The United States government has slapped a $105 million fine on Fiat-Chrysler for not following through on a recall of fire-prone Jeeps and RAM pickup trucks. The company must buy back 500,000 of the vehicles and the move has left Canada “blindsided”. Transport Minister Lisa Raitt said she still doesn’t know the impact on Canada of the recall of Fiat-Chrysler vehicles. “I simply was left blindsided on this issue,” Raitt told CBC News. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) fined the Italian-American automaker a record $105 million for poorly executing 23 vehicle safety recalls covering more than 11 million defective vehicles over several years. As part of that deal, Fiat-Chrysler has been ordered to fix or buy back 500,000 Ram pickup trucks and 1.5 million Jeeps that might be vulnerable in rear-end collisions.
