death buyer fire. auto safety experts say that is what happened to dozens of people who perished in fiery crashes involving late models of the jeep grand cherokee. >> now the government is expanding its investigation into these vehicles and others. 9 wants you to know why some are calling this a life and death safety issue. for over a year our lesli foster has been investigating the claims made about these

popular suv's. >> reporter: anita and derek, the questions center around the 1993 to 2004 jeep grand cherokee. if you look in this hatch you will see all the documents senior producer stephanie wilson and i have poured through. the consumer group, the center for auto safety, believes the placement of the gas tank, seen here, can lead to fires and deaths, but chrysler maintains its vehicles are safe. >> she's pretty young when she left the house at age 18 and jumped on a plane and went on the other side of the ocean. >> reporter: stacey meyer returned home from england a year older and her family was happy to finally have her back. on a warm july day in 2007 she read some passages from her bible, then set out to go exercise and take a friend to breakfast. >> this is the friend that she was going to pick up. she walked out the door, drove up the hill. an hour later had the accident. >> reporter: a driver having a seizure lost control on a

wisconsin state highway and slammed into the back of stacey's 2001 jeep grand cherokee. >> they ended up smashing into the guardrail on this side. >> according to police accident reports and witness statements, the jeep burst into flames. >> and we were a family of five. now we're a family of four. >> the people that are lucky survive. i mean, there's tragedies. >> clarence ditlow heads up the organization for auto safety. they're investigating crashes in the jeep grand cherokee like the one stacey was driving. the center used the fatal analysis research system, also known as f-a-r-s. using the data they now count at least 51 accidents where 72 people died

in rear, side, and rollover crashes and fire was the chief cause of their death. >> you will have a huge ball of fire, and people can't get out of the vehicles before they bush. >> nhtsa granted the study two years ago but just days ago nhtsa ordered an engineering analysis of the vehicle. in this office of defects investigation resume, nhtsa reports that 48 people died in fiery rear-end crashes. but nhtsa officials pointed out that not all of the people who died were in a jeep grand cherokee. some were in the vehicle that struck the suv. it is one of the key factors that convinced nhtsa to upgrade its safety defect investigation. chrysler's response is that the jeep grand cherokee is no riskier than its closest competitors. >> what would you tell people who have this vehicle? >> i would tell them, if at all

possible, get another vehicle. >> chrysler says 1.1 million of these vehicles are still out on the roads. ditlow wants all of them recalled. auto experts say the problem is where the plastic fuel tank is positioned. behind the rear axle. you can see is it right here in this jeep grand cherokee. in the 1993 to '98 model the fuel tank looks like a spare tire well, but this plastic tank, filled with gallons of fuel, literally hangs down, exposed with no protection. a brush guard covers the gas tank in the 1999 to 2004 model. it is supposed to protect the plastic tank in low speeds from brush and other obstructions. but experts say it's not enough. the placement of the tank is simply too risky. >> it's in the crush zone of any vehicle striking it from behind. and the vehicle that strikes it will push on that gas tank, and

any number of very bad things can happen. >> in an effort to move the investigation forward the center for auto safety asked the federal highway administration to conduct rear impact tests on a 1995 jeep grand cherokee. they used a nonflammable liquid in the test to demonstrate what can happen when the gas tank ruptures. >> you will begin to see the gasoline, right there, coming out of the fuel tank. it is vapor rising and producing a mist, and it's a perfect source for com bubble. you can see, there's not much damage to the grand cherokee itself, but there's the gasoline. you're surviving the trauma of the crash but you get burned to death. >> chrysler says the crash tests conducted were conducted 20 miles per hour faster than the fuel standard required at the time the vehicle was manufactured. that was 30 miles per hour. fhwa also tested one of the grand cherokee's peer vehicles, the ford explorer.

