Chrysler's defective latch

In 1995, Ralph Hoar & Associates
sued the NHTSA under the Freedom of
Information Act to force release of
the Chrysler Minivan crash tests.

Chrysler Minivan latch failure
is a safety defect that involves children...

For eighteen months beginning in 1993, NHTSA investigated rear liftgate latches found on all Chrysler minivans, produced between 1984 and 1995.  Affecting 4.1 million vans, the latches fail to hold the rear liftgate even in moderate crashes.  Unbelted passengers are ejected through the rear.  In some instances, seats come loose and are ejected with the occupants buckled in them.  NHTSA stopped counting deaths associated with Chrysler minivan latch failures in July 1995.  At that time the agency knew of 37 deaths and 76 injuries; more than half of whom were younger than twelve; more than three-quarters younger than eighteen.  NHTSA engineers determined that this was a safety "defect that involves children." 

However, in a deal with Chrysler, NHTSA allowed the automaker to conduct a "service campaign" to replace the latches.  Chrysler documents were found later revealing discussions among Chrysler executives about "squashing" the government's investigation.

Eighteen months after Chrysler announced its "service campaign," 2.5 million minivans with defective latches remained on the road.  "Both NHTSA and Chrysler are guilty of lulling van owners with PR Prozac," Ralph Hoar said.  "The poor replacement rate is predictable given that the government agency we depend on for safe vehicles and Chrysler have refused to declare that the latches are defective."

In Europe, Chrysler has sold more than 100,000 minivans with the defective latches.  Chrysler has not written to European van owners offering to replace the defective latches there, as it has in the U.S.

In 1993, NHTSA opened a defect investigation of Chrysler minivans for rear latch failures.  Laboratory tests show that Chrysler rear liftgate latches would fail minimum latch strength requirements while latches on most other vans comply.  Government crash tests dramatically show dummies ejected from the rear hatches of Chrysler minivans while other minivan hatches stayed closed.

  
NHTSA crash test showing dummies ejected through rear hatch

In November 1994, NHTSA briefed Chrysler representatives of its findings in a secret meeting.  The agency showed side impact tests in which a liftgate latch failed and the test dummies were ejected from the rear of a Chrysler minivan.

In settlement of RH&A's Freedom of Information Act suit, NHTSA finally released the tests almost a year after they showed them to Chrysler.

In March 1995, when Chrysler announced it would replace the latches, the automaker launched a multi-million dollar multi-media campaign to convince the public that the only thing wrong with the latches was bad press.  NHTSA's refusal to officially declare the latches defective has allowed Chrysler to minimize the risks associated with the latches.

To date, NHTSA has declined to tell the public as clearly as it told Chrysler in November 1994, "the latch failure is a safety defect that involves children."

Chrysler is known to have settled more than 40 cases involving rear liftgate latch failures.  It is believed that some settlements have exceeded $10 million.  A South Carolina jury awarded one family $262 million in the death of a six year old boy.

Articles

Chrysler's Response to Charges 'Would Make Goebbels Blush' (7/10/98)

"I stand by my charges that Chrysler has not given European minivan owners the same level of safety that it has provided U.S. and Canadian van owners," Hoar said.  Chrysler's statement attempting to rebut my charges is enough to make Goebbels blush," he added.

"My small consulting firm has done more in one day to alert the people of Europe to the hazard of defective rear door latches than Chrysler--with its billions-- has done in the last three years. German Chrysler minivan owners contacted by Ralph Hoar & Associates say they have received no warning from Chrysler, nor have they received an offer from Chrysler to replace their latch at no charge," Hoar said.

"If Chrysler is "offering" redesigned latches in Europe it's doing a lousy job of letting anyone know about it," Hoar said.  One longtime Chrysler dealer in Germany's Black Forest claims that he learned of problems with Chrysler's minivan rear door latches from the Internet, not from Chrysler, Hoar said.

"Last night Louis Goldfarb, one of Chrysler's lawyers, threatened to sue us if we proceeded with efforts to inform the citizens of Europe that Chrysler is treating them like second class citizens.  We don't take kindly to threats or to being accused of lying.  We are considering all remedies available to us," Hoar said.

Hoar Urges Chrysler to Replace Minivan Latches Overseas (7/9/98)

Chrysler Corporation failed to notify thousands of European minivan owners of defective rear door latches that it replaced on millions of minivans that it sold in the U.S. and Canada, according to Ralph Hoar, an Arlington, Va, safety consultant firm who earlier pressed Chrysler for the recall in the U.S.

Hoar revealed today that between 1989 and 1995 Chrysler Corporation exported to Europe, or manufactured in Austria, more than 100,000 minivans with defective latches. Chrysler has not offered to replace defective latches on rear doors of minivans it sold overseas as it has in the U.S., Hoar said.

