The all-electric Dodge Charger Daytona has faced its fair share of issues since launching for the 2024 model year, not the least of which is freezing cold demand that has prompted Stellantis to bestow it with massive discounts. Turns out, muscle car fans just aren’t that interested in the EV, and Stellantis has already opted to discontinue the base R/T model following the 2025 model year as it works to bring ICE variants – including a potential V8 model – to market as quickly as possible. Now, the Dodge Charger Daytona is facing a somewhat embarrassing and humorous recall.
That recall pertains to a total of 8,390 different 2024-2025 Dodge Charger Daytona models – produced between April 30th, 2024, and March 18th, 2025. The issue, it seems, is that those vehicles’ amplifier may be missing software, which can prevent it from emitting exterior sounds including pedestrian warnings. As such, impacted models don’t comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 141, “Minimum Sound Requirements for Hybrid Electric Vehicles.”
The reason such a rule exists is that EVs are so quiet, the government deemed it necessary to add some sort of pedestrian warning sound to avoid accidents. To fix this problem, dealers will inspect and update the amplifier software in these impacted Charger EVs, which is simple enough, but it’s still a somewhat embarrassing problem after Dodge spent a lot of time and marketing efforts promoting the vehicle’s Fratzonic “exhaust” system, or external noise maker.
That particular system was long touted as the answer to making EV muscle cars as exciting as their ICE counterparts by giving them the same sort of sounds and feel as traditional gas models. There’s been much debate centered around whether or not that was effective, but given high demand for ICE versions of the new Dodge Charger – coupled with poor sales of the EV Daytona version – it seems as if consumers are voting with their wallets.
Comments
I literally was behind one yesterday at a red light. I rolled down my window of my MB 580 GLE SUV so I could hear him take off when it turned green. Green light GO—Couldn’t hear a thing. NO SOUND whatsoever.
This is an issue that the EV community is going to have to address very soon. There is no way the the braap braap group or the loud pipes saves lives group is going to move over to an EV unless there is some way for it to make excessive noise. Yes the loud stereo is one solution but because it is mounted inside of the vehicle it really only punishes the passenger on the car. There must be some way to hook up a large speaker to the motor drives and make it sound like an old school supercharger!
I’ve got a Maverick hi-bred and it’s silent in electric mode. And that’s fine with me. When I want sound and fun I drive my 2011 Challenger.
My Mustang Mach-E has the false bravado exhaust sound inside, turned it on just to see what it was about once and haven’t turned it back on since. As for the pedestrian warning, it works, I see people turn to look for that strange sound all the time.
I like to tease my friends about their ice vehicles, I ask what’s that tappy tappy noise coming from your car?
Happy happy is the blessed sound of mechanical parts hitting each other in synchronized dance. Instead of the godless whine of electric current generating magnetic fields around magnets.
Plus the tappity is saving the planet with every blessed click as it provides life giving CO2 to the starving atmosphere.
The planet would be doing just fine if we weren’t adding excessive chemicals to the air and screwing up the balance of nature.
That should be an easy recall, about 99.9% of them are still at the dealer’s lot.
The idiot in charge that was just fired , single handedly killed the company with garbage like this. What did they expect by bringing in an individual that didn’t even know where North America was located much less what its citizens buying habits.