A Fiat Chrysler spokesman said today that the automaker will investigate Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin’s fatal accident, which occurred after his 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee pinned him against a mailbox in his driveway. That model of Jeep was among a wave of recalls for a gear shifter involved in numerous rollaway accidents.




The shifter in Yelchin’s Jeep Grand Cherokee was recalled back in April because it would look like it’s in park when it’s actually in neutral. (This is because when it’s actually in park, it also looks like it’s in neutral.) Some owners would get out of their cars and leave them in neutral, thinking that they were in park. Dozens were injured in a manner just like how Yelchin, 27, was killed, which is likely to be a thread police will investigate as well.




FCA spokesperson Eric Mayne told Reuters that any speculation is premature, but that the company will conduct a “thorough investigation” of the incident. Mayne reiterated on the phone with Jalopnik that FCA will be “investigating from every angle,” and would not specifically single out the shifter as the issue.

Yelchin’s Jeep Grand Cherokee was only one of 1.1 million vehicles affected by this April recall.