The Italian-US automaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV was fined a record sum of $105 million by the US auto safety watchdog.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration accused Fiat Chrysler of lapses in recalls of vehicles and poor repairs. Moreover, the authorities submitted independent 4-year monitoring to check the recall performance.
The automaker intends to repurchase some recalled cars, including 500,000 automobiles with defective suspension parts that could hypothetically lead to the loss of control over a car.
The ground for the fine was more than 20 recalls of Fiat Chrysler cars. On the whole, more than 11 million automobiles were recalled, including 1.4 million cars that were returned due to the problems of software. It is planned to update the software “to prevent hackers from gaining remote control of the engine, steering and other systems”.
The recalled vehicles covered by the agreement include Dodge Ram, Chrysler, and Jeep of 2013-2015 with the Unconnect system.