"Learning of this, as it seeks to join forces with Chrysler, must be an embarrassment to Daimler Benz," Hoar said. In 1995, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation and the public outcry about reports of Chrysler minivan latch failures, forced Chrysler to agree to replace rear door latches on 4.5 million 1984-1995 minivans in the U.S. and Canada. At that time, NHTSA reported that it knew of 37 deaths associated with Chrysler minivan rear door latch failures.

The agency has not updated those numbers since July 13, 1995. "NHTSA stopped counting and Chrysler won't say how many people have been thrown from the rear of Chrysler minivans because of latch failures," Hoar said.

To illustrate the difference between the old latch and the stronger, redesigned latch, Ralph Hoar & Associates and German Master Mechanic Dieter Albrecht of Rottweill, have arranged to remove the original latch from an Austrian-made 1994 Chrysler minivan owned by Rottweill resident Vera Wolf. Albrecht will replace the original latch with a stronger, redesigned latch that Chrysler has made available to U.S. and Canadian minivan owners.

Hoar claims that "documents  surfaced during litigation raising questions about whether Chrysler offered to replace latches on minivans sold overseas. We've confirmed that latches have not been replaced in Germany and suspect the same is true elsewhere," Hoar said. Chrysler is believed to have exported about 60,000 minivans to Germany between 1988 and 1995. Between 1992 and 1995, Chrysler made more than 130,000 minivans with defective latches in Austria, Hoar said.  "European accident data are not available but there is no reason to believe that the European experience would differ from that in the U.S." Hoar said. "Even though Europeans reportedly wear seat belts more often than American's, German tests and American experience show that seats in these vans do come loose and can be ejected with the occupant buckled in them," Hoar added.

In 1994, U.S. Government safety officials confronted Chrysler in a secret meeting with evidence that Chrysler's minivan latches "contained a defect that affects children." Ralph Hoar & Associates obtained release of those documents and films of dramatic NHTSA crash tests in 1995 through a suit filed under the Freedom of Information Act.

"It is difficult to fathom how Daimler Benz could proceed with its Chrysler deal until Chrysler offers to provide German owners of Chrysler minivans the same measure of safety given to minivan owners in the U.S. It is a mystery how this international oversight could occur in the midst of efforts to achieve international harmony in vehicle safety," Hoar said.

Chrysler's 262 Million Message (10/31/97)

Having co-opted the legislative branch and neutered the executive branch, Chrysler got the full fury of the judicial branch when 10 South Carolina citizens looked at the death of a 6 year old boy and at Chrysler's actions surrounding 4.2 million defective minivan liftgate latches and said: "We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore."

Presented with evidence of:
     Multiple warnings to Chrysler over 12 years that the rear liftgate latches are inadequate;
     Destruction of files and crash tests dealing with latch failures;
     Chrysler estimates that a stronger latch would cost as little as 22 cents;
     Documents passed among senior Chrysler discussing how to "squash" (sic) NHTSA's defect investigation;
     Chrysler-generated Congressional pressure on NHTSA to derail the investigation;
     A conspiracy between Chrysler and NHTSA to keep government crash tests and investigative files under wraps for as long as possible;
     More than 100 latch-related suits, most of which Chrysler has quietly settled.

The jury decided to more than double Sergio Jimenez' parents' request for $123 million with an award of $12.5 million in actual damages and $250 million in punitive damages.

The trial, handled by a Washington, DC firm, was built on a foundation of evidence laid by three young attorneys who spent the last two years digging into Chrysler's corporate handling of minivan liftgate latches: Newt Porter of Miami, Florida; Todd Tracy of Dallas, Texas; and Mikal Watts of Corpus Christi, Texas.  Each of them were mentored by some of the finest trial lawyers in the country: Porter began with Mike Eidson; Tracy with Windell Turley; Watts with David Perry. So far all of their minivan latch cases have settled.

Raging Hoar Moans: With Litigation the Truth Will Out! (10/31/97)

It may happen all the time. A cynic would insist that it does: The government conspires with industry to keep the truth from the public about a public health menace. 
   
If it is true, seldom are the fingerprints so clear as they are on the conspiracy to hide from the public--for as long as possible--the dirty little secret that NHTSA considered Chrysler's minivan latch to be "a safety defect that involves children." The Chrysler documents that are just now finding their way into the public domain, thanks to some fine products litigation, make it clear that in the Spring of 1995 men at the highest levels of Chrysler and NHTSA entered into a conspiracy. They decided to pretend that it was an honorable thing to keep from the public the results of publicly funded tests in a publicly funded investigation run by a publicly funded agency charged with the responsibility of protecting public health and safety.

Let's not concern our citizens and customers with the truth. Let's just tell the American people that they had allowed themselves to be whipped into a frenzy over nothing. Chrysler, the poor but benevolent victim of media hysteria, shares their concern, if not their pain, and is willing to replace a few minivan latches. Never mind that according to NHTSA, which stopped counting on July 13, 1995, more than 37 people, mostly children, had died when latches failed, latches that Chrysler knew were flimsy as far back as 1990. People get hysterical about the damnedest things.

