Stop looking at your glorious moustache in the mirror, Ron Burgundy—your Dodge Durango’s sun visor might be melting.
Chrysler is recalling the 2011–2014 Durango and Jeep Grand Cherokee for electrical shorts within the sun visor’s vanity-mirror lamp circuit. During repairs to the vehicle’s headliner, screws attaching the sun visor can pierce the lamp wiring and cause a short if the wires aren’t routed far enough from the screw holes. According to Chrysler and an ongoing investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that’s been open since August, there have been 62 reports of shorting wires and at least 38 fires. Owners have reported open flames at the headliner and even fires spreading to the front seats and door panels, which, in one report, damaged the sunroof and shattered the glass. At least three injuries have been reported.
Chrysler said it first received reports of “sun-visor thermal damage” starting in March 2011 and blamed the problem on dealer technicians improperly installing the sun visor after a repair. In three separate instances between June 2011 and October 2012, Chrysler twice shortened and rerouted new vehicles’ production wiring—which isn’t protected by a fuse—and updated its repair documents. One of the fires occurred after the latest repair information was sent out, Chrysler said.
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Dealers will install spacers that’ll route the wires in a new direction for all of the 651,130 SUVs in the U.S., whether or not they have received prior repairs involving the headliner. In April, more than 850,000 2011–2014 Durango and Grand Cherokee models were recalled for faulty brake boosters, and an additional recall for 25,000 of the 2012–2013 models was issued in March for anti-lock brakes. Earlier this month, Chrysler recalled nearly 696,000 minivans and crossovers for faulty ignition switches.
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