The Dart has made a comeback to trouble Dodge due to a substantial recall.

      www.thedrive.com

      The latest car news and reviews, straightforward and honest.

      Our daily newsletter, offered for free, delivers the most important stories directly to your inbox every weekday.

      It’s a recall so significant that it’s happening again! A few months ago, we reported that the NHTSA had reopened its investigation into the reliability of the transmission gear selectors in the short-lived revival of Dodge's compact Dart sedan. Dodge previously issued a recall for all of these vehicles to address a design flaw that rendered the gear selector cables fragile and prone to breaking completely, leaving drivers stranded and permitting parked cars to roll away unexpectedly. Recently, a series of failures indicates that the initial recall didn’t resolve the issue, prompting federal authorities to instruct Dodge to initiate another recall.

      Initially, FCA attributed the issue to deterioration caused by heat and humidity. This combination wears down the bushings that connect the shifter cables to the transmission. As they deteriorate, they may become loose, leading to difficulties in selecting gears. Ultimately, they can fail entirely, and this can happen without warning—both while the vehicle is driving and when it’s parked. Although there were no serious incidents reported before the first recall, Dodge indicated that the number of recorded failures was quite high, reaching into the thousands.

      “A failure of the shift cable to maintain connection to the transmission can cause unexpected and unrecoverable loss of PARK (‘LoP’) function and/or vehicle movement in an unintended direction,” Stellantis noted in its recall report.

      Now, after numerous recent failures (including some on vehicles that had already been repaired), Dodge is set to attempt a more permanent solution. Unfortunately, Dodge currently does not have a solution available. They mentioned that a remedy is being developed, but for now, customers will have to rely on existing parts, which will likely become increasingly difficult to obtain now that they are effectively labeled as defective.

      Stellantis is recalling every Dart on the road—around 300,000 vehicles in total:

      “The suspect period began on February 24, 2012, when the first suspect vehicle was produced, and ended on October 4, 2016, when the last suspect vehicle was produced,” according to the report.

      We will keep an eye out for updates regarding the forthcoming fix. In the meantime, if your Dodge Dart struggles to shift into gear or park, consider parking it on a flat surface—or at least in a location where it won't roll into something (or someone) you care about—and remember to engage the parking brake each time.

      Has your Dodge Dart rolled somewhere it shouldn’t have? Let us know at [email protected]!