And besides, now we have Lewis Goldfarb, Chrysler's lawyer-bashing lawyer, telling CNN that the people at NHTSA who made this agreement "are honorable people." As a friend of mine once said: "It's enough to make Goebbels blush."

Chrysler Minivan Latch Replacement Limps Into Second Year (5/31/97)

After two years of saying that it would take extraordinary measures to convince minivan owners to respond to its latch replacement "service campaign" Chrysler has failed to convince almost two million minivan owners to get their latches replaced.

Despite its public insistence that it is taking unprecedented steps to replace latches, an RH&A telephone survey of all 18 Chrysler dealers in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area reveals that Chrysler's claims amount to little.

Chrysler claims that every dealership has one person "dedicated" to the latch replacement program. Our survey revealed that only half of the D.C. area dealerships had such a person;

Chrysler claims that non-responsive van owners are receiving follow-up letters and phone calls. If the calls are supposed to come from local dealerships, its news to the "dedicated" person at one D.C. dealer. "We haven't had an updated phone list since the beginning of the program," he said. 

Twice during the replacement "service campaign" latches have been on back order causing one dealership to turn away "about a dozen" van owners each time. 

Since announcing in March 1995 that it would replace latches on all 4.2 million of its 1984-1995 minivans, Chrysler's public messages have soft-pedaled the extreme ejection hazards when the latches fail. In a recent report to NHTSA, Chrysler acknowledged that in more than a year it has replaced latches on only 54 percent of its minivans. In the first three months of this year, Chrysler replaced an average of about 75,000 latches per month. At this replacement rate, it is reasonable to expect there will be 1,000,000 vans with faulty latches still on the road next year this time. NHTSA allowed Chrysler to replace the latches without telling van owners that the latches are a safety defect. In a secret meeting in November 1994, NHTSA privately told Chrysler: "The latch failure is a safety defect that involves children." 

Ralph Hoar & Associates has urged NHTSA and Chrysler to aggressively distribute the government's dramatic crash tests that RH&A sued NHTSA to release in 1995. So far NHTSA and Chrysler have not responded. RH&A is making the crash tests available, at no charge, to the media.

JURY FINDS CHRYSLER LIFTGATE LATCH DEFECTIVE (2/19/97)

Today in Santa Rosa, New Mexico a jury found the rear liftgate latch in Chrysler's minivans defective. This is the first jury trial involving a Chrysler minivan rear liftgate latch, according to Ralph Hoar, president of an Arlington, Virginia product safety consulting firm. Hoar's firm has been pressing the government to force Chrysler to make the latches the subject of a safety recall. The jury also found Chrysler negligent in the way it has handled the service campaign to replace the latches. Chrysler installed the defective latch on all 4.2 million minivans that it built between 1984 and 1995.

More than 2 million of the defective latches remain on the highway, Hoar said.

In March 1995 Chrysler struck a deal with NHTSA to replace the latches if they could avoid acknowledging that the latches are defective. "Twelve citizens, hearing what Chrysler and NHTSA knew, found the latches defective and found Chrysler negligent in the way it conducted the recall," Hoar said. "It should come as no surprise that Chrysler wants to settle these suits. It knows that the latch and its behavior are indefensible," Hoar said. Chrysler has settled more than 40 cases involving liftgate latches.

While the jury found the latch defective, it awarded no damages because it found that the driver was in part responsible and that the ejections occurred out the side window rather than through the rear liftgate. Turner Branch, the plaintiff's attorney in the case (Abercrombie, et al v Chrysler), said that he intends to seek a new trial.

2.2 Million Faulty Chrysler Minivan Latches Remain (2/5/97)

More than 2.2 million Chrysler minivans with faulty latches remain on the road almost two years after Chrysler said it would replace them. "Van owners don't understand the urgent need to get their latches fixed because Chrysler has failed to clearly communicate how dangerous these latches really are," according to Ralph Hoar, president of the Arlington, Virginia product safety consulting firm that pressed Chrysler to fix the latches. 

Hoar called on Chrysler "to beef up its Milquetoast communications by providing broadcast media with NHTSA's crash tests showing dummies being thrown from Chrysler minivans when the latches fail in moderate speed crashes. That would add urgency to Chrysler's communications and remove confusion about the severity of the hazard," he said. 

Chrysler's dismal replacement rate was revealed in the automaker's quarterly report to NHTSA. The most recent quarter ended December 31, 1996. NHTSA has not yet made the report public.

Chrysler first agreed to strengthen the latches in March 1995. More than 40 people, mostly children, have been killed as a result of Chrysler minivan latch failures.

Ralph Hoar & Associates sued NHTSA under the Freedom of Information Act to force release of the crash tests in 1995. NHTSA has not made videos of the crash tests easily available to the press since 1995, when it released the videos in reponse to the RH&A suit. It is not known whether Chrysler has ever distributed copies of NHTSA's crash tests. In the event broadcast quality videos are not available from Chrysler or NHTSA, copies of the crash tests and Chrysler's quarterly report are available from Ralph Hoar & Associates at cost. 

