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The Detroit News (Michigan)

August 9, 2006 Wednesday

Chrysler, car washes at odds over safety;

Top spokesman blasts industry group for claiming Jeeps accelerate
suddenly, pose a threat to workers.
BYLINE: David Shepardson

SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. 1C

LENGTH: 844 words

DATELINE: WASHINGTON

In an unusual public dispute, DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group is taking aim at a car wash trade associa-
tion that claims Jeep Cherokees and Grand Cherokees are prone to dangerous sudden acceleration prob-
lems that put car wash employees and customers at risk of injury or possibly death.
Chrysler's top spokesman, Jason Vines, on Tuesday lashed out at the International Carwash Association
in a sharply worded Internet posting.
The missive came in response to a recent letter from the association to its members advising them to have
workers take special safety precautions when washing the Jeep sport utility vehicles.
Chrysler was also reacting to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who in June asked the Na-
tional Highway Traffic Safety Administration to investigate the February death of a 53-year-old trucker at a
Hamden, Conn., car wash, who was struck by a runaway Jeep speeding out of a car wash bay.
Police found no sign of a mechanical problem with the Jeep. NHTSA is reviewing the request, spokesman
Eric Bolton said Tuesday.
Auburn Hills-based Chrysler says it's unfair that two of its popular vehicles have been singled out by car
wash association and says there is no evidence to suggest that the Jeeps are any more likely than any other
vehicle to accelerate suddenly near the end of the car wash cycle."If a vehicle suddenly accelerates in a car
wash, it's generally because some dude 'workin' at the car wash baby' is dancing with two left feet -- stepping
on the gas pedal instead of the brake," Vines wrote Tuesday on thefirehouse.biz, a blog for journalists and
analysts sponsored by the automaker.
"That's not my opinion, that's the conclusion reached in studies conducted by the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration and other government and independent agencies," Vines wrote.
The sudden acceleration issue has dogged the auto industry since the mid-1980s, following reports that ve-
hicles from many automakers suffered from sudden acceleration. Jeeps have been singled out for criticism
for at least 15 years, although no study has confirmed the problem.
The car wash association, which began warning members about the problem as early as 1995, recently sent
a letter advising members how to warn workers about washing Jeeps.
"Notify all employees once a Jeep arrives on premises by honking the horn and activating the hazard lights,"
the letter says. "Have only experienced employees operate Jeeps. Have employees wear seat belts when
operating Jeeps."
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Chrysler, car washes at odds over safety; Top spokesman blasts industry group for claiming Jeeps
accelerate suddenly, pose a threat to workers. The Detroit News (Michigan) August 9, 2006 Wednesday

Chrysler said it's aware that some car washes refuse to service its customers Jeep Cherokees and Grand
Cherokees because of the campaign.Bruce Milen, owner of Jax Car Wash with six outlets in Metro Detroit,
said the problem is real.
In the past 18 months, he said the company has had four incidents involving Jeeps. In March, a worker was
driving a Jeep off the conveyer belt after it was washed and the vehicle hit three other cars and ran over an
employee, breaking his pelvis.
The company's worker's compensation insurance was cancelled and its new rates are higher. Now a plastic
sleeve is placed over the steering wheels of Cherokees and Grand Cherokees to remind workers to take
special precautions.
"My employee swore up and down that his foot was on the brake, and other employees saw the brake lights
on," Milen said. "It's impossible for all these incidents to be employee error. I'm a small-business man -- to go
after Chrysler, forget it. I just want the problem fixed."
Vines cited dozens of studies over more than a decade that he says disprove any link between "sudden ac-
celeration" and a vehicle defect. In 1989, NHTSA said "pedal misapplication" -- mistaking the gas pedal for
the brake -- was to blame.
More recently, NHTSA rejected a request to investigate sudden acceleration in Jeeps in 2002, saying "pedal
misapplication" appeared to be the primary cause of such incidents.
"It's a big mistake for the car wash industry to whitewash its failings by trying to blame the vehicles its cus-
tomers pay good money to clean," Vines wrote on the blog. "There are a few immutable truths in life. One is
that the brakes always win. You could be standing on the gas, but if your other foot is on the brake the car is
going nowhere."
Vines also noted that while five of 41 recent complaints of "sudden acceleration" were lodged against Jeep
Cherokees and Grand Cherokees, the same number were leveled against the Toyota Camry.
Mark Thorsby, ICA's executive director, backpedaled a bit Tuesday from the group's advice for washing
Jeeps.
He said the advice for special precautions was applicable for all vehicles. Jeep was singled out because the
number of complaints they had received "were excessive in comparison to other vehicles."
"If we got Toyota complaints, we'd say, 'Hey look out for the Camry," Thorsby said. "There have been an in-
finitesimally small number of incidents of property damage or injuries involving Jeeps, but they got our atten-
tion."
Americans spend $24 billion annually at the nation's 100,000 car washes. About 40 percent of the washes
are self-serve.

LOAD-DATE: August 10, 2006

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

JOURNAL-CODE: det

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