2006 Dodge Dakota on 2040-cars

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Chrysler investing $20M in Toledo plant to support 9-speed auto production

In 2011, Chrysler announced a $72-million investment in its Toledo Machining Plant to modernize production of the eight- and nine-speed torque-converters for automatic transmissions made there. That upgrade work won't be finished until Q3 of this year, but Chrysler has already announced a further $19.6-million investment to increase production capacity for the nine-speeders.
The extra units will be necessary because the nine-speed transmission they'll be mated to is going into three popular models: it will debut on the 2014 Jeep Cherokee, then go into the Chrysler 200 and Dodge Dart. The company predicted that this year alone it would sell 200,000 units equipped with the nine-speed tranny, and it is spending some $374 million in addition to the investment in Toledo to upgrade production capacity for it.
The work attached to this new investment won't begin until Q3 of 2014, and it will be finished by the end of that year. There's a press release below with all the details.

Chrysler minivans under investigation for stalling after fuel refill

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, at least one man has reported that his 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan stalled unexpectedly on the highway shortly after being refueled. The unidentified man who contacted NHTSA regarding the issue cited as many as eight similar instances reported by other drivers.
NHTSA has announced that it will launch an inquiry into this issue, which could affect as many as 160,000 minivans from Dodge and Chrysler that were sold in 2007 (or more, if a problem is found that extends to additional models years, we'd assume). As of yet, there's no formal investigation, let alone a recall, on these vans, as the agency is merely determining if further action is needed.
Two months ago, Chrysler recalled nearly 700,000 vehicles, the majority of which were minivans, from the 2008-2010 model years to replace ignition switches after an investigation found that their weak springs and detent positions could fool a driver into thinking the car was in the "Run" position, when it's actually in the "Accessory" position.

Dodge's divisive splitter guards are now pink and might become black

There is an infinite amount of real problems out there in the world, but for some reason, one of the most dividing issues in the car community relates to a piece of protective plastic on cars. Yes, splitter guards. Since the plastic parts were introduced to SRT variants of the Dodge Challenger and Dodge Charger for 2015, the enthusiast community has been split like a '63 'Vette on the merits and aesthetics of not removing them. Originally, the protectors, which are there to protect the splitter while the car is in transit to dealers, were yellow, which contributed to their popularity. But Dodge has now shifted that color to pink, as Car & Driver reported and Autoblog confirmed.  On one side, upset purists beg they be removed from the cars. They were only put on to protect the vehicles' lower front fascias during shipping and handling, and if left on too long, they will collect dirt and grit and damage the new paint. SRT lead designer Mark Trostle is included in this camp and is quoted saying, "I wish they would take them off." On the other side, there are people who enjoy the contrasting look and see it as a way to stand out or be different.  "Yes, they are designed to be removed before delivery," said Tim Kuniskis, global head of Alfa Romeo and head of passenger cars for Dodge, SRT, Chrysler, FIAT, FCA for North America, in an email to Autoblog. "But today, they have their own Facebook page, and many of our performance enthusiasts have active debates on whether to keep or remove them. Some owners say they are even selling them in the aftermarket!"  The Facebook page he speaks of is called "Hey Pal, You Forgot To Take Your Splitter Guards Off." The private group was started on April 11, 2019, and as of this writing, it is 11,855 members strong. With FCA recently changing the guards to pink, that number will likely continue to grow. "Obviously, they weren't part of the original design," Kuniskis said. "We started with yellow guards and shifted to pink, but they are still so popular that we may shift them yet again to black. Wherever we land, this is another example of how our customers are passionate about every part of their Dodge muscle cars — from the high-horsepower engines that power Charger and Challenger to the splitter guards designed to protect them, so we expect the conversation to continue."  Yellow, pink, black, purple, rainbow, whatever. People will like what they like and hate what they hate. Just do you, and keep the negativity away.