I completely understand your point concerning "bean counters" and cost containment. Of course, Chrysler never issued any sort of (mandatory) top recall. A "recall" , whether corporate or gov't., would include All suspect vehicles. Rather, they issued a service bulletin with a warranty offer, to a select group of cars.
The heat & humidity of the "Southern States" notion was a smoke screen that people assumed or bought into. Why would they include Missouri, Texas and Tennessee, yet skip Mississippi, Virginia, West Virginia, Oklahoma and even Kentucky?
(has anyone heard about Phoenix in the summer?)
They simply chose their 9 States and gathered up all of the Vin numbers that were shipped there from the port. Their Letters, dated 9/7/2011, went to the current owners of record by the specific Vin numbers. (not sure, but not just original purchasers). Whatever States those cars may have been relocated to was not even an issue
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I feel that their decision was foolish, businesswise, especially since they wound up helping a number of other owners anyway. My $.02. It is a shame that Any car maker can be so blatantly arbitrary and get away with it.
Perhaps they should have done nothing, but this was clearly a manufacturing flaw with widespread occurrence, far too early in the expected lifespan of the part.