recall notices, much sure the car manufacturer knows your address. If you change it, alert them. Stay up-to-date on their website, as there should also be relevant news released there.
