Under a settlement, the automaker would also have to repurchase some recalled vehicles but could recoup some of the penalties by meeting certain conditions.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal government's auto safety watchdog agency, said the fine acted as warning to manufacturers on recall violations.
“This civil penalty puts manufacturers on notice that the department will act when they do not take their obligations to repair safety defects seriously,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said.
In a statement, Chrysler said it accepts the "consequences with renewed resolve to improve our handling of recalls and re-establish the trust our customers place in us".
The $A144 million ($US105 million) sum suggests that Fiat Chrysler reached a maximum $35 million penalty cap in three different areas, according to one source.
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Owners of more than one million Jeeps "prone to deadly fires" will be able to trade in their SUV or get aid to have the defect fixed.
In addition, owners of more than 500,000 vehicles with defective suspension parts can take the vehicle back to Fiat Chrysler for the carmaker to repurchase.
In early July, NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said the agency would move quickly to take action in response to Fiat Chrysler's handling of recalls involving up to 11 million vehicles.
Among them are nearly 1.6 million Jeep vehicles recalled in 2013 because of fuel tanks that could rupture and cause a fire.
The automaker risked more than $700 million in fines.
On Friday, Fiat Chrysler announced it would recall 1.4 million vehicles in the United States to install software to prevent hackers from gaining remote control of the engine, steering and other systems.