the test on this 1995 model were conducted at even higher speeds, at 70 and 75 miles per hour, and the gas tank did not rupture. we should point out that the gas tank in the explorer is placed in front of the rear axle. >> we took a mission trip as a family when she was like a jirn high school down to mexico, worked in an orphanage. she just loved it. >> the impact occurred and stacey's car rolled multiple times ?oo.s you can still see the gas line where fuel poured out of stacey's car here at the scene. but what gives some measure of come port is knowing that stacey likely was unaware of what would happen after she was hit. nhtsa would not talk on camera because of their ongoing investigation, and has not given any timetable for when they will reach a decision. but in their odi resume, nhtsa says that rear impact related tank failure and vehicle fires are more prevalent in the jeep grand cherokee than in non-jeep

peer vehicles. just last week nhtsa added the 1993 to 2001 jeep cherokee and the 2002 to 2007 jeep liberty vehicles. nhtsa said the agency's analysis of its data for the peer vehicles and three jeep models shows a higher incidence of rear impact fatal fire crashes for the jeep products. chrysler disagrees. in a statement, the company tells 9news now the 1993 to 2004 jeep grand cherokee are neither defective nor do their fuel systems pose an unreasonable risk to motor safety in rear impact collisions. and they say rear impacts resulting in fire are extremely rare. rear impacts resulting in a fire occurred no more often in 1993 to 2004 jeep grand cherokee vehicles than in peer vehicles, and the 1993 to 2004 jeep grand cherokee vehicles are at no greater risk of exposure to fire in rear-end

collisions than peer vehicles. as for the expanded investigation the company said, we expect that a similar analysis of subject vehicles recently added to this investigation which nhtsa generally conducts at the engineering analysis stage would support a similar conclusion. >> i just wonder if any of their children had been lost in a car where there was a poor design, how they would feel about nothing being done. >> can you believe that stacey would be alive today had she not bin that vehicle? >> i think so, yes. >> in 2005 chrysler moved the gas tank in the jeep grand cherokee ahead of rear axle. the company tells us they did that to make more room for cargo space. chrysler is cooperating with the expanded probe and says it's important to note that this is just an investigation, not a he are call. >> but we also should note that they moved that gas tank.

so the question is how many people have been killed in those rear end crashes since they made that move? >> well, according to the center for auto safety, none. they tell us not one person has died a fiery death as a result of the fuel tank in the 2005 models going forward. >> let's talk about the scope of. this many of the models in question are more than 10 years old. what's the estimate of how many are still on the road? >> we know there are at least 23,000 of the '93 to 2004 jeep grand cherokees that are still registered for use in d.c. and maryland combined. virginia does not keep records on a particular make and model, and i should tell you these accidents are still happening. according to police records, one man died back in november of last year on interstate 4 in lake mary, florida when he could not get out of a burning jeep. and a four-year-old boy in bainbridge, georgia died in march of this year when the jeep grand cherokee he was in was struck from behind and caught fire. now, the center for auto safety

asked for both of these incidents to be included in nhtsa's investigation. coming up tomorrow night at 11:00, you are going to hear from a chrysler whistleblower who will talk more about a potential solution and why he says the company knew about problems before these suv's even went into production. and if you go to our consumer section of our web site, wusa9.com, you can read documents from the nhtsa investigation into the 1993 to 2004 jeep grand cherokee as well as chrysler's statement about the expanded probe. >> wow, great work. and powerful information consumers need to know. >> our consumer team worked hard on this one. >> thank you, lesli. looking forward to tomorrow night. it's after 11:00, and the temperature is still hovering in the upper 80s. today's heat alert had people looking to cool off whenever and wherever they could find a chance. on metro the ban on beverages was lifted but only for water. d.c. public pools will be open late until at least 8:30 each

evening through friday. and mark and vre have put speed restrictions in place for their trains. but the real question, how long will these code yellow conditions last? topper has the answer out on the terrace. >> you are right, it is still pretty warm, temperatures in the mid-80s in northwest. we hit 91 today. not even good enough for a record high. let's talk about the heat advisory for tomorrow. the same area, the entire metro, is covered. it goes into effect at noon. temperatures are going to be around low to mid-90s by noon. lasts until 10:00. that's why because it's so hot right now the heat advisory has to last until 9:00 or 10:00 at night. look at the temperatures. 86 downtown. that is classic example of the heat island effect. it is in the 70s in the burbs although not that comfortable. still 81 at andrews, 84 in hagerstown. factor in the humidity, feels like it's 91 downtown, feels like it's 84 at andrews. we'll come back and talk about the potential for setting

record highs tomorrow and the potential for thunderstorms on friday. still ahead on 9news, find out why the president made his first claim of executive privilege today. plus, new information on karen tolls that local county council woman caught speeding more than 100 miles per hour. we'll have what happened to her in just a minute.

