Chrysler Goes To Trial Over Fiery Jeep Crash, Defends Fuel Tanks

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A 2006 fatal crash involving a 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee and another four-year-old child burned to death, Cassidy Jarmon, is pictured in Cleburne, Texas.​

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Older Jeeps with fuel tanks located behind the rear axle might lead to explosive testimony in case against Chrysler starting trial in Georgia. This month, a family whose four-year-old son burned to death in the back of a 1999 Grand Cherokee is starting trial against the automaker—and unlike most large companies facing wrongful-death claims, Chrysler is refusing to settle.

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Bryan and Lindsay Walden of Bainbridge, Georgia, brought the suit against Chrysler in July 2012, four months after their son, Remington, was killed when a 1997 Dodge Dakota rear-ended the ’99 Grand Cherokee in which he was riding. According to Automotive News, the boy only suffered a broken leg from the impact but “died screaming in a fire so intense his chest fused to the Jeep’s door” as he tried to escape his booster seat. He may have been alive for an entire minute while engulfed in flames.

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As heart-wrenching as this account is, the Waldens aren’t alone. There are more than 70 fire-related deaths from rear-end collisions in older Grand Cherokees and Libertys, according to the Detroit News. Safety advocates like Jenelle Embrey—who claimed to witness a mother and teen burn to death in a Grand Cherokee and later sent an online petition with 128,000 signatures to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2013—say there are hundreds more.

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Embrey’s petition led to a NHTSA investigation that found higher-than-average fatality rates among 1993-1998 Grand Cherokee and 2002-2007 Liberty models. Chrysler contends that these are high-speed, high-energy collisions, that the Jeeps are no less safe than their contemporaries, and that they met all safety standards of the time.

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In June 2013, after initially refusing a NHTSA recall request, Chrysler did recall 1.56 million of those Jeeps and sent letters to another 710,000 owners of later, 1999-2004 Grand Cherokees as a “customer service campaign,” advising them to bring in their vehicles to have tow hitches installed.

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On these Jeeps, the fuel tanks are located behind the rear axle just inches away from the rear bumper and have fuel filler hoses that run through the frame rails. Starting with the redesigned 2005 Grand Cherokee, Chrysler repositioned the tank away from the rear bumper.

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The trailer hitch is supposed to provide some additional measure of protection for the fuel tank, at least in low-speed collisions. Yet former NHTSA administrator Joan Claybrook says these hitches may actually do more damage, citing a Grand Cherokee fire in 2006 during which the hitch pierced the tank. Claybrook, as part of Nader’s Center for Auto Safety, recommended that NHTSA require Chrysler to install metal shields and reinforce the filler hose, and crash-test a vehicle with these upgraded parts.

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• After Initial Dispute, Chrysler and NHTSA Agree to Inspections of 1.56 Million Jeeps
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• Chrysler, Honda, and Toyota Recall 2.13 Million Cars for Faulty Airbags
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• Long-Term Road Test: 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited
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The Walden case presents more trouble for Chrysler. Instead of a closed settlement, a jury will decide Chrysler’s fate and could easily open the door to additional, successful lawsuits. Details from the case are already being made public, such as the deposition of Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne in January, who said that he doesn’t think there is the “slightest evidence that Grand Cherokee or the class that we’re talking about here are defective.”

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That a small civil suit in Georgia is even involving the CEO of a giant, global automaker should be proof that these fuel tank fires have substance in court. It is not known whether Chrysler has settled any similar cases.

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