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Chrysler ordered a canvass of its zone managers, service managers and dealers around the country. The results, says Jeffe: "Absolutely zilch. Not a single complaint from a customer about the handling of the car." Motor Trend Executive Editor Chuck Nerpel said that in tests run by his magazine, Omni-Horizon stood out as "an agile car." Consumers' Research, a rival of Consumers Union, tested the Omni-Horizon under normal road conditions, rather than on a special track; it passed.
The argument goes now to the Government's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which was surprised to get the Consumers Union findings; it had received no previous complaints about the Omni-Horizon. Deputy Administrator Howard Dugoff says NHTSA "cannot yet explain" how Consumers Union and Chrysler got such diametrically opposed results on the critical second test. Determining whether the first let-go-of-the-wheel test has any real relation to the auto's performance, says Dugoff, "will be tough—we will have to do some rather extensive analysis." Should Omni-Horizon fail NHTSA tests, the agency could order Chrysler to recall all autos sold in order to correct the trouble. And if, as Consumers Union suspects, the flaw is "an inherent design defect," the agency could require redesign and replacement of the whole steering system.
The publicity hits Chrysler at a time when it is peculiarly vulnerable. The company lost $120 million in this year's first quarter, and expects at best to break even for the rest of the year. Its share of the market for U.S.-made cars is down to about 13%, vs. a recent high of 16.2% in 1974. It has been counting on the Omni-Horizon to increase its market share, haul it into the black and help persuade investors and lenders to put up the $7.5 billion that it must spend over the next five years to bring out new cars and modernize its factories. Chrysler says a $150 million preferred-stock and warrant issue, due to go on sale this week, is oversubscribed.
GM and Ford also have an interest in the uproar: if Omni-Horizon sales should be flattened by the C.U. warning, it would not be a good omen for the front-wheel-drive cars that they are preparing to bring out over the next two years. Americans already are buying hundreds of thousands of front-wheel-drive cars imported from abroad, including Volkswagen's Rabbit, Honda's Civic and the Ford Fiesta. Consumers Union found no fault with these cars, which it says passed the same tests that the Omni-Horizon flunked. Nor did Consumers Union express any doubts about the concept of front-wheel drive; indeed, it said a properly designed front-wheel-drive car can handle better than a conventional one on snowy or icy roads. C.U.'s fire was concentrated entirely on the Omni-Horizon.