— It took nearly seven years, but an investigation into Fiat Chrysler active headrest deployments has been closed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The long-term federal investigation shows how vehicle owners may complain about alleged defects, but providing evidence to support the allegations may be a bit more difficult.
An active head restraint, or headrest, deploys quickly in a rear-end crash to help prevent whiplash.
NHTSA opened its investigation in September 2019 following 128 complaints about FCA active head restraints that inadvertently deployed in 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango vehicles.
NHTSA had also received reports of 13 injuries involving headaches, soft tissue injuries, nausea, vomiting and disorientation.
Safety regulators finally requested information about sudden headrest deployments without crash impacts in these Chrysler vehicles.
- 2010-2014 Dodge Avenger 200
- 2010-2014 Dodge Caliber
- 2010-2014 Chrysler Sebring
- 2013-2015 Ram Tradesman
- 2012 Ram Van
- 2010-2019 Dodge Grand Caravan
- 2010-2016 Chrysler Town and Country
- 2010-2017 Jeep Compass
- 2011-2020 Dodge Durango
- 2011-2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee
- 2010-2019 Dodge Journey
- 2010-2012 Jeep Liberty
- 2010-2011 Jeep Nitro
- 2010-2011 Jeep Patriot
Customers complained both front active head restraints could deploy, and Fiat Chrysler submitted data to NHTSA which covered nine years for about 7.5 million vehicles.
The government decided to focus on 710,890 model year 2012-2015 Jeep Grand Cherokees vehicles manufactured between August 19, 2011, and August 8, 2015. There had been 2,839 alleged active head restraints deployments in those vehicles.
Hundreds of those customers claimed they were injured by the sudden deployments, but NHTSA could find no evidence to validate any injuries that required medical treatment. NHTSA contacted and interviewed 63 Chrysler owners who complained of injuries, but only one customer provided any medical records.
But lawyers for that customer indicated the customer had experienced previous neck injuries in the middle 1990s.
Safety regulators also contacted an additional 100 customers who complained about alleged injuries, but NHTSA said no evidence was provided by those customers.
Additionally, customers claimed multiple crashes had occurred because of sudden headrest deployments, but NHTSA found no evidence any crash was caused by the active head restraint deploying. And the government also determined all the crashes were minor.
The vehicles have been in service up to 16 years, but out of more than 8,500 inadvertent headrest deployments, NHTSA found no evidence of any serious crashes or injuries.
The government closed its Chrysler headrest investigation based on lack of evidence of serious problems if the active head restraint does deploy. Additionally, FCA released a warranty extension for the active headrests.
The results of the federal investigation are similar to lawsuits filed against Fiat Chrysler, two which made it to trial. In one lawsuit the vehicle owner who filed the class action lawsuit admitted he never had any problems with the headrest and didn't sue until he was approached by a lawyer at a party.
The automaker was cleared by juries in two trials (here and here), with one judge finding an active headrest deploys with the "force of a confetti-filled eggshell."