Jury Finds FCA Liable for $150 Million in Fiery Crash
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne might feel that the older Jeeps with rear-mounted fuel tanks were as safe as any other vehicle built back in the late ’90s, as we reported here, but a jury in Decatur, Georgia apparently sees it quite differently.
In a case involving a 1999 Grand Cherokee with the rear-mounted fuel tank, the jury rendered that FCA should pay $150 million to the family of Remington Walden, of Bainbridge, Georgia, who died when the Jeep he was riding in caught on fire after being hit in the rear.
More specifically, it was found that Chrysler, “acted with wanton disregard for human life in the design … of the 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee,” according to a Detroit Free Press report.
The Georgia ruling will likely lead to even more legal troubles for FCA in the near future, given that the Center for Auto Safety estimates that there have been about 400 fatal crashes that can be directly tied to the rear-mounted fuel tanks.
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via [Detroit Free Press]