Still incorporated as FCA US LLC in the United States, the folks at Chrysler have issued a rather disconcerting recall for the Dodge Hornet R/T and PHEV-only Alfa Romeo Tonale. As you might have guessed from the story’s headline, certain vehicles were shipped from Italy to North America with an unconnected or missing pedestrian alert siren.
Read that line again, take a moment, and then imagine how these vehicles passed quality control. The Italian automotive industry is known for its that-will-do mentality, but a missing pedestrian alert siren is next-level professional misconduct on Pomigliano's part.
The Pomigliano d'Arco production complex, a.k.a. Stabilimento Giambattista Vico di Pomigliano d'Arco if you prefer Italian, started owning up to its mistake on September 12 by issuing a yard hold for potentially affected vehicles. The customer experience department within Stellantis Europe conducted an investigation through October 9, reviewing production data and assembly plant records to determine what other vehicles were produced with a disconnected or missing siren.
In the meantime, this mélange of an automaker determined that said issue represents a noncompliance in the United States. Mélange as in American, Italian, and French executives making things worse for all the brands under the Stellantis umbrella with cost-cutting measures that would make Carlos Ghosn blush.
In typical Stellantis fashion, the documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration do not detail how the recall condition was corrected in production. Reading between the lines, the strike-happy workers at Pomigliano d'Arco simply got a slap on the wrist.
Photo: Dodge
By failing to comply with federal motor vehicle safety standard 141 for minimum sound requirements, affected vehicles pose a significant risk to pedestrians in all-electric mode. A grand total of 4,660 are called back in the United States and US territories, of which 10 percent are estimated to require a replacement siren or the siren to be properly connected to the car’s electronic brain.
Dealers nationwide will be informed of this blunder on December 6, the day known owners will be notified by first-class mail. Produced for the 2023 and 2024 model years, the vehicles in question were assembled between December 13, 2022 and September 12, 2022 at the aforementioned plant.
Indeed, the Dodge Hornet also comes from Italy rather than the United States. Extremely similar to its Alfa Romeo twin, the Hornet also sweetens the deal with an ICE-only setup (2.0-liter turbo and nine-speed auto). The better-styled Tonale is exclusively plug-in hybrid in this part of the world, although Alfa Romeo initially advertised it with the Hornet’s 2.0-liter turbo as the entry-level engine.
Closely related to the Jeep Compass (on the FCA Small Wide 4x4 LWB vehicle platform), both cost a pretty cent in plug-in hybrid attire. The Hornet R/T and better-equipped Hornet R/T Plus are listed at $40,935 and $45,935 excluding the destination fee, whereas the Tonale ranges between $42,995 and $50,195 before taxes and options. What options?
Take, for instance, the range-topping Veloce. Even though it’s priced at more than $50K from the outset, Alfa Romeo has the audacity to charge up to $2,200 for a fancy paint finish and $1,200 on top of that for a power moonroof. For a compact-sized PHEV with a pint-sized 1.3er turbo hiding underhood, that’s awful value in every respect.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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