Chrysler announced today they would compromise with car safety regulators by agreeing to a recall of 2.7 million cars in order to conduct inspections, however they continue to insist that the vehicles are safe. The agreement is the conclusion of two weeks of disputes between the automaker owned by Italy’s Fiat regarding a recall of two older Jeep models which safety regulators say pose a serious risk of fire. The automaker appeared ready to continue rejecting the National Highway Traffic Association’s demands to recall the Jeep Grand Cherokees manufactured from 1993-2004 and Jeep Libertys made from 2002-2007. The automaker agreed to the voluntary recall, which requires a visual inspection on all automobiles and improving the vehicle’s rear ends in order to prevent a fire caused by a rear-end crash. If a vehicle owner doesn’t have a factory-fitted trailer hitch or hitch made by an approved supplier, their vehicle will be strengthened. Chrysler stated they will take extra steps to help ensure their vehicles are safe for customers to use. The NHTSA said they are happy that Chrysler announced the recall and took action to protect their customers.

NHTSA said the vehicles were not safely designed and had a chance of leaking fuel or bursting into flames due to a crash. Some of these collisions reported by drivers lead to deaths. They wanted Chrysler to change their design which places the fuel tank behind the rear axel. In response, the automaker said the NHTSA did not include comparable vehicles with this fuel tank design from its investigations, some of which have very rocky safety records. An analyst for Edmunds.com said Chrysler weighed the risks and benefits of conducting a voluntary recall, and found that repairing vehicles would cost less than damage to their reputation. The analyst said it was the best decision for them to make. Refusing a recall is very rare, and the automaker continued to claim their vehicles were not flawed.

When they announced the recall, Chrysler stated their research shows the cars aren’t defective. Automakers, however, are also aware of the negative effects of going against the NHTSA and reports that show their vehicles are not safe for the public to use. For instance, Japan’s Toyota encountered a series of bad publicity around 2009 when they refused to recall vehicles due to unintended acceleration, and faced consequences with decreased sales and damaged reputations that affected their overall sales, according to news reports.