AUBURN HILLS, MICHIGAN — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV said on Monday it would investigate the crash that killed “Star Trek” actor Anton Yelchin, who was crushed to death by a recalled 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Yelchin was killed when his SUV rolled away and pinned him against a fence in Los Angeles, police said Sunday.
Fiat Chrysler recalled more than 1.1 million cars and SUVs worldwide in April because vehicles may roll away after drivers exit due to the design of the gear shifter, an issue linked to 41 injuries, 212 crashes and 308 reports of property damage, according to Reuters.
The recall was done at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s urging. Earlier this year the NHTSA expressed the opinion that, “the Monostable shifter is not intuitive and provides poor tactile and visual feedback to the driver, increasing the potential for unintended gear selection.”
The gear shifter was designed to always return to the default center position. This caused some people to inadvertently place the vehicle in neutral when they thought they had placed the car in park.
Fiat Chrysler said some drivers might have been confused by the electronic gearshift system, which moves like a joystick rather than along a gate path like conventional gear selectors.
According to Reuters, the carmaker said in April that it planned to update the vehicles to automatically prevent them from moving, under certain circumstances, even if the driver fails to put the vehicle in park.
In a May 24 letter to dealers, Fiat Chrysler said it planned on having the software updates required to fix the vehicles no later than July or August, Reuters said. The car company previously had told owners it hoped to come up with a “permanent” solution by the fourth quarter.
The automaker said it planned to change the behavior of the shifter by adding additional warning chimes that will go off when the driver’s door is opened and the vehicle is not in park.
Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman Jane Kim said on Monday that authorities were aware of the Jeep recall issue and were looking into whether it played any role in Yelchin’s accident.
