Jeep preliminary evaluation PE15003
Engine compartment fire. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this preliminary evaluation about the engine on 1 model year (2015). Opened Jan 13, 2015, closed Dec 9, 2015 after 11 months. It led to safety recall 15V676000. became a recall
What NHTSA says
Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filedOn October 15, 2015, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, US LLC, (FCA), submitted a Defect Information Report (DIR) to NHTSA regarding an air-conditioning suction/discharge combo line routing condition that may result in engine compartment fire in approximately 75,574 model year (MY) 2015 Jeep Cherokee vehicles equipped with 2.4L engines and built from October 1, 2014 through June 18, 2015 (NHTSA Recall 15V-676, FCA Recall R57).According to FCA's DIR, a misrouted A/C combo line can be pinched and cut or thermally degraded by the exhaust manifold heat shield, potentially resulting in loss of air conditioning, smoke and/or fire from ignition of leaked A/C refrigerant oil onto a hot exhaust manifold. The recalled vehicles will be inspected for misrouted A/C combo lines and those found to be misrouted will be replaced. FCA estimates that one percent of the recalled population may be affected by the A/C combo line routing defect. ODI?s analysis of warranty data provided by FCA in response to the information request letter for PE15-003 identified a spike in claims related to the A/C combo line leakage in vehicles equipped with 2.4L engines built after October 1, 2014. FCA implemented its final process corrective action for the hose routing concern on June 18, 2015. The 113,034 MY 2015 Jeep Cherokee vehicles equipped with 3.2L engines have different A/C line routing configurations and are not affected by the A/C combo line routing defect. FCA provided a total of 220 warranty claims potentially related to the A/C combo line in vehicles equipped with 2.4L engines. Ninety-five percent of the claims (210) involved the 74,574 Jeep Cherokee 2.4L vehicles built during the recall period. Only 10 A/C combo line claims and no related fires were identified in the 28,250 Jeep Cherokee 2.4L vehicles that were built before or after the period with the hose routing concern. Analysis of engine compartment fires reported to ODI and FCA identified a total of 10 fires in MY 2015 Jeep Cherokee vehicles. Nine (9) of the fires involved vehicles equipped with 2.4L engines and 8 of these involved vehicles built during the production range subject to Recall 15V-676. These include 5 fires that FCA's investigations determined were most likely caused by the A/C combo line and 3 fires of unknown cause originating in the area of the exhaust manifold heat shield, resulting in fire incident rates in the recall population of 6.6 per 100,000 vehicles for the A/C combo line condition and 10.6 per 100,000 vehicles for fire incidents for which the A/C combo line could not be excluded as the cause. The other 2 engine compartment fires involved a low-mileage fire of unknown cause in a vehicle equipped with a 3.2L engine and a minor self-extinguished fire that FCA?s investigation attributed to a lower transmission oil cooler (TOC) line connection seepage condition in a rental vehicle equipped with a 2.4L engine and built prior to the recall production range. This preliminary evaluation is closed based on FCA?s recall. The following VOQ numbers are associated with the issues discussed in this closing resume: A/C combo line failure:10786287 Unknown cause:10712350, 10678215, 10672201
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 opening and closing resumes with the full reasoning are on NHTSA’s site under this number.
What this means for an owner
Source: and what happens nextAn 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 became a recall. The campaign page carries the manufacturer’s filed defect, risk and remedy, the build window and every model year covered; whether one specific vehicle is included is settled by VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Model years it names
Source: as NHTSA filed themAlso named: 2015 Jeep Cherokee.
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 InvestigationIs PE15003 a recall?
No — it is the investigation that led to one. Recall 15V676000 is the campaign; its page carries the remedy.
Is PE15003 still open?
No. It closed on Dec 9, 2015 and led to recall 15V676000.
Which vehicles does PE15003 cover?
NHTSA opened it on 1 model year: 2015 Jeep Cherokee. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.