The U.S.-based National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is calling into question a fix issued by Fiat-Chrysler over sun visors.
Last July, nearly 900,000 copies of the 2011-2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango SUVs were recalled over a fire risk that could occur from a short circuit in the sun visor vanity mirrors. The fix called for dealers to reroute the wiring, but the NHTSA has now opened an investigation after it received eight reports of fires occurring in vehicles after the repair was performed.
According to occupants in some cases, smoke would emerge from the headliner, followed by flames. No injuries or crashes have been reported in these eight instances and Fiat-Chrysler says it’s fully cooperating with the NHTSA’s investigation.
In the vehicles affected by the recall, the sun visors were mounted to the roof with three metal screws through the headliner. The Detroit News says the NHTSA originally determined that wiring going into the sun visor could’ve been pierced by one of the screws, potentially causing a short circuit. Most of the previous occurred while the vehicle was driven, the NHTSA said.
