Car That Killed ‘Star Trek’ Actor Anton Yelchin Had Potentially Been Recalled For Exact Reason That He Died

The world is still in mourning today after learning the tragic news that gifted actor Anton Yelchin had died in a freak car accident after he was found pinned between his Jeep Grand Cherokee and his mailbox. Friends of the Charlie Bartlett and Star Trek actor were worried when he was late to a meeting so the worried friends went to his home to investigate. It was there they found Anton Yelchin dead, pinned against the mailbox, with his Jeep in neutral.

That last part about his Jeep Grand Cherokee being in neutral is now extremely significant after Gizmodo.com unearthed news that certain recent models of the Jeep Grand Cherokee were recalled for rollaway risk ‘after drivers were injured when they mistakenly thought they had shifted their car to park.’

You can read the full PDF on this recall by clicking HERE, or you can read on for the poignant excerpt:

Description of the defect:
Certain 2012 to 2014 Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 vehicles and 2014 to 2015
Jeep Grand Cherokee vehicles
are equipped with an 8 speed transmission and a
monostable gear selector. FCA US has determined that the existing strategies built
into these vehicles to deter drivers from exiting the vehicle after failing to put the
transmission into PARK have not stopped some from doing so. Drivers erroneously
concluding that their vehicle’s transmission is in the PARK position may be struck
by the vehicle and injured if they attempt to get out of the vehicle while the engine
is running and the parking brake is not engaged.

Description of the Safety Risk:
Drivers erroneously concluding that their vehicle’s transmission is in the PARK
position may be struck by the vehicle and injured if they attempt to get out of
the vehicle while the engine is running and the parking brake is not engaged.

Andrew Liptak of Gizmodo.com reports that it is unclear which model of Jeep Grand Cherokee was involved in Anton’s tragic death, and the LAPD has yet to respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment.

If this particular defect was what caused Anton Yelchin’s death then I believe we’re going to see a frenzy of media demanding more transparency from automobile makers regarding recalls. And if it turns out the Jeep Grand Cherokee model that Anton was driving wasn’t part of the voluntary recall then I sincerely apologize for connecting dots that did not need to be connected.

(h/t Gizmodo)

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Cass Anderson is the Editor-in-Chief of BroBible. Based out of Florida, he covers an array of topics including NFL, Pop Culture, Fishing News, and the Outdoors.