SANTA MONICA, Calif. -

Edmunds.com contends an increasing number of Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep owners are reporting fuel spit-back issues at the gas pump. Site analysts came to this assessment based on complaints filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The site determined these complaints assert that the fuel system does not respond to a shut-off mechanism in affected vehicles, causing gas overflows that result in a spill or a spray.

Edmunds.com declared the defect is not unknown to Chrysler, noting the automaker has recalled 45,000 Dodge Durangos from the 2005 model year to correct the issue.

What prompted Edmunds.com to revisit this situation is the site said it found 211 complaints filed in January about the problem from Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep owners. Analysts also believe the Jeep Wrangler appears to be most affected.

According to Edmunds.com, almost 900 Jeep Wrangler owners from the 2005 through 2010 model-year filed fuel spit-back complaints with NHTSA between January 2009 and January 2011. The site thinks the majority of those reports concerned the 2007 and 2008 model years.

Analysts also discovered one complaint filed by a 2005 Jeep Wrangler owner last month says that the overfilling problem occurs “every single time I fill up at the gas station.”

Panee Segal, an Edmunds.com analyst who studied the NHTSA database offered, “There has been a continuous and increasing number of complaints submitted month-to-month on this topic, and we believe this should be brought to consumers’ attention.”

Edmunds.com conceded that federal investigators might be receiving more reports about the issue because some Jeep Wrangler owners are using social media to encourage reporting of the problem.

Site officials noted Wrangler spit-back has been discussed in the Edmunds.com community within the 2008 Jeep Wrangler discussion board. They added there is also a Facebook page dedicated to the issue and a post at JeepForum.com encouraging vehicle owners to submit complaints to federal investigators.

Edmunds.com previously reported that Chrysler responded in October of last year to a NHTSA request for information about the problem. According to the site, Chrysler said that the only “plausible” explanation for the spit-backs was an exposure to gasoline with high levels of ethanol that make the inlet check valve (ICV) susceptible to swelling, causing it to stick and fail to close properly.

“Because ‘not a single allegation of crash, fire, property damage or injury’ resulted from the problem, Chrysler claimed that there was no safety defect, and asked NHTSA to close the investigation,” Edmunds.com analysts recapped.

“NHTSA, however, told Edmunds.com that its investigation into the issue ‘is still active,’ they went on to say.

The complete report compiled by Edmunds.com about this issue is available here.