Most drivers know the sinking feeling of a dashboard full of warning lights. Now imagine it happening in a car you lease, parked at your own shop, on a night you had plans. That is where Randy, the owner of an electric Dodge Charger, says he found himself again.
Randy runs a shop and posts as @AutoAuctionRebuilds. He says the car sat on the charger in his shop until it reached 100 percent. Then a friend named Nick drove it about 40 miles round trip to pick up dinner. The trip went fine. When Nick parked it and went back to the car, it would not start or move.
A Dashboard Lit Up Like A Christmas Tree
On camera, the electric Dodge Charger shows warning after warning: service charging system, stability control, active damping, an airbag light and a message that the vehicle will turn off soon. The screen still reads an 89 percent state of charge. It even shows a plug icon, although no cable is connected. Put in drive, it only rolls.
Randy says this is not the first time.
“I have lost count of how many times this car has bricked on me.”
He says tow trucks have hauled the car off his property multiple times. In earlier episodes, he says, a weak 12-volt battery caused the trouble. This time he checks. The small battery reads 12 volts, more than the booster pack he hooks up, and the car still will not start.
Trying Every Fix He Knew
Next he disconnects the 12-volt battery, following a procedure he credits to a Mopar technician, in the hope of resetting the car’s modules. He explains the catch: if you get the reconnect step wrong, the coolant pumps can run constantly until they drain the battery. He does it twice, waits longer the second time, and gets the same result.
Things get stranger as the night goes on. The headlights turn on by themselves while nobody is in the car. Later the electric Dodge Charger will not shut off at all, will not go into neutral and will not let him open the front trunk. Three people try to push it and cannot move it. He estimates it weighs about 5,800 pounds.
“I can’t wait till the lease is over on this car.”
The $625 Tow Quote
Because the car is under factory warranty, Randy calls roadside assistance. He says they would only tow it free to the nearest dealer, not to the dealership he uses.
“They wanted to charge me $625”
He says the charge was to take the car to the dealer of his choice, so he picked a different dealership about 20 miles away. Then, by his account, the provider called back to say no tow truck was available that night. It suggested he pay for a tow himself and ask for reimbursement. He declined, pointing out that his small town of about 200 people has no tow company of its own.
In the end he left the car where it stopped, partly in the road. He put the keys on the roof and left the windows down and the hood and trunk open so a driver could reach the batteries.
“The car is broken. I didn’t do it.”
What Electric Dodge Charger Owners And Other EV Drivers Can Learn
- Keep a jump pack that suits your car’s 12-volt system. Many EV no-start problems begin there.
- Find out where the 12-volt battery and jump points are before you need them. On some cars they are in the trunk.
- Read your roadside policy. Know whether it tows to any dealer or only the nearest one.
- Save the dates of every breakdown and tow. A paper trail matters if the problem keeps coming back.
- If a car dies in the road, make it visible. Hazard lights, reflective triangles and a call to local authorities protect other drivers.
Where Things Stand
When the video ends, the electric Dodge Charger is still sitting where it died, and roadside assistance has said it will come the next day. Randy says the car will go to the dealer regardless, and that he is counting down to the end of the lease. Nobody had diagnosed the cause of this latest failure yet.
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