As the first totally new vehicle in the Dodge portfolio, there is a lot of excitement behind the all-new 2023 Dodge Hornet GT.
Many are disappointed to hear that the new Dodge is produced in Italy, whereas others are embracing the newest vehicle to wear the “Rhombi” logo as something new and exciting. But there is a lot riding on the American performance brand’s new C-segment utility vehicle.
The Hornet’s main purpose is to help the brand make up for most of its lost sales after the discontinuation of its popular people movers (Grand Caravan and Journey) in 2020. The Hornet aims to fill in the gap by offering an attractive vehicle with standard turbocharged power and all-wheel drive (AWD), starting a hair under $30,000 USD.
To say there is a lot riding on the Hornet is nothing short of the truth.
The guys over at The Fast Lane Car (TFLCar) there were able to get their hands on one, just as dealers were taking in the initial batch of units ordered back in August.
Showcasing the vehicle’s AWD system, the TFLCar team put the Hornet through its diagonal slip test. A test that the automotive review channel does for most of its new crossovers it tests. The slip test aims to test a vehicle’s ability to handle loss-of-traction situations and how it shuffles power around to gain traction.
Unfortunately for the Hornet, it wasn’t a fan. As the Hornet had three of its wheels on the rollers, making the Hornet send traction to the wheel that wasn’t, the Hornet suddenly threw a number of warning lights and messages and disabled the AWD system to save it from any mechanical damage.
They then tried to shut the vehicle off and open the door to see if the vehicle would restart and reset, to no avail. And then, Tommy disconnected the battery, but the Hornet continued throwing lights and messages. They then decided to see if driving the car a short distance to see if the computer would default, and some of the lights eventually turned off.
After the situation, they reached out to Dodge, which released the following statement:
“We are aware of this issue in our pre-production vehicles, which is strictly an electronic issue and requires a quick reflash which does not affect drivability. We’ll review the vehicle and would like to get back to the TFL team as soon as possible for a retesting.”
It seems quite embarrassing for the automaker, even if it was a simple electronic issue. Hopefully, TFLCar will be reissued another Hornet GT, in which they can redo their test and get the results they were looking for.
Source: TFLCar
