| Subject: | Inadvertent airbag deployment |
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| Investigations Summary: | On November 7th, 2012 Chrysler issued safety recall 12v-527 to address the possibility of an inadvertent air bag deployment (iabd) on my02-03 liberty vehicles built through 03/28/03 and my02-04 grand cherokee vehicles built through 5/23/03. The recall was in response to the office of defects investigation (odi) investigation ea12-001 during which data provided by Chrysler indicates that the air bag squib filter circuitry inside the occupant restraint control (orc) module can degrade. Orc degradation can result in an inadvertent air bag deployment, without a crash or impact, while the vehicle is being operated on the roadway. An iabd may result in injuries consisting of burns, cuts and bruises to the upper body region. Some owners have informed NHTSA that the air bag warning light (abl) and/or chime activated just seconds prior to the iabd, while others informed that no abl illumination occurred. The remedy Chrysler developed consists of installing an in-line jumper harness with an integrated electrical filter for the circuits that connect to the air bag modules (squib circuits). This filter is intended to eliminate transient electrical spikes to the orc which Chrysler believes are responsible for the iabds. In discussions with odi, Chrysler reported it is aware of 6 vehicles that have had an iabd after the recall was conducted; in each case the remedy filter had been installed in the vehicle. No crashes were reported however injuries consisting of cuts and burns were alleged. A recall query has been opened to investigate the effectiveness of the remedy for recall 12v-527. |
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