In a defiant move against nanny government, Chrysler refused to recall 2.7 million Jeeps. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) claims fuel tanks in the vehicles could leak, causing fires on rear-end collisions.
According to Fox News, the cars in question include Jeep Grand Cherokees from 1993 through 2004 and Jeep Libertys from 2002 through 2007. Chrysler does not intend to recall the cars, denying that they are defective. The company claims NHTSA’s analysis is incomplete and stands by the safety of its vehicles.
Furthermore, the recall was initiated by Ditlow’s Center of Auto Safety in a similar complaint leveled against GM pickup trucks in 1993. Ditlow, however, attached explosives to the fuel tanks of those trucks to burst into flame upon impact, according to National Review. GM fought back and defeated the government’s recall.
Such refusals to recall are rare, giving Chrysler the look of a leader in private-sector defiance. Reaction to yet another intrusive regulation shows Chrysler won’t kowtow to unnecessary government demands. Safety remains an important parameter, but ensuring extraordinary levels of safety are not warranted, especially for rare events that may possibly be staged.
Could it be that Chyrsler was set up in the same way that GM was in 1993? Just how rare are the such bona fide rear-end collisions? Chrysler’s analysis shows a fire incident occurs once in a million years of vehicle operation. NHTSA appears to be grasping at fantasy or making it up in order to make trouble for Chrysler, something government agencies do well when targeting private industry.
Chrysler must be wondering why government insists on extraordinary guarantees of safety when customers do not demand the same. If Americans wanted government to take every iota of risk out of what we do, we wouldn’t get up out of bed every morning, drive a car, cross the street, raise children, climb a ladder, tree, mountain, or flight of stairs. Something smells fishy.
If such guarantees are government’s business, it is in the wrong business. Government’s job is to protect Americans from national enemies, invaders, terrorist groups, and large or widespread threats to our collective security, not from rarely occurring accidental events.
It is in Chrysler’s own interest to allow its customers to operate its vehicles safely without government’s intrusion. Such intrusion implies that we are incapable of ensuring our own safety and limits our liberty to take such risk upon ourselves.
Perhaps, instead, government is setting up Chrysler for a fall. To take out a big car company is something our government seems capable of doing. Perhaps the Jeep recall is another government scandal in the making. Or, has a government gone rogue now going rogue with our cars?