NHTSA HIDING FAILURE OF CHRYSLER VAN LATCH REPLACEMENT SCHEME (11/14/96)

For weeks NHTSA has refused to release a Chrysler report revealing that 2.5 million Chrysler minivans with defective latches remain on the highway--18 months after Chrysler agreed to replace the 4.1 million defective latches. The report shows NHTSA's scheme to give a clean bill of health to latches on millions of minivans is a dismal failure, according to Ralph Hoar, the Arlington Virginia safety consultant who had pressed NHTSA to declare the rear liftgate latches defective.

"The poor replacement rate is predictable given that the government agency we depend on for safe vehicles and Chrysler have refused to declare that the latches are defective." According to Hoar, the Chrysler report that NHTSA is sitting on reveals that 18 months after Chrysler announced it would launch it's voluntary replacement campaign less than 40 percent of the latches have been replaced. Chrysler's third quarterly report to the government shows that latches have been replaced on only 1.6 million of the 4.1 million Chrysler vans on the road. "Rather than hiding the report, NHTSA and Chrysler should hide their faces in shame," Hoar said.

In March of 1995, when Chrysler announced it would replace the latches, the automaker launched a multi-million dollar multi-media campaign to convince the public that the only thing wrong with the latches was bad press. That media campaign and NHTSA's refusal to declare the latches defective has had a disastrous effect on the consumer response rate to the replacement campaign. "Both NHTSA and Chrysler are guilty of lulling van owners into complacency with PR Prozac,'" Hoar said.

NHTSA should tell the public as clearly as it told Chrysler in November 1994: "THE LATCH FAILURE IS A SAFETY DEFECT THAT INVOLVES CHILDREN."

NHTSA stopped counting deaths associated with Chrysler minivan latch failures in July 1995. At that time the agency knew of 37 deaths--mostly children. The number of deaths and injuries attributable to latch failure since that date are unknown.

According to Hoar, a Palestine, Texas minivan case scheduled to go to trial in mid-November will likely refocus national attention on the issue. The case involves a high school cheerleader who became a paraplegic after being thrown from the rear of a Chrysler minivan when the latch failed. It is expected to be the first minivan latch case to get to trial. Chrysler is known to have settled more than 40 of these cases. It is believed that some settlements have exceeded $10 million.

Ralph Hoar & Associates can provide a copy of the Chrysler report, and the November 1994 NHTSA document calling the latches defective.

NHTSA AGREES TO RELEASE CHRYSLER MINIVAN TESTS (9/95)

NHTSA has agreed to release--by October 31--crash test videos showing test dummies being thrown from the rear of Chrysler minivans and briefing documents that the agency used to press Chrysler to replace latches on every Chrysler minivan made between 1984 and 1995--more than half the minivans in America. 

Release of the crash tests and documents should settle the Freedom of Information Act suit brought by RH&A and two families whose children had been thrown from the rear of their Chrysler minivans.  The agreement reflects a major policy shift for NHTSA.  Earlier the agency maintained that it would not release the material until it closed its investigation, after being satisfied with the response to Chrysler's "service campaign."  Now the agency says it will close the investigation around October 16 when it expects to be satisfied with "metalurgical tests."  NHTSA says it needs until October 31 to close its files. 

During an August 28 hearing, Federal Judge Gladys Kessler took NHTSA and Chrysler to task for taking so long to start replacing latches.  She predicted that nine months would lapse before Chrysler would get around to replacing the latches.  "I'm quite disturbed," she said.  Chrysler announced March 27 that it would replace the latches. Replacement of the first 60,000 latches didn't begin until early September.  Replacement of the bulk of latches--those with automatic openers--will not begin until December, 1995--nine months after the campaign was announced.  "There is no question that Chrysler would be moving faster if NHTSA had used these crash test videos sooner to light a fire under them.  If, as Chrysler predicts, the videos will cause van owners to overwhelm Chrysler dealerships with demands for replacement latches, so be it. After all, it is van owners, not Chrysler, who have children at risk,"  Hoar said following the hearing. 

NHTSA has attributed five more deaths to Chrysler minivan liftgate failures, bringing the official total to 37 deaths.  RH&A has learned of two additional crashes that bring to 42 the number of known deaths associated with Chrysler minivan latch failures.

CHRYSLER, LAWYERS REACH LATCH CLASS ACTION AGREEMENT (9/95)

Class action attorneys and Chrysler have agreed to settle a class action suit that appears to give van owners little more than Chrysler told NHTSA in March it would do.  The agreement is causing concern among attorneys who specialize in products liability litigation. 
One source of concern is the unusual requirement that Chrysler provide attorneys who brought the class action suit with specifications and drawings of the replacement latches.  The attorneys representing the class insist this allows them to monitor Chrysler's progress and does not put them or Andy Gilberg and Tom Flanagan, engineers who served as their consultants, in a position of approving the replacement latch design.  Other attorneys have expressed concern that such a requirement might be used by Chrysler to defend the replacement latches if they prove inadequate.  Some have wondered whether the class action attorneys and their consultants might be legally vulnerable if replacement latches fail.

