2023 Dodge Hornet

Discontinued vehicle model still under active bumper to bumper warranty (thru 10/26); has faulty rear defroster/heated side mirrors that the "remedy" handed down to me was to "drive more" in an effort to charge battery to a threshold that allows said necessary safety feature to operate. If charge falls beneath 65% the vehicle terminates functionality of deemed "non-essential" operations to maintain major functions. Problem is, this feature is not optional. It needs to be available on demand AT ALL TIMES. Especially in the midst of a brutal upstate NY winter where the windows are quintessentially frosted over EVERY morning. There is but one mention of rear defroster operation in the 2023 Dodge Hornet owner manual on page 47. There is ZERO mention of driving X amount of miles or X amount of time to maintain functionality of the rear defroster/heated side mirrors. Devoid of this information in the manual, my expectation is for the company to find a remedy as I have owned many vehicles in my life and never have I ever had this sort of selective operation issue for a SAFETY feature. These vehicles rely on an Intelligent Battery Sensor to dictate to the car what the state of charge is for the battery. My battery was replaced by the dealer I bought this from in May '25 (have paperwork to prove) and the readings per the local dealer I had looking into this on two occasions this month were in the 60-65% range for battery capacity. No way a battery this young has been drained by a third of it's potential already. And if so, something larger is amiss that needs to be diagnosed and remediated PERMANENTLY. Me "driving more" is not a solution. Especially since it makes me incur unnecessary miles and expend more on gas which I will absolutely not do. Bringing this to light before warranty expiration later this year. The company is seemingly trying to do anything and everything to not put money into vehicles that are discontinued. Factory warranty ends 10/26.

While driving through Columbia, SC on Jan 10th at 11am the sunroof suddenly shattered. The temp was 80 degrees and it was sunny. Traffic was moderate. There was what sounded like a large explosion and then I heard what sounded like pebbles running down my car. It was very startling to say the least. I thought it was a truck tire that had exploded but I kept hearing the pebbles sound. So as soon as it was safe to pull over I did to check to see if what I thought was a truck tire exploding had damaged my car somehow. I opened the sunroof roof once I came to a stop and thats when I saw that my sunroof had shattered and understood that was the noise I heard.

I have been taking my car into the shop to get the lights checked. They’ve come to conclusion that the front crash sensors disable themselves and they have no fix for it. Chrysler engineers came back and said to close the case and give the car back until they find a fix. This is very unsafe considering I drive a hour to work and home and also have a 6 month old baby. I talked to Chrysler about getting my car bought back under the lemon law and I was told I’d get a call with my options. However, when it came down to it, they have me driving the unsafe car and will not return my calls nor contact me. I tried to take it to a different location and he told me that he couldn’t do anything about it over the phone. Dodge is not concerned about the problem nor my safety and I believe something needs to be done because they won’t work with me to get a safe car. They’d rather me drive an unsafe vehicle. The car disables its crash sensors whenever it wants.

I have three issues that I believe compromise the safety of the Hornet. My specific safety-related issues are: Emergency call system inoperable (this worked originally but became a problem when the dealer replaced my telematics module) FCW - Intermittent warning lights that indicate the system has been disabled or that a crash is imminent ACC - Intermittent warning lights that the ACC sensor is blocked These errors occur while the vehicle is being driven and may go on and off multiple times in a single trip. When we are driving our vehicles and these things happen it is hard to know whether these lights and messages are harmless or if the safety of our vehicle is compromised while we are driving. After my last visit to the dealer they told me nothing more could be done and there would be no reason for me to return for service until software updates are available......basically washing their hands of the problems. There are other annoying issues from time-to-time that don't necessarily seem to be safety-related so those are less concerning. I have had my vehicle at the dealer for service three times. Nothing has been resolved and some new unwelcome behavior occurred as a result of the visit.