if you're thinking of betting on the presence of a casino at national harbor or table gyms at five maryland casinos already in the works you may want to think group tha been considering whether or not gambling should be expanded in the state failed to reach any sort of consensus on what to do. so as a result, the discussions will not be brought up in a special session and will instead wait for the general assembly to reconvene next year. incriminating evidence from a police dashboard cam right there in front of us in black and white. check it out. this is what led to a guilty verdict against a prince george's county council woman. you remember the name karen else to. guilty of -- karen tolls guilty of reckless driving. she was doing at least 80 miles per hour before they got her to pull over. the judge fined her $400.

however, she got no points on her license. the fast and furious gun scandal moved closer to the white house today when at the present time issued the first executive privilege claim of his administration. and a house committee recommended attorney general erik holder be held in contempt of congress. we asked gary nurenberg to explain. >> reporter: it's farther than the story has taken us before. the president personally telling congress it cannot have some justice department documents that investigators say they need. fast and furious was a plan to trace guns, not seize them, but allow them to go to mexican drug dealers so the feds could see how that worked. it was disastrous. >> the ayes have it and a contempt report is ordered reported to the house. >> the republican controlled house oversight and government reform committee voted on strictly party lines to find holder in context for refusing to provide some justice department documents about how it would respond to

congressional inquiries about fast and furious, the plan by government cops. >> it was ill conceived and poorly executed. >> reporter: to let mexican drug cartells get guns from the united states. >> i think people really screwed up. >> reporter: border patrol agent brian perry was killed by one of those guns, and holder provided false information to the committee about what the justice department knew before admitting months later he was in error. >> we were sent, under department of justice letterhead, something that was totally and completely false. >> reporter: republicans argued, as they tried to figure that out -- >> the attorney general has refused to cooperate. >> reporter: president obama's claim of executive privilege was dismissed as part of an administration trend. >> over and over again the department has sought to protect its political appointees. >> reporter: democrats argue it is republicans playing politics. >> to tarnish the attorney general and the president in an election year. >> reporter: and argue republicans are ignoring similar programs from the bush administration. >> the only way the public is

going to take us seriously is if we look at the whole story. not because we want to blame the bush administration. everybody made a mistake. >> reporter: the white house said that no president in the last 30 years has waited this long to make an executive privilege claim. in his administration, george w. bush made six, clinton 13, and ronald reagan three. that contempt citation for the attorney general the full house could vote next week. >> gary, thank you. closing arguments are set for tomorrow at the child sex abuse trial of jerry sandusky. today the state attorneys rested their case. he is accused of molesting 10 young boys. if convicted on all counts sandusky faces live in prison. a spokesperson for the chief of police in florida says he has been fired. bill lee met with the city manager this morning to discuss

his termination. lee and his department have been heavily criticized since the shooting of trayvon martin. but the city commission rejected his earlier efforts to resign, and now we're hearing he may have been fired. on a sleepy street in lanham, maryland, a deadly gun battle. this started about noon when a detective with metro transit went to a house on lory lane to question a man they called a person of interest in an attempted abduction. police say the man came charging out with a gun. the detective fired back and killed that man. 44-year-old chester joseph crestwell. no one was hurt when a fire broke out at san francisco's historic pier 29. the building was being renovated. more than 100 firefighters had to be called in to get that four-alarm fire under control. and take a look at this. this is the damage when a sinkhole opened up and swallowed part of somebody's house in florida. this one just happened this afternoon right north of tampa.

nobody in there at the time but the neighbors say they sure could hear a large crash as the ground opened up. investigators are now trying to figure out what the heck is going on there and is the area safe tonight. we hope. >> you worry about hurricanes and tornadoes, then a sinkhole gets you. i mean, really. >> you're not expecting that. >> no. >> all right. 98 today. not a record. kind of like kissing your sister, quite frankly. if it is going to be this hot, we like records. tomorrow we think we have a little better shot at making a record high. once we get through tomorrow we'll be okay. let's start with life look outside with a live weather cam. 98 was the high. it's still 86 downtown. dew point 70. when the dew points in the 70s things are not good. you need to crank the a cr. pressure falling, 30.01 inches of mercury. so here's the deal. we're looking at a heat index tomorrow between 100 and 105.

