Troubled over airbags triggered by slamming doors, Fiat Chrysler recalled 322,000 Dodge Chargers over the weekend.
The recall cover just over 284,000 Dodge Charger sedans, model years 2011 through 2014, in the US, just over 13,000 in Canada, about 2,500 in Mexico and about 22,000 beyond North America.
The issue lies within the cars' ORC (Occupant Restraint Control), which needs to be adjusted in order to prevent the side air bags from deploying when someone slams a door too hard, according to the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration).
"In the affected vehicles, if an ORC module with the previous calibration detects pressure sensor inputs within its calibrated deployment range -- such as that experienced from door slam/kick events or heavy road inputs -- 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," said [pdf] the NHTSA.
The Chargers' doors were originally calibrated to slam testing at 12 feet per second of impact. The vehicles' closed doors were tested with side collision of speeds of up to 15.5 miles per hour, but apparently that wasn't good enough.
"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," said Fiat Chrysler.
Fiat Chrysler indicated that it is aware that up to three minor injuries and 25 total complaints associated the Charger's ORC issue.
It's unclear how Fiat Chrysler intends to manage the recall of the Dodge Chargers, according to the NHTSA. The automaker confirmed that it will offer the necessary upgrade to Charger owners for free.
"Chrysler will notify owners, and dealers will update the Occupant Restraint Control module calibration, free of charge," stated the NHTSA. "The manufacturer has not yet provided a notification schedule."
This is the first time Fiat Chrysler had to deal with ORC issue. Near the end of last month, the automaker called back over one million Dodge Ram pickup trucks for exact reason it's recalling the Chargers.
Fiat Chrysler called back Dodge Ram 1500, 2500, 3500, 4500 and 5500 pickup trucks with model years 2012 through 2014. It also recalled over 667,000 Ram 1500, 2500 and 3500 pickups trucks that were manufactured between June 20, 2012 and Jan. 26, 2016.
