Wu was driving his Jeep Grand Cherokee to work on March 4, 2022, when he pulled over to fill up about 20 miles south of Minneapolis. He had a moment o

Millions of older cars, trucks with dangerous defects aren't getting fixed

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2024-09-08 04:30:03

Wu was driving his Jeep Grand Cherokee to work on March 4, 2022, when he pulled over to fill up about 20 miles south of Minneapolis.

He had a moment of forgetfulness as he tried to drive away from the Kwik Trip without removing the pump nozzle from his fuel tank. So the dairy plant worker said he stopped, and stepped out again into the frigid predawn.

Six years before, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles had issued a recall on his 2014 Jeep for problems related to the gear shifter and parking the vehicle. The problem was so pervasive that industry insiders already dubbed it the “park-to-reverse defect.” All it would take is a quick software update to fix. Wu later said he had no idea about the danger and never received a recall notice to get the repair done.

On that cloudy morning around 3 a.m., after getting out of his Jeep, Wu was shocked to realize that his unrepaired vehicle was suddenly rolling backward toward him. The Jeep quickly slammed into him, crushing his left leg so severely doctors would later need to amputate below the knee.