UPDATE 1-Fiat Chrysler recalls 1.1 million cars, SUVs for rollaway issue

(Adds NHTSA reaction, more details)
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) - Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (NYSE:FCAU)
NV FCHA.MI said on Friday it is recalling more than 1.1
million cars and SUVs worldwide because the vehicles may roll
away after drivers exit.
The automaker said the recall is linked to as many as 41
injuries because drivers mistakenly believed they had placed the
vehicles in park before exiting.
The recall covers the 2012-2014 Dodge Charger and Chrysler
300 sedans and 2014-2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee sport utility
vehicles. About 811,000 vehicles in the United States are
affected, along with about 52,000 vehicles in Canada; nearly
17,000 in Mexico and almost 250,000 vehicles outside North
America.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA), which upgraded its probe into the issue in February,
said on Friday that its "investigation of the shifter in these
vehicles showed it is clearly a safety issue that has led to
hundreds of crashes and dozens of injuries.
Fiat Chrysler said it will update the vehicles to
automatically prevent them from moving, under certain
circumstances, even if the driver fails to put the vehicle in
park. Fiat Chrysler did not say when the recall remedy will be
available.
NHTSA spokesman Bryan Thomas said the agency "will be
monitoring this recall carefully to ensure that (Fiat Chrysler)
produces a safe solution and gets the vehicles remedied as
quickly as possible."
NHTSA said in February it had reports of 314 complaints,
including 121 crashes after vehicles rolled away, some striking
buildings, drivers or other cars. Injury reports include three
complaints of a fractured pelvis and four others requiring some
other degree of hospitalization.
NHTSA said testing of the vehicles' electronic gear shifter
found it "not intuitive and provides poor tactile and visual
feedback to the driver, increasing the potential for unintended
gear selection."
Gear-selection is conveyed to drivers by indicator lights,
not gear-selector position, which may lead drivers to falsely
assume vehicles are in park, the company said. Vehicles deliver
warning chimes and messages if driver-side doors are opened
while engines are still running and park is not engaged.
Fiat Chrysler said it began equipping the Charger and 300
with a new shift-lever design in the 2015 model year and the
Grand Cherokee's shift-lever was updated the following year.
Many of the crashes occurred soon after the vehicles were
purchased. One complaint said that in September 2015, a new Jeep
Grand Cherokee in Leonardtown, Maryland, rolled forward and
struck headstones in a cemetery causing $1,500 in damage.