2017 Dodge Charger Earns "Five-Star" Overall Safety Rating

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Oct 05, 2016, 06:00 ET

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Oct. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Dodge Charger earns 5-star crash rating for 10th time.

2017 Dodge Charger earns five stars overall, the highest single rating in NHTSA's vehicle-evaluation program
Five-star rating applies to both rear-wheel and all-wheel-drive versions
2017 Dodge Charger features available Full-Speed Forward Collision Warning-Plus, which benefits from advanced sensor-fusion technology; feature provides alerts, autonomous braking and is capable of bringing vehicle to a full stop
Lane Departure Warning with Lane Keep Assist also among 80+ available safety and security features
Charger has now achieved five-star overall score 10 times — every year NHTSA included the car in its annual ratings

The 2017 Dodge Charger has earned a five-star overall safety rating from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Both versions of the Charger, rear-wheel and all-wheel drive, were evaluated for frontal and side impacts, and rollover resistance. The overall result was the same for each: five stars – the highest single rating in NHTSA's vehicle-evaluation program.

"This further validates the robustness of our safety engineering," says Mike Dahl, Head of Vehicle Safety and Regulatory Compliance, FCA – North America. "But crashworthiness is only half the story. We are immensely proud of the investment we've made in the driver-assist technologies that help enable crash mitigation."

In its assessment of the 2017 Dodge Charger, which recorded a year-over-year sales increase of 35 percent in September, NHTSA notes the availability of Full-Speed Forward Collision Warning-Plus.

The Charger's crash-mitigation system benefits from advanced sensor-fusion technology. Sensor-fusion leverages the combined attributes of radar and cameras to help deliver greater precision when determining if a frontal impact may be imminent.

If camera and radar agree that a frontal impact with another vehicle appears imminent, the system pre-fills the Charger's brakes and transmits audible and visual warnings for the driver to react. If there is no driver response, the system triggers a brief brake application as a tactile alert.

If the driver remains unresponsive and frontal collision risk remains, the Charger's brakes are applied to slow the vehicle before impact. The system may bring the vehicle to full stop if an imminent frontal collision is detected at speeds below 25 mph.

Sensor-fusion technology was once reserved for luxury-segment vehicles. Today, FCA US makes it available across six vehicle segments – from small SUV to minivan.Sensor-fusion is the Company's technology of choice for crash mitigation.

"Our commitment to such advancements was made clear when we signed an industry-wide agreement to proliferate this capability across our lineup," Dahl says. "It is part of our ongoing contribution to the democratization of driver-assist features."

The 2017 Dodge Charger offers more than 80 available safety and security features, including Lane Departure Warning with Lane Keep Assist, which uses camera technology to help keep the driver aware of her/his vehicle position on the road. If the Charger veers toward a lane marker in a manner consistent with driver inattention, the system provides alerts and delivers automated steering inputs that help accommodate course correction.

A distinguishing element of Lane Departure Warning with Lane Keep Assist is that the level of steering input may be adjusted to suit an individual driver. The menu of choices is accessible through the Charger's available 8.4-inch Uconnect center-stack touchscreen.

The fourth generation of Uconnect's celebrated touchscreen makes its debut on the 2017 Dodge Charger, Challenger and Chrysler 300.

"The ability to fine tune such a feature helps improve driver comfort and confidence, both of which contribute to safe vehicle operation," says Adam Chiappetta, Senior Manager – Active Safety and Driver-Assist Technologies at FCA US.

Since its launch in 2005, the Charger has been included in NHTSA's annual ratings list on 10 occasions. Each time, it earned an overall score of five stars.

About Dodge and SRT Brands
The Dodge brand is America's mainstream performance brand. With the purification of the brand and consolidation with SRT, Dodge is focusing on its performance roots with every single model it offers. The Dodge and SRT brands offer a complete lineup of performance vehicles that stand out within their own segments. Dodge is the mainstream performance brand and SRT is positioned as the ultimate performance halo of the Dodge brand, together creating a complete and balanced performance brand with one vision and one voice.

From muscle cars to minivans, crossovers and full-size SUVs, the Dodge brand's full lineup of 2017 models deliver best-in-class horsepower, class-exclusive technology, unmatched capability and a slew of cool features, such as LED headlamps, Dodge signature racetrack tail lamps, active exhaust, cold-air induction, 8.4-inch touchscreen Uconnect infotainment centers and 7-inch customizable gauge clusters, to name a few. For the 2017 model year, the Dodge brand lineup features the 25th anniversary Viper, Durango, Grand Caravan, Journey, Charger and Challenger, including the new Charger Daytona and Challenger T/A, as well as the 707-horsepower Challenger SRT Hellcat, the most powerful and fastest muscle car ever and the Charger SRT Hellcat, the quickest, fastest and most powerful sedan in the world.

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