Other aspects of the agreement would obligate Chrysler to make an effort to replace 60 percent of its latches by November 1996 or spend $14 million to alert van owners of the replacement campaign, whichever happens first.  Class counsel say there is no such obligation in Chrysler's agreement with NHTSA.  Attorneys who brought the class action have agreed to intercede at Chrysler's request if, for instance, a state Attorney General seeks a better deal for van owners or if a van owner attempts to seek a buy-back under state lemon laws.  The settlement would not provide van owners with coupons or Rand McNally road maps.

The agreement is scheduled for ratification November 3, in the Federal Court for the Northern District of California.  Van owners have until October 20 to tell the court they want no part of the settlement.  Early in 1994, RH&A provided information to one of the attorneys who filed a class action suit.  RH&A was not a party to the settlement. 

In a recent tersely worded letter, NHTSA's new Associate Administrator for Safety Assurance, Michael Brownlee, told Chrysler that responses given to minivan owners calling Chrysler's 1-800-MINIVAN Hotline with concerns about their liftgate latches "undermine public confidence in the campaign" to replace the latches.   The Hotline is run by a contractor using Chrysler-provided scripts littered with distortions and lies. 

Chrysler "may want to consider additional steps to inform and reassure its minivan owners about what they can expect in this campaign, and provide them with a timetable indicating when they will be notified to take their vehicle to dealers for repairs," Brownlee said.  Chrysler's "business-as-usual" schedule, depending on one supplier to provide replacement latches, will have some van owners waiting past Fall of 1996 for a new latch.

Chrysler fears that release of government minivan crash tests will create such concern among van owners "that the demand to get replacements" for rear liftgate latches on  1984-1995 minivans will "outstrip their ability to make the replacements," according to Ronald Plesser, an attorney Chrysler hired to oppose NHTSA's release of crash tests that reportedly show dummies being thrown from the rear of a Chrysler minivan.  Plesser called the crash test videos "inflammatory."

Chrysler's concern surfaced during a hearing in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia as the automaker sought unsuccessfully to intervene in RH&A's Freedom of Information suit that seeks to force NHTSA to release the crash tests. Both NHTSA and RH&A opposed Chrysler's intervention.

"It's outrageous that Chrysler, having seen NHTSA's crash tests, would seek to prevent 4.5 million Chrysler van owners from being able to make their own assessment about whether the liftgate latches pose a hazard.  Chrysler's arguments for suppressing the crash tests are precisely our arguments for their release:  van owners will see the crash tests and want their latches fixed.  We think that's a good thing.  Apparently, Chrysler does not," Ralph Hoar said.

NHTSA now says that at least 37 people have died of injuries associated with Chrysler minivan latch failures.  That's five new deaths since March when Chrysler announced there's nothing wrong with the latches.  Nonetheless, they'll replace them when they can get around to it.  Originally slated to begin in May, Chrysler now says it will not start replacing latches until September.  Chrysler's current leisurely replacement plan will require a year to replace latches on about half its vans.

After years of opposing government tests for rear liftgate latches, Chrysler now wants NHTSA to detail what tests its replacement latches will face.  In a haughty letter of demands, Chrysler insisted that NHTSA provide it cover by taking responsibility for its replacement latch design.  NHTSA declined.

Suzanne Clark, Dr. Timothy and Nancy Hartshorne and RH&A are suing NHTSA in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia under provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to force the release of information that the agency gathered during its investigation of Chrysler minivan latches.

Clark's son and two of the Hartshorne's children were ejected through the rear liftgate of their Chrysler minivans when the latches failed.  They are coordinators of Chrysler Van Owners Concerned About Latches (CVOCAL).

The suit follows  NHTSA's decision to endorse a Chrysler "service campaign" rather than pursue a safety related recall.  During 18 months of what was one of the most professional investigations in NHTSA's 25-year history, agency investigators compiled a compelling indictment of Chrysler latch failures including:

32 deaths and 76 injuries; more than half of whom, were younger than twelve; more than three-quarters younger than eighteen;

Laboratory tests that show Chrysler rear liftgate latches would fail minimum latch strength requirements while latches on most other van liftgates do comply;

Crash tests that dramatically show dummies ejected from the rear hatches of Chrysler minivans while other minivan hatches stayed closed.

However, NHTSA's refusal to declare the latches defective has allowed Chrysler to minimize the risks associated with the latches by launching a multi-million dollar, multi-media campaign to convince Chrysler van owners that its "service campaign" to upgrade the latches is a manifestation of magnanimity rather than an effort to stem the growing number of deaths and injuries associated with the dangerously weak latches.

