Dodge Charger EV Owners Are Reporting Unintended Acceleration 

 

 

Two words an automaker never wants to hear: Unintended acceleration. It nearly sunk Audi in America in the 1980s, and was a huge scandal for Toyota in the in the late 2000s/early 2010s. Both cases were totally unfounded, caused by user error, damaged both brands' reputation regardless. Now, a handful of Charger Daytona EV owners, including Edmunds.com, have reported unintended acceleration in their cars.

Edmunds's 2024 Charger Daytona Scat Pack, which it owns and reports on as part of its long-term test fleet, had a case of totally unexplained unintentional acceleration in the hands of one of its writers. The writer reported seeing a number of warning lights, and an indication that the car was going into a "low-power" mode, what seems to be a limp mode that allows you to drive the car slowly in case of a major fault. When depressing the accelerator pedal, the car accelerated "very sluggishly" according to Edmunds, but when lifting off the pedal, instead of slowing down with regenerative braking, the car continued to accelerate. The writer estimates at a rate of about 1 mph per second.




The writer's son captured a video of the incident, and you can see the driver's foot away from the pedals, yet the car still accelerating. To slow for a stop, the driver reported having to press down on the brake pedal harder than normal, but the car did come to a stop. But when he lifted back off the brake pedal, the car crept forward as normal, than continued accelerating up to 45 mph without any accelerator pedal input. After parking and power cycling the car—shutting it off, locking the doors, waiting 10 seconds, then getting back in—the problem went away.

We asked Dodge if this is a problem it knows about, and if it is a problem, if there is a fix on its way. A Stellantis person sent over the following statement:

"Driver safety and confidence are key to every Stellantis vehicle. In this case, the Dodge Charger Daytona operated as designed: When a propulsion system fault was detected, the vehicle activated a safety function known as “Drive By Brake.” This feature provides enough controlled power so the driver can safely move the vehicle off the road to a secure location. In this mode, the accelerator pedal is overridden and the brake pedal controls the vehicle’s speed, allowing the driver to stop the car at any time. This function helps prevent vehicles from becoming stranded in traffic.

"Stellantis is reviewing our in-vehicle messaging and other customer information materials to ensure that this feature is intuitive and easy to understand. We encourage all customers to respond promptly to service alerts and available software updates. This safety feature has been in Stellantis internal combustion engine vehicles for many years and has been carried over to hybrid and battery electric vehicles."

As Edmunds points out, supposed Charger Daytona owners report on a forum of similar issues, including one where the poster says the unintended acceleration led to an accident. Obviously, this is all anecdotal, and without looking at data from the car, it's impossible to say definitively whether the Charger Daytona has a genuine issue.

But, Edmunds is a reputable outlet, and its video and reportage is a strong indication that the car may actually have a problem. The publication, for its part, says the Charger Daytona is going back to the dealer "posthaste." 

So far, the Charger Daytona has been a disaster for an ailing Stellantis. Muscle-car fans have by and large made it clear that they want Hemi V-8s, not EVs, and there are already huge discounts on the Charger Daytona—never a good sign for a new model. Plus, the Charger Daytona rides on the STLA Large platform that already underpins the Jeep Wagoneer S, and a ton of future vehicles, including the Jeep Recon, and next-gen Alfa Romeo Giulia and Stelvio. If this unintended acceleration is indeed a vehicle fault, it casts doubts on Stellantis' ability to deliver quality EVs.

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