Photo: Jeep
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration may be busy with Takata Corp. and the tens of millions of defective airbag inflators, but there’s room for more drama. The latest round of NHTSA investigations is focused on FCA US LLC and a small batch of SUVs that brake for no reason at all.
Remember the infamous Toyota unintended acceleration scandal? Well, FCA US LLC’s problem is the other way around. An investigation opened on this month (NHTSA action number PE15021) is informing that “the Office of Defects Investigation has received nine complaints alleging inappropriate activations of the autonomous braking system in model year (MY) 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee vehicles.”
Safety is paramount in a 21st century passenger vehicle, but this is getting ridiculous. Cars braking by themselves without a good reason? Volvo can tell you firsthand that an autonomous braking system can go badly wrong, especially during a live demonstration. Coincidence or not, all of the reports submitted to the safety agency alleged unexpected braking incidents “preceded by collision imminent brake warnings and resulting in sudden reduction in vehicle speed in traffic.”
What does sound serious (and terrifying for that matter) are two complaints that reported autonomous braking incidents with no objects on the roads, incidents that resulted in ABS activation and face-ripping brake force. The ODI evaluation will also look into “multiple [involuntary autonomous braking] events at different locations and road conditions.”
The safety agency believes that about 20,000 Jeep Grand Cherokees from the 2014 model year could be affected by the adaptive cruise control and/or automatic emergency braking glitch. An owner that experienced the terror firsthand reports:
"I was driving on the freeway going 65 mph (105 km/h) with no cars around me or in sight. All of the sudden, the car dashboard said Brake! and the car applied the ABS brakes and abruptly slowed the car down to 40 mph (65 km/h)! I was so scared at that point!” Happily, no injuries or crashed have been reported to the NHTSA.
Safety is paramount in a 21st century passenger vehicle, but this is getting ridiculous. Cars braking by themselves without a good reason? Volvo can tell you firsthand that an autonomous braking system can go badly wrong, especially during a live demonstration. Coincidence or not, all of the reports submitted to the safety agency alleged unexpected braking incidents “preceded by collision imminent brake warnings and resulting in sudden reduction in vehicle speed in traffic.”
What does sound serious (and terrifying for that matter) are two complaints that reported autonomous braking incidents with no objects on the roads, incidents that resulted in ABS activation and face-ripping brake force. The ODI evaluation will also look into “multiple [involuntary autonomous braking] events at different locations and road conditions.”
The safety agency believes that about 20,000 Jeep Grand Cherokees from the 2014 model year could be affected by the adaptive cruise control and/or automatic emergency braking glitch. An owner that experienced the terror firsthand reports:
"I was driving on the freeway going 65 mph (105 km/h) with no cars around me or in sight. All of the sudden, the car dashboard said Brake! and the car applied the ABS brakes and abruptly slowed the car down to 40 mph (65 km/h)! I was so scared at that point!” Happily, no injuries or crashed have been reported to the NHTSA.
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