so we'll barely make the criteria of heat advisory. record highs are possible. we'll get that out in a minute. not as hot on friday, that's the good news. the bad news, big storms are possible friday in the form of showers and thunderstorms as a cold front approaches. so for overnight clear to partly skies and muggy, lows in the 70s. winds out of the west at 10. by morning mostly sunny. down right hot by lunchtime. 75 to 94 by lunchtime, winds westerly at 10. air quality again unhealthy for sensitive groups. so the heat is on. keep your shades close or your currents drawn, especially the west facing part of your house. exercise in the morning or indoors. it's still 16 right now. it's not good to exercise in the evening. wear light colored clothing and check on the elderly. remember, your pets have to stay hydrated, too. by afternoon, partly cloudy, very hot, maybe an isolated storm. highs 95 to 99. the records tomorrow, 98 at

dulles and national. those are in jeopardy. record high at bwi 100. that's going to be a tough one to crack. look at the highs. projected high, 98 downtown, 99 manassas, 97 in gaithersburg, upper 90s for frederick. we'll break it down. warm, hot, and hot. 72 to 80 to start. 88 at noon, then maybe an isolated storm by evening. next three days, our 9 weather alert codes yellow, yellow, and green. big storms possible on friday, 92. nice on saturday. maybe a leftover shower. highs upper 80s. next seven day, upper 80s subpoena day, maybe a passing shower. then a stronger front comes through on monday with showers and thunderstorms. that will leave temperatures cool next week. tuesday and wednesday highs upper 70s and low 80s. that's, of course, at&t national week. tickets to give away. go to our website, wusa9.com or facebook. you only have until saturday. >> time is running out. >> you know, when people talked

at the beginning of the season about what if the nationals were in a pennant race and they had to shut down strasburg by the end of the year, it was fantasy. now it's becoming more and more a real conversation. >> they just got it. if you were a doctor you'd say, take one strasburg and call me in the morning. super steve does it again. double digit strikeouts at the park but he needed a little help from his buddies, and i can hear jim mora right now. college football playoffs? it might just be.

calling on the heavenly hurler. nights like this are why you draft a guy like stephen strasburg. not just to win dames but to stop streaks. the nats hadn't won in a week. thank heaven for number 37. we'll get to him in a second. first, ryan zimmerman. this looks like a harmless tapper until the i wills defense goes all keystone cops. nobody touches it, it rolls into the dugout. that means bryce harper you come on home. nats up 3-0. they were cruising in this game, way more than

enough for strasburg. but i'm going to need a little help here. he's going to need a little help here. gets it from lombardo lombardozzi. nats get back in the win column 3-2. bryce harper even marveling atz teammates. >> it's always fun to watch him pitch. he's electric out there. with him on the mound you have a lot of confidence in winning that game that day. >> a little old school rap going on in the background. buck shough walters, orioles and mets. -- buck showalter, orioles and mets. baltimore gets swept by the mess, 4-3. playoffs? you can call it that. bcs commissioners have approved a model that would have the top four teams face off against one another in a playoff-style format. the semifinals would be played within the existing bcs game.

the orange bowl, sugar bowl, fiesta bowl and rose bowl. the winners from two of those games would face off in a championship game. how would the top four teams be selected? a ranking system that would take into consideration difficulty of schedule, et cetera. our big story of the afternoon, the early afternoon, wizards trading rashard lewis. second highest paid player in the league but often injured, to new orleans for 0 me cao can he for. gm ernie grunfeld saying it's been proven, our young players need more veterans around. so he gone. >> we'll be right back.

all right, producer jessica wants everybody to know that the red sox beat the miami -- what are they? >> marlins. >> there you go. >> oh my god, come on, guys. >> that helps the nationals. >> and that's 9news for tonight. thank you for staying up with us. the morning team will be here at 4:25 a.m. >> aren't they the florida marlins? ♪

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