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WASHINGTON - Complaints of engine fires have prompted a safety
investigation that could lead to the recall of about 353,000
DaimlerChrysler (DCX) and Kia Motor Co. vehicles.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched the
defect investigation as a result of reports that include about
300,000 of Chrysler's 1999 and 2000 Dodge Stratus, Chrysler Cirrus
and Plymouth Breeze cars and 52,824 of Kia's 2003 Sedona minivans.
The agency has it received 24 complaints of fires in the Chrysler
cars and five in the Kia vans, with no accidents or injuries. For
more information, see NHTSA Action Number PE05035 (Kia) and NHTSA
Action Number PE05036 (Chrysler) at the agency's Office of Defects
Investigation Web site.
A defect investigation is a preliminary evaluation and the initial
step in the Washington-based agency's process. About 20 percent of
such inquiries advance, and the rest are closed with a finding of no
defect. Investigations that are upgraded lead to recalls about 70
percent of the time, according to NHTSA.
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