Around 60,000 Dodge Hornet R/Ts and Alfa Romeo PHEVs are being recalled in the US and elsewhere because the brake pedal can collapse, causing the driver to lose braking power. There have been 15 cases around the world, with one crash and no injuries.
If the brakes fail on any car, the driver can use the emergency or parking brake, which runs on a separate, isolated mechanical system. On the Hornet and Tonale, the electric parking brake is on the center console; the driver must pull it and hold it to keep it working. In addition, Automatic Emergency Braking, for drivers who have not shut it off, may be able to stop the car on its own.
The fix for this, reinforcing the brake pedal, has been developed.
21,069 Tonales and Hornets with the affected PHEV system have been sold in the United States. Another 2,300 were sold in Canada, 145 in Mexico, and 34,557 everywhere else. The Hornet is a modified Alfa Romeo Tonale, which was created from the Jeep Compass, which was based on a prior platform derived from a prior platform derived from GM and Fiat.
David Zatz started what was to become the world’s biggest, most comprehensive Mopar site in 1994 as he pursued a career in organizational research and change. After a chemo-induced break, during which he wrote car books covering Vipers, minivans, and Jeeps, he returned with Patrick Rall to create StellPower.com for daily news, and to set up MoTales for mo’ tales.
David Zatz has around 30 years of experience in covering Chrysler/Mopar news and history, and most recently wrote Century of Chrysler, a 100-year retrospective on the Chrysler marque.
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