People kicking car doors isn’t something you usually encounter, but slamming them is, and if done with excessive force, this could potentially cause the side airbags to deploy on Dodge Chargers.
This is why Dodge has issued a recall that cover a little over 284,000 Dodge Chargers from the 2011-2014MY built from May 6, 2010, through June 5, 2014.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA), in the affected vehicles, “the side-impact sensor calibrations may be overly sensitive, and as a result, the side air bag inflatable curtains and seat air bags may unexpectedly deploy and the seat belt pre-tensioners may activate”.
Fiat-Chrysler Automobile (FCA) said that it’s aware of three “minor injuries” and 25 complaints, but no accidents related to this issue.
“Original calibration door slam testing was performed at 12 feet per second (“fps”), and various pendulum-impacts were performed on closed front doors at 25 kph (15.5 mph),” said the company, which has addressed the issue by recalibrating the sensors and adding…a kick test.
“Revised calibration door slam testing is now performed at 17 fps. In addition, door kick testing at 17 fps was added to the test series to induce both pressure and acceleration signals within the same kick-slam event,” FCA added.
The carmaker stated that it will update the Occupant Restraint Control module calibration on the affected Chargers free of charge, but has not yet provided a notification schedule.
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