ATLANTA — Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Jim Strickland has learned the Georgia State Patrol is continuing to use a handful of older patrol cars that are still waiting for a crucial recall repair.
"We currently have 933, as of the last count," said Capt. Kevin Rexroat, about the patrol's fleet of Dodge Chargers.
One hundred and twenty six need the driver's side airbag replaced as part of a massive recall affecting tens of millions of vehicles. A handful still in service remain unrepaired, and Rexroat says the patrol cannot simply park them.
"We don't have that capability with the number of troopers that we have and the vast area that we cover," he said.
"If the trooper has an issue, I'm going to be the first one to take it off the road," Rexroat said, about a trooper's discretion in deciding whether to take a car out of service.
With only seven Dodge Chargers in its fleet, Cobb County police put officers in substitute cars.
"We immediately contacted the chief. He immediately contacted the personnel driving the vehicles, and we told them to park 'em," said fleet director Al Curtis.
Curtis says the county received no recall notice.
"It's kind of scary having the officers out there; them not knowing and us not knowing," Curtis said.
Curtis says Strickland's open records request for police vehicle identification numbers alerted him to the recall issue. He doesn't want that to happen again.
"Any recall for Ford, Chevy or Dodge, we'll get an email response before waiting for the mail to drop it off," he said.
Rexroat told Strickland he would not be surprised if a second recall affected hundreds of the state's patrol cars.
It requires updating software to make the side airbags less likely to deploy unnecessarily. Strickland checked a sample of vehicle ID numbers from more than 500 cars. Every one needed the recall.
Rexroat says none of the recall repairs will affect operations.
"Our function is to patrol highways and enforce traffic laws, and that will continue and has continued to be done," he said.
WSBTV
