NHTSA Complaint #11495948 — 2013 CHRYSLER TOWN AND COUNTRY

What started as an intermittent crank / no start issue quickly progressed to complete failure of fuel pump relay that is part of TIPM. During the first crank no start issue on the day in question I was able to use remote start and the vehicle started normally. (Probably do to slightly higher system voltage as some accessories are turned off during remote start vs pushbutton start). Later the same day is when the complete failure occurred. This could be a major inconvenience for many, but in the harsh Minnesota winters it's more than just inconvenient when you have a wife and young kids in a vehicle away from home that will not start when air temps are in the single digits and wind chill is far below zero. Fortunately / sadly, this is such a common problem that I was able to diagnose it rather quickly with Google, but not before getting a frostbitten finger. I was able to bypass this fuel pump relay by forcing a paper clip into fuse holder M37 and getting keyed power from an alternative source, fuse M25. I don't, however, recommend this fix. What I do recommend is that Chrysler Corporation expand the recall of affected vehicles with this TIPM to include ALL vehicles that this was installed in. In hindsight, a totally unexplained, drained battery overnight while hundreds of miles from home was probably my first sign of this failing relay as it most likely stuck on forcing fuel pump to stay running with ignition off. This occurred 26 days prior to my crank / no start issue. After jump starting and fully charging, battery was tested and passed. Battery resting voltage tested day after crank / no start issue is 12.8V. If I remove relay jumper, crank no start persists.