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NHTSA defect investigation · Preliminary Evaluation

Dodge preliminary evaluation PE10024

Rear Hatch Strut Support Failure. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this preliminary evaluation about the lock on 1 model year (2005). Opened Jul 19, 2010, closed Nov 24, 2010 after 4 months without a recall. closed

What NHTSA says

Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filed

See Attached Closing Report.

Stage Preliminary Evaluation — NHTSA works to complete one within eight months Opened Jul 19, 2010 Closed Nov 24, 2010 Manufacturer Chrysler (FCA US, LLC) Components Latches/Locks/Linkages › Hatchback/Liftgate › Lock, Latches/Locks/Linkages › Tailgate › Latch, Structure › Body › Hatchback/Liftgate, Structure › Body › Hatchback/Liftgate › Hinge And Attachments, Structure › Body › Hatchback/Liftgate › Support Device/Strut, Structure › Body › Tailgate

A Preliminary Evaluation is the first formal stage: NHTSA has decided the complaints and other information it screened are worth a closer look, and asks the manufacturer for its own data on the condition. The summary is the agency’s own text from its investigation file, unedited; the resumes carrying the full reasoning are linked below.

The paperwork NHTSA filed

Source: every document on this action, at nhtsa.gov
DocumentCodeFiledAt NHTSA
Opening resumeINOA2010PDF
Closing resumeINCLA2010PDF
Information request to the manufacturerINIM2010PDF

These are NHTSA’s own files, served from the agency’s site — the resumes are what ODI wrote when it opened and closed the action, and the rest is the correspondence behind them, including what the manufacturer sent when the agency asked. They are linked, not copied: where a document names the people who wrote in, that redaction is the agency’s to make and its copy is the one you should read.

What this means for an owner

Source: and what happens next

An investigation is not a finding that a defect exists, and it puts no duty on anyone. NHTSA opens a Preliminary Evaluation when complaints and other reports suggest a condition worth asking the manufacturer about; it upgrades to an Engineering Analysis when the answers warrant testing; it closes either when it recommends a recall, when the manufacturer recalls on its own, or when no defect trend is found. The agency’s own goals are about four months for a petition, eight for a Preliminary Evaluation or a Recall Query and eighteen for an Engineering Analysis; many run longer.

This one closed without a recall. That means NHTSA found no defect trend it chose to act on at the time, or the manufacturer addressed the condition another way (a service campaign or a bulletin, which have their own pages). A closed file can be reopened if new reports arrive.

Model years it names

Source: as NHTSA filed them

Also named: 2005 Dodge Magnum.

A vehicle page’s investigation list carries the same action; a name here is the scope NHTSA opened, not a list of affected VINs.

Common questions

Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Is PE10024 a recall?

No. A preliminary evaluation is NHTSA asking questions, not a recall. A safety recall carries an NHTSA campaign number and a duty to repair for free; this one closed without one. Whether one particular vehicle has an open recall is a VIN question at nhtsa.gov/recalls.

Is PE10024 still open?

No. It closed on Nov 24, 2010 without a recall.

Which vehicles does PE10024 cover?

NHTSA opened it on 1 model year: 2005 Dodge Magnum. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.