The FOIA suit is intended to force NHTSA to release all of the information that it presented Chrysler in an unprecedented November 1994 meeting.  Reportedly the November meeting was to convince Chrysler that it should voluntarily recall its 5 million minivans to fix their latches.  Chrysler representatives are said to have gasped when they saw videos of NHTSA minivan crash tests during which the rear liftgate opened on a Chrysler minivan and dummies were ejected. 

Chrysler's efforts to minimize the risks discourage van owners from upgrading the latches.  By allowing the public to see NHTSA's "best case" for a recall, the public will be able to make its own assessment of risks associated with the latches.  Early depositions of NHTSA and Chrysler officials involved in the process are anticipated.

Meanwhile,  Chrysler has told NHTSA that it intends to complete the latch upgrade campaign by May 1996.  However, its production schedule will produce only enough latches by that date to up-grade slightly more than half of the 5 million minivans that it sold.  In an unusual move, Kathleen DeMeter, NHTSA's new defect investigation czar, ignored Chrysler's request that its latch replacement schedule be granted confidentiality. 

Less than a week prior to Chrysler's announcement that it would up-grade its minivan latches,  RH&A accused the manufacturer of conducting a "secret recall" by telling van owners who complained that they could replace latches on 1991-1994 models with stronger 1995 model latches.  Owners of earlier model latches were out of luck.  It would have cost the van owner about $100. 

Although the replacement information was volunteered to four RH&A associates by Chrysler "customer service" representatives and later confirmed by reporters from USA Today and The Detroit Free Press, Chrysler denied that any such program existed and that they would discontinue it anyway.
 

In early March Transport Canada opened its own investigation of Chrysler latches.  The Canadian investigation has a twist: It's looking at seat ejection too.  Within two weeks of opening its investigation, Canada's safety agency had doubled the number of cases from seven to 14, most involving seat ejection.  Speculation is that Canada's greater seat belt use more frequently adds the mass of the occupants to the mass of the seat, overloading the capacity of the seat latch at the same time the rear hatch pops open.

NHTSA ASKS FOR REPORTS
After 22 months of investigation, NHTSA has asked the public for reports of liftgate openings.  NHTSA's unusual press release request "will only delay a recall that should have happened months ago.  More than ample evidence already exists to support a recall," RH&A responded.

CHRYSLER DRAGS FEET
While Chrysler claims to have "cooperated fully" throughout NHTSA's investigation, the automaker has missed most deadlines that NHTSA has set for responses to its requests for information.  Currently, Chrysler is more than a week late in responding to NHTSA's most recent request.

NEW FAILURES
NHTSA has found 27 new cases of Chrysler minivan liftgate latch failures, bringing the number of latch failures identified during its investigation to 79.  Until those cases can be studied in detail, it is uncertain how many new ejections, deaths and injuries they will add to the 74 ejections and 25 deaths that the agency reported in November.

NHTSA WITHHOLDS CRASH TESTS SHOWING CHRYSLER LATCH FAILURE
NHTSA is refusing to let the public see tests that show Chrysler minivan latches fail in crashes. The agency showed Chrysler representatives the tests during a briefing more than three months ago. RH&A has appealed NHTSA's denial of our Freedom of Information Act request for the tests. Earlier in its Chrysler minivan latch investigation, NHTSA conducted side impact tests of Chrysler and other minivans.  The tests reportedly caused a liftgate latch failure and the test dummies were dramatically ejected from the rear of a Chrysler minivan. Reportedly, there were no latch failures on other minivans tested.  An attorney with the agency confirmed that NHTSA showed Chrysler videos of the crash tests during an unprecedented briefing November 17, 1994. 

CHRYSLER FIRES, MUZZLES MINIVAN SAFETY CHIEF
A Michigan court has granted permission to Paul Sheridan, a fired Chrysler employee, to talk with NHTSA investigators about the company's liftgate latches.  Sheridan headed the safety team on Chrysler's new generation minivan and claims to know of problems with latches on Chrysler's earlier minivans. The Detroit News initially revealed that Chrysler fired and immediately obtained a temporary restraining order against Sheridan, whom the automaker accuses of leaking to Automotive News word that Chrysler couldn't get its new minivan to meet federal occupant protection requirements (FMVSS 208).

Sheridan says that he knows "techniques and processes by which Chrysler Corporation manipulates the results of crash tests in a manner favorable to itself, but unfavorable to the safety of consumers and the Government."  He also claims to have information about Chrysler's "refusal for financial reasons to correct obvious minivan defects, such as lift gate latching mechanisms in its new generation of minivans which were identified in the old generation of minivans."

One of the most puzzling, persistent, and unanswered questions is why--during more than 10 years of minivan production and more than 22 months of government defect investigation--Chrysler has conducted no crash tests of its own minivan liftgate latches.  To make the matter even more puzzling--given its failure to test its own minivan latches--Chrysler has crash tested and given to NHTSA latches on its competitiors' vehicles.  Seems like rational, responsible behavior to us--if you're trying to hide something.

One of the arguments Chrysler uses against a recall of its faulty liftgate latches is that "there are not standards, static or dynamic, for liftgate/hatch latches."  Conveniently, in 1990 Chrysler opposed such a standard.

