By Steven Symes 
Buy the EV, they said, so you got a Dodge Charger or Jeep Wagoneer S to be part of the future of the automobile. But now, your future might be coming out of your house or the grocery store to find your all-electric Mopar is just gone. No, it’s not thieves but the car driving itself away.
This is why the all-electric Dodge Charger Daytona has failed.
The problem doesn’t stem from bad self-driving software but instead a spring that wasn’t installed correctly in the factory, of all things. Stellantis notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has in turn issued a safety recall that’s about to go out to owners of the vehicles.
Those effected are certain 2024 to 2025 Dodge Charger Daytonas and Jeep Wagoneer S. Thankfully, not a large group is believed to have the improperly installed spring, with the automaker saying its records indicate there are just 75 in total.
Thankfully, it’s not more, because the seriousness of this problem is heavy. After all, the spring might fail, causing the EV to no longer stay in park. Even with the key fob not present, the vehicle could then just roll away, like a stick shift car that isn’t left in gear or with the parking brake set.
As you can imagine, that could result in some serious accidents. Not only could an unoccupied, rather heavy EV that’s rolling away uncontrolled end up hitting another car, it could strike pedestrians or even a building.
Rather than try to swap out the spring that was installed incorrectly, Stellantis will have dealership service departments replace the entire electric drive module. That sounds expensive, but like with any recall, the work is performed free of charge for vehicle owners.
Owner notification letters go out on September 25, but if you want to know if your Dodge or Jeep is among those recalled, you can search by VIN on NHTSA.gov right now.
Source: NHTSA
Image via Stellantis
Shawn Henry