NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Preliminary Evaluation PE17-003: Occupant Restraint Controller Failure

Closed

NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation opened Preliminary Evaluation PE17-003 on June 1, 2017 and closed it on December 25, 2017. NHTSA's investigations file lists the 2012 Jeep Liberty for it and links recall 17V-640 to it.

Updated daily from NHTSA's investigations file

Key facts

NHTSA number: PE17-003 (also written PE17003)
Investigation type: Preliminary Evaluation The first stage of most defect investigations: NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation gathers basic information about a possible safety defect, including from the manufacturer.
Status: Closed December 25, 2017
Opened: June 1, 2017
Closed: December 25, 2017
Vehicle or equipment manufacturer: Chrysler (FCA US, LLC)
Components: Air Bags; Air Bags — Frontal; Air Bags — Frontal — Sensor/Control Module-Inactive
Recall linked by NHTSA: 17V-640: Active Headrests may not Deploy in a Crash, reported October 10, 2017
Vehicles and equipment: 2012 Jeep Liberty

NHTSA's summary

As NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation wrote it for Preliminary Evaluation PE17-003.

The Office of Defects Investigation opened this Preliminary Evaluation to investigate VOQ complaints alleging a failure of the Occupant Restraint Controller (ORC) module in model year (MY) 2012 Jeep Liberty.

The purpose of the investigation was to understand Vehicle Owner Questionnaire (VOQ) complaints stating that the air bag warning light remained illuminated while the vehicle was in operation.

In many cases the warning light issue was reportedly corrected by a replacement of the ORC module. In 2013 FCA issued NHTSA safety recall 13V282 to address ORC module failures caused by an electrical over stress (EOS) condition that damaged an internal resistor.

The failure lead to non-deployment of the active head restraints in rear impact crashes of sufficient severity to require deployment.

This condition would also result in illumination of the air bag warning light and set a B2208 diagnostic trouble code (DTC).

Recall 13V282 involved two different remedies based on the model year and model of the recalled vehicle.

Some models were repaired by replacing the ORC with an updated unit.

However the subject vehicles of this investigation, which made up the largest population in the recall, received a software update to the Totally Integrated Power Module (TIPM), another electronic device that is involved in powering of the ORC. After the investigation was opened, FCA began collecting failed subject vehicle ORC modules so they could be analyzed for failure causation.

From June 2017 to August 2017 FCA obtained 13 ORC modules and analyzed 10 of them.

FCA determined 9 contained evidence of the resistor over stress condition.

Of that group, 7 had experienced resistor failures prior to the TIPM being re-flashed under the recall action.

In these cases, replacement of the ORC module would have been the only effective repair to extinguish the air bag warning lamp.

This observation correlates well with VOQ complaints ODI received from consumers who experienced an airbag warning light illuminated when they presented their vehicle in for the original 13V282 repair.

Many of these consumers were told the TIPM re-flash did not fix the warning light issue, and that their ORC module needed to be replaced (at the consumer's expense). ODI notes that 8 of the 10 analyzed ORCs displaying the resistor EOS condition also had DTC B1BCF stored.

This code is related to the detection of a possible internal fault with a rollover sensor.

FCA conducted additional testing and concluded that the presence of the resistor failure caused the subsequent setting of the this DTC. On October 4, 2017 FCA decided to conduct a safety recall to replace the subject vehicle ORC modules with a redesigned device.

FCA submitted the defect information report to the agency on October 10, 2017. See NHTSA 17V640 for further details.

Accordingly the investigation is closed.

The ODI reports cited above can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under the following ID numbers: 10994134, 10994095, 10993838, 10993675, 10993482, 10991764, 10985011, 10984531, 10980350, 10970003, 10969021, 10957076, 10948802, 10945162, 10938664, 10928226, 10917300, 10904332, 10896571, 10893915, 10888324, 10887727, 10865180, 10862586, 10860359, 10853737, 10850921, 10850366, 10837723, 10837086, 10816784, 10816174, 10810454, 10787829, 10778572, 10766688, 10761468, 10761189, 10747749, 10746608, 10744774, 10736037, 10730658, 10717657, 10706097, 10684125, 10681813, 10652841, 10648367, 10641248, 10622487, 10619379, 10618765, 10617657, 10614874, 10608301, 10605955, 11041327, 11047850, 11030130, 11012891, 11024995, 11051267, 11012170

Vehicles and equipment listed for this investigation

NHTSA's investigations file lists these vehicles and equipment for Preliminary Evaluation PE17-003. A listed model year means only that an investigation names it; it says nothing about any particular vehicle. Model years with a try.vin recall page link to that page's NHTSA investigations section.

Jeep

Jeep Liberty
- 2012

All Jeep recalls

What an NHTSA investigation is

NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) looks into possible safety defects in vehicles and equipment, often after owner complaints. An investigation usually starts as a Preliminary Evaluation, or as a Recall Query when it concerns whether an existing recall covers the right vehicles or fixes the problem, and ODI can upgrade it to a more detailed Engineering Analysis. A Defect Petition asks NHTSA to open an investigation, and Audit and Equipment Queries are administrative investigations into whether companies complied with federal vehicle safety requirements, such as reporting, recall and certification rules.

An open investigation is not a finding that a safety defect exists, and NHTSA can close one without a recall.

To see whether a specific vehicle has an open recall, enter its VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.

Jeep VIN check: decode a VIN to see its year, make and model.

Sources

NHTSA's investigation record for PE17-003

Investigation details come from NHTSA's investigations file, which try.vin imports once a day. The investigation types are described from the U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General's May 2023 report on NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation, NHTSA's petition rules (49 CFR Parts 552 and 557) and NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation procedures. How try.vin reads NHTSA investigations.