Chrysler did not comment on NHTSA's most recent proposal to establish standards for liftgate latches.  However, the American Automobile Manufacturers Association (AAMA), which represents Ford, GM, and Chrysler, said "The agency's NPRM has not quantified the benefits that would be realized through the arbitrary extension and expansion of FMVSS 206 performance requirements to these components.  No empirical data have been offered by the agency to demonstrate the safety benefits of increasing latch, hinge, or lock performance from the levels that are currently designed into these components." 

AAMA goes on to say that it's "members do not agree" that there is a "problem" with rear door retention components.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) petitioned NHTSA in 1990 to strengthen FMVSS 206, as well as extend it to hatchbacks, tailgates, and rear doors.  Prior to denying this petition, NHTSA sought information from a number of manufacturers, including Chrysler.  The responses to this inquiry were submitted by NHTSA to it's latest rulemaking docket. 

As reported in November's Brief Notes, Chrysler said that it "does not believe that there is a significant problem with rear door retention or with the incidence of rear door ejection fatalities."

Suzanne Clark, national coordinator for Chrysler Van Owners Concerned About Latches, was disappointed after a trip to Washington to deliver a letter to NHTSA administrator Ricardo Martinez pressing for a prompt recall.  "All I got were smiles" she said later.  "I'm appalled and offended [at NHTSA's lack of action]," she told Brief Notes.

NHTSA has given Chrysler until December 5 to respond to the findings of its thorough, year-long defect investigation of 4 million minivans with liftgate hatch latches.  The agency is now reporting that the hatches are known to be associated with 51 crashes involving 74 ejections and 25 deaths. 

The agency dramatically increased the official number of incidents and deaths after RH&A reported to the press that defect investigation files contained reports of 21 deaths.  The agency's action is a clear signal to Chrysler that a full-court press is on for a recall.

Just before Thanksgiving RH&A informed the media that this issue of Brief Notes would report that a 1990 internal Chrysler memo acknowledged that its latches are substantially inferior to those on other minivans; that we have videos of Chrysler crash tests showing hatches opening; that Chrysler latches flunked a NHTSA latch test, and that a North Carolina housewife is beginning to organize Chrysler van owners for a recall.  Here it is...and more.

A 1990 Chrysler memo obtained by RH&A acknowledges that Chrysler's own requirements for liftgate latch strength on its vans (750 lbs) was far below that set by GM (1350 lbs)  and Ford (2500 lbs). 

In addition to their lack of strength, the memo also reveals that Chrysler's van latches don't even include a secondary safety latch feature.  The secondary latch feature, required by NHTSA on all vehicle side doors, is standard on most, if not every, van liftgate sold in the U.S.--except Chrysler vans.

Chrysler minivan latches fail to meet the government's strength test designed to keep doors closed in crashes.  The failure occurred in secret tests NHTSA conducted as part of its defect investigation of Chrysler minivans for rear latch failures associated with 25 known fatalities.

Revelation of the failure is hidden in a NHTSA cost analysis conducted to support rulemaking that would extend the agency's FMVSS 206--intended "to minimize the likelihood of occupants being thrown from the vehicle as a result of impact"--to rear doors on vans and hatchbacks.  The report says that the agency "has reviewed preliminary test data on hatchback latches on minivans from at least eight manufacturers.  These preliminary results seem to indicate that at least two of the minivans would fail FMVSS No. 206 Type Tensile Tests" if it applied to rear hatches.  RH&A has positively identified one of the "failing" minivans as a Chrysler. 

The cost analysis, conducted by NHTSA's Rulemaking office, compares the costs of producing two latches--"one of the failed vehicle's (sic) latch and striker sets and one latch and striker set from a vehicle passing the FMVSS No. 206 type-tensile test."  The report identifies the "passing" latch and striker set as "X" and the "failing" latch and striker set as "Y".   RH&A found that diagrams in the report of the failing latch and sticker "Y" are identical to diagrams in Chrysler's minivan shop manual. 

According to NHTSA, the "failing" Chrysler latch costs $3.87 to produce; that's $1.06 more to produce than the latch that "passed".

Suzanne Clark, a North Carolina housewife, is organizing Chrysler van owners to press Chrysler for a recall.  She's calling the group CVOCAL (Chrysler Van Owners Concerned About Latches).  Last fall her new van was broadsided in a moderate crash.  The van spun out, the rear liftgate opened and the rear seat flew out with her four year old son still buckled in it.  Miraculously, he was uninjured.  Chrysler paid her full purchase price for the van.  She thinks the least they can do is put a decent latch on the other 4 million vans they sold between 1984 and 1994.

She requested that RH&A help bring media attention to the problem.  She's also taken to the information superhighway by using auto forums on America On Line to help spread the word.

