Airbags misfire

Photo courtesy of MCT Campus

A row of Chrysler jeeps with the word “Clunker” written on the windshields at a local car dealership trying to sell the older Cherokee models. These models are unaffected by the recall as they do not have the same airbag systems.

Benjamin Brynjulfson-Reardon, Media Editor

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV are recalling around 230,000 Jeep Cherokees’ to upgrade the software controlling the airbags in the 2014-2015 vehicle model years.

The recall is caused by Chrysler investigation into reports that airbag systems would deploy accidentally when ‘sensing’ the potential for a rollover.

“I will definitely be wary to get into a Chrysler car in the future after that kind of mishap, hopefully they’ll be more careful, especially when mass producing and sending out that many defective cars,” junior Jacob Adams said when told about the recall.

When driving over an uneven surface like in off-road terrain, the side airbags would deploy at any sudden tilting motion, Jeep dealers are going to replace software that detects an impending rollover to make the bags less likely to inflate in such situations.

An announcement on January 31 by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regulators demanded the following larger recall that will cover about 2.1 million vehicles developed by Chrysler, Toyota, and Honda in fear of inadvertent airbag deployment.

“Yeah, I’m going to have to be careful if I’m going to get a jeep from them,” senior Matt Sevrence said.

The main reason for the recall is the fear of being sued by anyone that could possibly be injured by the defective airbags, which is why regulators have been so quick to recall the vehicle to fix the problem as quietly as possible before anyone can get hurt and press charges.

“I’m not going to get into a car, where the thing that’s supposed to save me, could potentially hurt me, or worse,” freshmen Rosette Jones said.