Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has recalled a further 7,810 Jeeps affected by a widely reported bug that allows an attacker to wirelessly seize control of the vehicle.
The recall affects the variants of the 2015 model of the FCA’s Jeep Renegade sports utility vehicle with a 6.5-inch touchscreen, more than half of which FCA says are still in dealer hands.
In a statement, the automobile firm said: “the campaign – which involves radios that differ from those implicated in another, similar recall – is designed to protect connected vehicles from remote manipulation. If unauthorised, such interference constitutes a criminal act.
“FCA US has already applied measures to prevent the type of vehicle manipulation demonstrated in a recent media report. These measures – which required no customer or dealer actions – block remote access to certain vehicle systems.
“The company is unaware of any injuries related to software exploitation, nor is it aware of any related complaints, warranty claims or accidents – independent of the media demonstration.”
The company attempted to ameliorate concerns, saying “the software manipulation addressed by this recall required unique and extensive technical knowledge, prolonged physical access to a subject vehicle and extended periods of time to write code.
“No defect has been found. FCA US is conducting this campaign out of an abundance of caution.”
The latest recall, announced on the Friday before a three-day Labor Day weekend in America, is significantly smaller than the 1.4 million car recall following the release of the security vulnerability.
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