Chrysler’s 2007 Dodge Caliber cars are under federal investigation for unintended acceleration caused by a sticky pedal.  This is the same type of problem that led to a large Toyota recall this year.  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it is investigating as many as 161,000 Calibers for an accelerator pedal that “can stick or bind and not return to the idle position when it is released.”

NHTSA stated it has received five customer complaints but no reports of deaths, injuries or crashes.  A company spokesman said Chrysler’s own investigation has narrowed the population of suspect vehicles to 10,000 that were made during five weeks in March and April 2006.

The Colorado Senate has approved a bill imposing fines of up to $25,000 a day on Chrysler Group if it doesn’t comply with a new state law requiring dealer reinstatement under certain circumstances.  The Senate recently passed the dealer bill by a 35-0 vote.

Even if the legislation passes the House and is signed by Gov. Bill Ritter, however, its fate is unclear because Chrysler asked a U.S. Bankruptcy Court last month to block the dealer reinstatement law, which was enacted in March.  The House has until its May 12 recess to decide whether to pass the Bill and send it to the governor for final approval.

Chrysler has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to block a new Colorado dealer reinstatement law.  Chrysler has taken similar action against laws of this kind in four other states.  Chrysler is asking the Bankruptcy Court in New York to determine that the Colorado law, enacted last month, is pre-empted by federal bankruptcy laws.  The new Colorado law requires Chrysler and General Motors to offer a rejected dealership the right of first refusal if the company wants to reopen a point in the rejected dealer’s old market. If the automaker already has re-awarded such a franchise, it must offer to reinstate the rejected dealership or compensate it.

In December, Chrysler filed complaints in the same Bankruptcy Court last December seeking to block similar laws enacted by Illinois, Oregon, Maine and North Carolina.  While North Carolina backed off enforcement of its law in a settlement with Chrysler this month; Illinois, Oregon and Maine are continuing to contest Chrysler’s complaint.

Chrysler Group said it will offer to reinstate 50 closed dealerships within the next few days.  The company also said it is entering settlement talks with an unspecified number of shuttered showrooms.  Letters of intent will be sent to 50 of the 400 rejected dealerships that have applied to get their franchises back through arbitration, Chrysler said in a statement. They “are in locations that offer customer service benefits and will have limited adverse impact on the dealers within our current network,” Chrysler said. No letters of intent have been sent yet, Chrysler said.  In the statement, Chrysler also revealed that it already has awarded contracts and or sales or service agreements to 36 other closed dealerships since July based on individual circumstances.  The disclosures show that Chrysler has reinstated or is trying to reinstate 86 dealerships, or 11 percent of the 789 dealerships that were closed in June as part of its bankruptcy.

Chrysler announced it will replace a front airbag sensor in more than 355,500 minivans, starting in June. Chrysler’s “safety improvement campaign” covers 355,562 of its 2005-2006 Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans, including 259,437 in the United States and 72,035 in Canada.

Detroit Auto Show: An electric cavalcade

With federal mileage standards rising, automakers next week will show a fresh group of fuel-efficient vehicles at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Ford will unveil the redesigned production Focus, and Honda will show the production version of the CR-Z hybrid hatchback. Toyota and Volkswagen will roll out hybrid concepts; Audi, BMW and Fiat will display electric concepts.

Show organizers are arranging various electric cars, including one from China’s BYD Auto, in a space on the show floor called Electric Avenue. But high performance will get its due. Judging by vehicles at the show, performance cars and econoboxes will coexist happily in the 2016 model year, when automakers must reach fleet averages of 35.5 mpg.

At the Detroit show, Cadillac will unveil the high-performance CTS-V coupe, and Buick will show a performance sedan concept. General Motors and Chrysler Group may have replenished treasuries after surviving U.S. Bankruptcy Court in 2009, but their fresh resolve won’t be fully reflected on the show floor. Both automakers have modest unveilings. GM will have one production car: the CTS-V. Chrysler will have none. But Chrysler and partner Fiat are showing some concepts that explore their product planners’ ideas for the next few years. They will show a concept version of the Lancia Delta mid-sized hatchback with a Chrysler grille. They also will show an electric concept of the Fiat 500 minicar.

By: Charles Child – Automotive News

Terminated Chrysler Group dealers have until January 25th to notify the company of their decision to seek arbitration, according to a letter sent last week to owners of all 789 rejected dealerships. The letter, sent by Chrysler pursuant to the timetable in legislation mandating the arbitration, does not spell out the criteria used to reject the 789.

Chrysler will outline those criteria in individual letters to dealers that it will send before January 16th, according to Chrysler spokeswoman Kathy Graham. The dealers lost their franchises June 9 at the end of Chrysler’s six-week government mandated trip through U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The arbitration process was signed into law December 16th by President Barack Obama as part of a $446 billion appropriations bill. The legislation also affects General Motors which is terminating 1,350 dealerships.

Spokesman Greg Martin said GM is working on its “administrative next step. We plan to communicate with dealers soon.” The legislation requires that arbitration must be wrapped up in six months. Chrysler said in the form letter last week that it is “assessing its rights and remedies” with respect to the legislation.

Speaking to reporters at a company event Dec. 17, CEO Sergio Marchionne said restoring some of the large numbers of franchises could “cause havoc within Chrysler.” Earlier in December, Chrysler had proposed its own binding arbitration process to keep Congress from getting involved. But the negotiations ended with the introduction of the legislation. Marchionne said Chrysler’s offer would have “guaranteed a disgruntled dealer the opportunity to air its concern. Having said this, if Congress wants this, Congress gets this. And we’ll live with the consequences and react accordingly.”

The U. S. Patent and Trademark Office this week approved a new winged logo for the Chrysler brand, according to the Detroit Free Press.
As reported last month by Allpar.com, Chrysler appears to be preparing to tweak the winged badge that has branded its cars since the mid 1990s. The new logo keeps the wings, albeit a streamlined version of them, and centers the word “Chrysler” between the spans, resting in a field of blue.