Jeep Fuel-Spillage Posts Draws Readers
By Michelle Krebs February 18, 2011
A post discussing consumer complaints for fuel spit-back on some Chrysler and Jeep models was the favorite item of AutoObserver.com readers this week, and since the item posted, Chrysler addressed those complaints in a new service bulletin. Edmunds.com Features Editor Carroll Lachnit reported on Feb. 11 for AutoObserver.com that growing number of consumer complaints were being filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) about fuel spilling from the gas tank during a fill-up – mostly on Jeep Wrangler models.
An Edmunds. com analysis of NHTSA’s data base, cited in the post, showed that nearly 900 owners of Jeep Wranglers in the 2005-2010 model years had filed complaints over the last two years about fuel spit-back during fill-ups. Owners of other Chrysler vehicles have made similar complaints. In August, NHTSA opened an investigation into the problem in 2007 and 2008 Jeep Wranglers, which are the source of most of the complaints. In a Feb. 15 service bulletin – and reported by AutoObserver.com today – Chrysler said it will replace the gas tanks in certain 2007-2008 Jeep Wranglers to address the problem.
Fuel systems were the topic of another reader favorite this week. AutoObserver Senior Editor Bill Visnic reported on NHTSA gearing up an investigation into numerous reports of failing high-pressure fuel pumps on diesel-powered Volkswagen and Audi vehicles. Visnic noted that last fall BMW issued a recall on its diesel-powered for similar pump problems. Visnic posed the question might fuel pumps be to the German diesel carmakers what sticky pedals were to Toyota?
Another favorite read was one by frequent AutoObserver.com Contributor Dale Buss about a possible price and/or incentive war developing in the U.S. Hyundai Motor America CEO John Krafcik grabbed headlines when he complained at the recent Chicago Auto Show that General Motors had set off a price war with its aggressive and unseasonable incentive activity in January.
A closer examination of Edmunds.com data, however, revealed GM’s action was more the execution of a sortie than starting a war, or even a skirmish, as no one was responding. The Edmunds.com analysis suggested GM’s higher-than-usual incentives in January were targeted ones and may well be a one-time-only deal – or at least until there is evidence that GM is soldiering on with similarly high incentives in February. We’ll know that when February sales and incentive data comes in March 1.
A commentary by Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl grabbed readers’ attention by suggested that an ideal car rating system, unlike ratings systems by magazines and other entities, allow consumers to pick the attributes they cared about, define their own relative weightings, then rank vehicles based on the results.
And, as always, a perennial favorite of AutoObserver.com readers was a piece posted last year on Honda transmission problems and the automaker's inconsistent response to consumer complaints.
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