2013 Dodge Durango Awd Special Services on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2003-04 Dodge Viper recalled for sudden airbag deployment

As if driving the old Dodge Viper (not the fancy new SRT model) isn't intimidating enough, imagine trying to wrangle that V10 beast and then suddenly having the airbags deploy. Yikes. That's apparently what could happen to some 3,660 Viper models from the 2003 and 2004 model years, and as such, Chrysler has issued a recall.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, part of the car's airbag control module may fail, causing the bags or seatbelt pre-tensioners to deploy without warning while the vehicle is in operation. That's a dangerous scenario in any car, let alone one offering insane horsepower a near-total paucity of safety nannies should things get squirrely.
Owners will be notified this month about the recall, though a remedy is not expected to be available until later this year. Scroll down for the full NHTSA statement.

Canada offloading hundreds of nearly new cars it bought for G7 Summit

Are you looking for a deal on a lightly used 2018 Chrysler 300C? Do you feel like purchasing several at a time? Do you feel like visiting Canada? If all of these apply, you might be able to catch a pretty decent bargain. The Canadian government is offloading Chryslers and hundreds of other cars it bought for the G7 Summit held in Quebec in the summer, and the cars can be had quite cheaply. Originally, over 600 brand new cars were bought to ferry summit guests around Quebec, some of them in motorcades, necessitating the choice of very official-looking black on black 300C models with tinted windows. The RCMP said it turned out to be more affordable to buy the vehicles than to rent or lease them, but it still didn't come cheap for Canada. The bulk purchase price of all the cars exceeded $23 million CAD, and just $6.3 million has been recouped so far through selling 167 vehicles, as narcity.com reports. And there are still a bunch of cars for sale, posted on the GCSurplus.ca website. Take a look at the aforementioned Chryslers that were put up for auction yesterday: There are multiple 300Cs on offer with the starting bid of $25,343 Canadian and barely over 1,000 miles on the clock; the purchase price of a new, Canadian-spec 300C without motorcade modifications is over $42,000. Chevrolet Suburbans are less cheap, as the minimum bid on them is $53,428, but they appear nicely loaded with similarly low mileage and 4WD. There are also bulk deals, like a five-car pack of police-specification Dodge Chargers for a combined $133,000 if you can get them for the minimum bid. Other, less interesting but unquestionably fully serviceable vehicles include Toyota Siennas (109 were originally bought), Ford Escapes, Mitsubishi Outlanders and Dodge Journeys. You can browse the cars here. Related Video: News Source: Narcity.comImage Credit: GCsurplus.ca Weird Car News Chrysler Dodge Car Buying SUV Sedan

MotorWeek relives '80s coupes with Dodge Daytona, Ford Escort EXP

Get ready for a wave of nostalgia and the rapid realization of the huge progress in performance cars over the last 30 years. For its latest Retro Review, MotorWeek takes a look back at two, front-wheel drive coupes from the '80s that seem to have entirely vanished from the roads today. Both the 1986 Dodge Daytona CS and the 1986.5 Ford Escort EXP were considered affordable, sporty options in their day, but the passage of time hasn't been kind to either of their specs. The Daytona certainly looks the part of a performance machine with a body that's reminiscent of other '80s coupes, like the third-gen Chevrolet Camaro. However with 146 horsepower and 170 pound-feet of torque from a 2.2-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, acceleration wasn't exactly a strong suit. MotorWeek complained about copious torque steer, as well. The optional CS suspension upgrade package on this Daytona was apparently a nod to Carroll Shelby who was working with Dodge at the time. If anything, the Escort EXP withstands the test of time even worse. As a two-seat coupe, you might have expected Ford's engineers to really turn up the performance to fit the sporty image that the exterior conveyed. That didn't really happen, and depending on which model buyers ordered, they got either 86 horsepower with a 1.9-liter engine or the "high-output" version of that mill with 108 hp.