American Motors

AMERICAN MOTORS Corporation (AMC), the auto manufacturer with a reputation for appealing to squares, became hip in the early 1980s with what may have been the most dangerous vehicle on the market. By the time the Jeep CJ line was discontinued in January 1986, more than 570 lawsuits worth upward of $1 billion had been filed. Most cited the vehicle's tendency to roll over during routine driving conditions.

The Jeep was developed in 1940 to meet the U.S. Army's need for an off-road reconnaissance vehicle. The winning bidder, Willys-Overland, designed a 4-foot-high, 11-foot-long four-wheel-drive vehicle that quickly became beloved by soldiers. In the 1950s, while working on an improved military Jeep, Willys-Overland marketed a civilian version. Upon acquiring the Jeep business in 1970, AMC separated the military and civilian divisions.

The civilian Jeep market took off in 1982, just as the Army was switching from Jeeps to Hum-Vees, said to be better for launching weapons. A year earlier, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety had declared the Jeep CJ5 “the most dangerous thing on four wheels,” citing a fatality rate higher than that of motorcycles. The Insurance Institute's road tests found three out of four CJ5s would flip when rounding an ordinary 90-degree corner at 22 miles per hour. AMC blamed the auto's poor safety record on driver error.

While the National Highway Transportation Safety Board (NHTSB) denied any need to investigate Jeeps, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) required that a warning sticker be attached to all Jeep CJ5, CJ6, and CJ7 models, starting in early 1982. The label informed drivers that Jeeps, with their narrow wheelbase and high profile, do not handle like passenger cars.

A 1983 prospectus for AMC predicted lawsuits totaling $2.5 billion for rollover-related injuries. The next year would bring the highest verdict to date against AMC: $3.8 million in punitive damages for the 1980 death of 18-year-old Carrie Dustman in a rollover. However, injury claims were more typically settled out of court in confidential agreements, leading later litigants to complain that they would never have driven a Jeep if its dangers were known.

Consumer groups clamored for AMC to halt production and recall existing Jeeps. Faced with sales that dropped 50 percent from 1984 to 1985 and losses near $29 million, AMC said that safety issues and litigation were not behind its December 1985 decision to stop making the vehicles. The Jeep would be replaced by a more comfortable sport utility vehicle (SUV), the Wrangler YL. “This is really to meet the demands of Yuppies,” said AMC spokesman Jerry Sloan. “They want a more comfortable vehicle to drive when they have an attaché [Page 33]case in the front seat and their Burberry coats folded in the back seat.” In Los Angeles, where Jeeps had become status symbols comparable to Mercedes and BMWs, Jeep fans rallied unsuccessfully to keep the CJ5 in production.

Jeeps were never recalled, despite consumer advocacy group claims that more than 200 people died in Jeeps in 1989 alone. A NHTSB study in 1990 found that Jeeps were four times more likely than passenger cars to roll in single-vehicle crashes, with a 38 percent rollover rate for Jeeps made before 1981 and a 32 percent rollover rate for those made after 1981. Nonetheless, the NHTSB absolved the vehicle's maker of any responsibility, stating that Jeeps were safe if driven properly. At that time, about 420,000 Jeeps were still on the road, out of more than 600,000 sold between 1972 and 1986.

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