Ford, Mazda, Toyota, and Nissan support NHTSA's proposal to extend current FMVSS 206 requirements for side doors to rear hatches and liftgates.  To no one's surprise Chrysler denies that any safety risk exists, stating that they "do not believe that there is a significant problem with rear door retention or with the incidence of rear door ejection fatalities".  Sure sounds like "Your Safety Car Company," doesn't it?  GM agreed with Chrysler.  What do they have, some kind of minivan-pickup pact?  Ford requested time to perform and analyze tests of its latching systems.

Chrysler has quietly acknowledged to NHTSA that minivan hatches flew open in five of its own crash tests.  Three of the tests were rear impacts; one was a right side impact; the other was a left front angle impact.  Contrary to Chrysler's earlier claims that their hatches open only in "high energy" collisions, all of the tests were in the moderate 30 mile per hour range.

That brings the number of confirmed inadvertent rear hatch openings in Chrysler minivans to 59.  Sixteen of those rear hatch openings involved fatalities; some were multiple fatalities.  See table on page 2.

As further challenge to Chrysler's claim that the hatches open only during "high energy" collisions, RH&A has found 10 reports in which Chrysler minivan owners claim that their hatches have come unlatched while they're doing nothing more than driving down the road.  These are in addition to the 49 other incidents of Chrysler hatch openings that NHTSA has on file.

In the last issue of Brief Notes we wagered Chrysler Board Chairman and CEO Robert Eaton $5,000 that we could find six such reports.  In a Detroit News article, a Chrysler spokeswoman was quoted as saying that the automaker "would not dignify" the wager with a response. 

A NHTSA engineer speculates that these non-collision openings are caused by a condition other than the condition that prompts most crash-related openings.  Non-collision openings are not being considered part of NHTSA's current hatch opening investigation.

Chrysler is defending its minivan hatches with the same lame tack used by other manufacturers: "Overall the vehicles have a good safety record and they complied with all applicable vehicle safety standards."  One could also ignore a melanoma because of an otherwise perfect health record.

"We've seen others like that and they're all Chrysler's where the hatches pop open."  That was the reaction of Florida Highway Patrol detective Rene Benavidez when RH&A contacted him about a Chrysler minivan accident that we learned of.  From memory the Florida Highway Patrol detective recalled yet another case that involved a seven year old boy fatally ejected through the rear hatch.  Chrysler had not reported this incident to NHTSA. 

The table on page two is compiled from documents Chrysler has provided NHTSA; from reports that RH&A has obtained and provided NHTSA and from reports that NHTSA has received from other sources.  As much as we would like to crow about our investigative prowess, the newest Florida Highway Patrol report would not be in the tally of hatch openings except for happenstance.  It is a safe bet that there are thousands of other unreported inadvertent openings of Chrysler minivan hatches.

Chrysler is telling NHTSA that the only time its rear hatches fly open is during high speed, high energy impacts that no latch could survive.  And besides, they open so infrequently it's not a problem and if people would just wear their seat belts we wouldn't even need latches on doors.  And--just in case that's not enough--Chrysler vans are safer than every other van--so there!  You watch: That's the only horse that Chrysler has to ride and they'll ride it hard.  If the good Doctor Martinez buys that line, he'd let a patient with a melanoma leave his office without suggesting that it be treated.  "Not to worry.  He's otherwise healthy."

Meanwhile, NHTSA's asked Chrysler for more information on incidents and latch modifications.  The agency is also conducting a peer review of other van hatches.  Stay tuned.
RH&A has suggested that NHTSA look for instances of hatch openings in low or moderate speed impacts.  We cited several instances we know about and gave them the names and addresses of people to contact.  If you know of any instances when any mini-van hatch opened inadvertently, let us know.

Chrysler minivan latches are so bad, I'll wager Chrysler's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert Eaton that before the fat lady sings on Chrysler minivan hatches that Ralph Hoar & Associates will find at least a half dozen reports of Chrysler minivan hatches opening while the vans are doing nothing more exotic than driving down the road.  The loser contributes $5,000 to the winner's favorite charity.  I'll even let Lee Iacocca in on the action. --Ralph Hoar

Published responses by Chrysler spokesmen leave little question that "your safety car company" will resist efforts to force a recall of its four million minivans.  Since the beginning of production in 1984, Chrysler has equipped the vans with rear hatch latches that tend to pop open in a wide variety of crash configurations.   In some cases, occupants have been ejected through the open hatches.  NHTSA is conducting a full-blown investigation.

Chrysler's responses to reporters' questions, have included: "We do not see any defect in the latch system" (Newsday);  "We have four million of these vehicles in service and NHTSA is looking at 13 cases....There is no compelling evidence that we have a safety issue here" (Automotive News), and "'I don't want to sound flippant but (with) four million vehicles, we would have reacted quickly' if a problem was apparent" (Detroit News).

So far NHTSA's  investigation includes 13 accidents, eight deaths and nine injuries.  NHTSA's files show that three of those people were wearing seat belts. The Chrysler spokesmen did not suggest how many people have to be killed or injured before they consider their flimsy latches a problem.

(04/30/99)