Fiat Chrysler recalls 1.4M vehicles to prevent hacking

DETROIT -- Fiat Chrysler has decided to recall about 1.4 million cars and trucks in the U.S. after two hackers were able to take control of a Jeep over the Internet.

The company will update software to insulate the vehicles from being remotely controlled. It also says in a statement that unauthorized remote manipulation of a vehicle is a criminal act.

The recall affects vehicles with 8.4-inch touchscreens including 2013 to 2015 Ram pickups and chassis cabs and Dodge Viper sports cars. Also covered are 2014 and 2015 Dodge Durango and Jeep Grand Cherokee and Cherokee SUVs, as well as the 2015 Chrysler 200 and 300, and the Dodge Charger and Challenger.

Fiat Chrysler says it also has taken network-level security measures to prevent hacking. Those measures require no customer action.

Two hackers put a reporter for Wired Magazine on the road and they took over from their laptops miles away. The reporter in the Jeep couldn't stop the car, couldn't use the brakes, transmission or even the steering.

Technology analyst Rob Enderle said, "You could take a car off the bridge, you could drive it into a school bus, you could turn these into land based cruise missiles and you don't want that."

Days before the Wired article, Chrysler released a software update that customers can download themselves or you can bring your vehicle into your local service center.

Chrysler is providing the software patch for free.