Washington (July 24, 2015) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, released the following statement on the Fiat Chrysler recall of 1.4 million vehicles. enators Markey and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) this week introduce the Security and Privacy in Your Car (SPY Car) Act, legislation that would direct the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to establish federal standards to secure our cars and protect drivers’ privacy.

"Despite knowing about this security gap for nearly nine months, Chrysler is only now recalling 1.4 million vehicles to fix this vulnerability, and there are no assurances that these vehicles are the only ones that are this unprotected from cyberattack. A safe and fully-equipped vehicle should be one that is equipped to protect drivers from hackers and thieves. Both automakers and NHTSA should be immediately taking steps to verify that other similar vulnerabilities do not exist in other models that are on the road. And Congress needs to pass legislation that ensures automakers put in place minimum standards to protect drivers in these connected cars.”

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