Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) announced yesterday, that it’s voluntarily recalling nearly 160,000 EcoDiesel equipped pickups. The recall will affect Ram 1500 pickups with the 3.0-liter EcoDiesel V6 from the 2014 to 2019 model years for potential coolant leaks.
According to FCA, the Company uses dealer-service reports and other data streams to monitor the performance of the vehicles they sell during the vehicle’s lifetime. Those reports prompted an internal investigation, in-which FCA engineers discovered microscopic cracks in some of the Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) coolers.
The report states that if trucks that might have these microscopic cracks present and coolant may escape, in some rear circumstances it could pose a risk for an engine fire. FCA said that it is aware of a small number of fires with the fourth-generation EcoDiesel trucks, which has to lead to four minor injuries when owners attempted to extinguish the fires in the engine compartments. FCA is unaware of any other related accidents.
The Company is also making it clear, that these issues are related to the fourth-generation EcoDiesel Ram 1500 pickups and not the upcoming third-generation 3.0-liter EcoDiesel-powered 2020 Ram 1500 models due in dealers in the upcoming weeks.
FCA says that it estimates there is 107,898 in the United States, 50,159 trucks in Canada, and 1,730 trucks outside North America that will be affected by the recall.
FCA will start to notify the affected customers and advise them when they may schedule service to mend the issue. Until then, customers are being advised to monitor their coolant levels and if those levels are consistently low, to immediately contact their local Ram dealer. Customers that may have questions or concerns are advised to contact FCA’s Recall Assistance hotline at 1-800-853-1403.
This has come at a good time for the Company, as it has just re-released the second-generation EcoDiesel-powered 2019 Ram 1500 Classic Laramie models back into the U.S. marketplace, which we will be talking about tomorrow morning on MoparInsiders.com.
