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Dodge Demon makes so much torque, it needs stronger driveline parts

Torque is a lovely thing, a sweet and wonderful force that twists and pulls and can help propel a two-ton metal box forward at comical speeds. Torque is also fickle and will bend and break those same metal parts without a second thought, which is why the new Dodge Demon is compensating for its increased torque with some new re-engineered and reinforced parts. And there's software intended to combat wheel hop, which one of the most dramatic ways torque can break stuff. Week 8's video, "Race-hardened Parts," gives a hint towards what all these new parts can do. While we still don't know how much torque the Demon will throw out, we do know it's enough to warrant an upgraded prop shaft, half shafts, and a differential housing. The Challenger Hellcat, which is the basis for the Demon, makes 650 pound-feet of torque already. The new parts will go a long way toward making sure the work from the Demon's engine is properly translated into motion by those Nitto drag radials. The new prop shaft uses high-strength steel, heat-treated stub-shafts, and increases the tube thickness by 20 percent for a 15 percent increase in torque capacity. Additionally, Dodge says the upgraded differential housing allows for a 30 percent increase in torque capacity by using heat-treated A383 aluminum alloy and a higher strength shot-peened gear set. The 41-spline half shafts that deliver 20 percent increased torque capacity through the use of high-strength low alloy steel and 8-ball joints. In addition to the hardware, the Launch Assist software has been tuned to help alleviate wheel hop. Dodge says the Demon is the first factory production car that uses wheel speed sensors to detect hop and momentarily cut torque to compensate. This means a driver can keep their foot planted on the floor while the computer sorts out the traction. Previously, the best solution was to back off the throttle to manually cut the load. Finally, the Dodge Demon will offer a four-point harness mounting bar as an optional accessory. The part will be supplied by Speedlogix and fits in place of the deleted rear seat. Customers can install the bar without having to hack apart their cars to find a proper mounting point. Look for more teasers and info on ifyouknowyouknow.com in the lead-up to the Demon's debut at the 2017 New York Auto Show. Related Video: Image Credit: FCA Dodge Performance dodge demon dodge hellcat

IIHS says these are the safest cars of 2013

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has revealed its annual list of Top Safety Picks, an award that highlights automobiles it says offer "superior crash protection." A new and still more significant award, the Top Safety Pick+ honor, is given to those vehicles that earn good ratings for occupant protection in four out of five areas of measure. And while some 117 vehicles were given the TSP seal of approval for 2013, just 13 passed muster for TSP+.
To be fair, IIHS only evaluated 29 vehicles with its new testing procedures for TSP+ (we'd expect that the number of qualified cars will rise substantially for 2014). Luxury and Near Luxury midsize cars were the first groups evaluated, followed by midsizers in the Moderately Priced Cars category - unsurprisingly, it's only midsize cars that you'll find among the class this year.
Only two luxury sedans made the list of 13 for 2013: the Acura TL and Volvo S60. The other 11 cars on the list included entries from domestic, Japanese and German car makers: Dodge Avenger, Chrysler 200, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord (sedan and coupe), Kia Optima (but not its close kin, the Hyundai Sonata, strangely), Nissan Altima, Subaru Legacy and Outback, Suzuki Kizashi and the Volkswagen Passat all made the grade.

The Dodge Demon gets a Drag Mode and a lesson in Newtonian physics

It's Thursday morning, which means we have more news on the upcoming Dodge Demon, the pumped-up Challenger Hellcat variant that's looking to cause mayhem at a drag strip near you. This week's video, "Third Law," shows the Demon's revised suspension in action and displays another one of SRT's cryptic messages. Dodge claims that the 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V8 in the Hellcat twins is compromised because it's fitted to a car that needs to be comfortable on the street in addition to a performer on the drag strip. Not so with the Demon, as Dodge says the car is "designed to be highly competent in all drive modes and configurations," including the all-new Drag Mode. Dodge says details about the new mode will trickle out over the next few weeks, but all the info this week focused on suspension. The "Third Law" in this week's title refers to Isaac Newton and motion: "When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first body." We're not sure what Newton would have thought seeing the sidewall wrinkling Nitto NT05R drag radials in action, but he'd probably have a reaction of some sort himself. An ideal suspension setup for the drag strip makes for a poor setup on the road. As Dodge puts it, the "old school" way to set up a drag car was to "get the quickest reacting springs upfront, the softest rebound front shocks that wouldn't restrict the springs' reaction, remove any restrictions (sway bar) and increase the compression of the rear shocks." This would give a car great front to rear weight transfer but made for very poor lateral direction control, meaning minor corrections were difficult. The Demon's Drag Mode will use electronics to give the car the best combination of launch and lateral stability. Dodge listed some of the parts to help aid in this goal. They also gave us a few equations that we can't make sense of. Let us know if you have any clues. Hardware: 35 percent lower rate front springs/28 percent lower rate rear springs 75 percent lower rate hollow front sway bar/44 percent lower rate rear sway bar Drag-tuned Bilstein Adaptive Damping Shocks Software: Rear = F/F and Front = F/S F/F – F/S maintained @ wide open throttle (WOT) F/F – F/F < WOT Traction control disabled/ESC maintained Result: 13.5=575@500 Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.