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SRT Viper plant idled over slow sales [UPDATE]

The SRT Viper is taking an extended production break later this spring while the factory copes with low demand and gears up for the 2015 model year. Chrysler will idle the Conner Avenue Assembly Plant from April 14 to June 23, and 91 employees there will be laid off during that time. Sales have been slow so far this year, with just 91 Vipers sold in the first two months of 2014 (591 were sold all last year), according to The Detroit News. According to Chrysler, this is all part of the plan for the Viper. The automaker says that the Connor Avenue factory was meant to fluctuate in this way because it only builds one vehicle, and the sports coupe was never meant to be a mass-production vehicle. The company claims that idling the plant will allow it to manage showroom inventories. "Customer and dealer demand for the SRT Viper continues at expected levels," said Chrysler spokesperson Dianna Gutierrez to The Detroit News. SRT hasn't revealed what changes are planned for the 2015 model. This isn't the first time we've heard of the Viper's weak demand. As of October 2013, SRT had hoped to build around 2,000 examples, but only about 1,000 had been made. At that point, officials then revealed production would likely be scaled back. We've contacted the Chrysler for further information, and we'll update this post if and when we hear back. UPDATE: Chrysler has passed along this official statement regarding the plant idling: Chrysler Group confirms that its Conner Avenue Assembly Plant will be down, beginning the week of April 14. Production will resume the week of June 23. Ninety-one UAW-represented employees will be laid off during this time. The SRT Viper is a hand-crafted American exotic car that is designed for a specific consumer that values performance, style and exclusivity. It has never been intended to be a mass-production vehicle as less than 29,000 vehicles have been produced in the past 20 years. The ability to increase and decrease production at the Conner Avenue Assembly Plant allows the company to continue to meet our customers' desire to keep these special cars exclusive. We will be able to take advantage of this transition to manage dealer inventories.

Jeep in St. Louis hacked from Pittsburgh

One of America's most popular vehicles contains a security flaw that allows hackers to remotely commandeer it from anywhere on the planet. Cyber-security researchers Chris Valasek and Charlie Miller say they've accessed critical vehicle controls on a 2014 Jeep Cherokee that allowed them to remotely control critical vehicle functions like braking, transmission function, and steering. Automakers have downplayed the possibility a car could be remotely compromised, but the significance of the findings detailed Tuesday could cause them to reevaluate the threats posed to hundreds of thousands of vehicles already on the road. A key finding – the pair needed no physical access to the Jeep to pull off the attack. Valasek and Miller accessed the controls via a security hole in the Sprint cellular connection to Chrysler's UConnect infotainment system. In the course of their research, Valasek sat in his Pittsburgh home and remotely manipulated Miller's Jeep as he drove along a highway outside St. Louis. If you know a car's IP address, they say, a hacker could control it from anywhere. "We didn't add anything, didn't touch it," Valasek told Autoblog. "A customer could drive one of these things off a lot, and they'd have no clue it had these open attack surfaces." Remotely, he disabled brakes, turned the radio volume up, engaged windshield wipers and tampered with the transmission. Further, they could conduct surveillance on the Jeep, measuring its speed and tracking its whereabouts. They conducted the experiments over multiple breaches. They made their findings public on the same day the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal agency in charge of vehicle safety, released its latest report on the readiness of government and automakers to fend off these sorts of cyber attacks. Later today, two US Senators are expected to introduce legislation that would help consumers better understand the potential risks of car hacking. In the early stages of their research, Valasek and Miller found a security flaw in the car's wi-fi that allowed them to remotely manipulate controls from a range of about three feet. But in recent months, they found another vulnerability in the Sprint cellular connection in the UConnect system. That was a key breakthrough. "Lo and behold, we found we could communicate with this thing using cellular, and then more research, and 'Holy cow,' we're using the Sprint network to communicate with these vehicles," Valasek said.

2015 Chrysler 200 earns Top Safety Pick+ [w/video]

If safety is a priority in your next car purchase, the 2015 Chrysler 200 looks like a pretty good bet, according to a recent evaluation from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The new sedan scored top marks in all of the agency's crash tests and a "Superior" score from its optional front crash prevention system to earn it a Top Safety Pick+ rating. In the latest small overlap front crash test (video below), the new Chrysler nabbed a score of "Good," the IIHS's top rating. In the 40-miles-per-hour evaluation of the front 25 percent of the vehicle, the agency found that there was a low risk of serious injuries. The safety systems kept the dummy's head in position, and the side airbags protected it well. It also beat out the previous generation 200 that only had an "Acceptable" in that test. As part of its "Superior" score, the front crash prevention system was able to completely stop the 200 in the IIHS 12-mph test and significantly slowed it down from 25 mph. Scroll down to watch the carnage unfold as the sedan gets put through the small-overlap crash and read the official IIHS announcement of its results. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. All-new Chrysler 200 aces small overlap front crash test, earns TOP SAFETY PICK+ ARLINGTON, Va. - The redesigned 2015 Chrysler 200, a midsize moderately priced car, earns the top rating of good in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's small overlap front crash test, a step up from the previous generation's rating of acceptable. With good ratings in all five of the Institute's crashworthiness evaluations, plus an available front crash prevention system that earns a superior rating, the 200 qualifies for the IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK+ award. In the small overlap test, the driver's space was maintained well, and injury measures recorded on the dummy indicated a low risk of any significant injuries in a real-world crash of this severity. The dummy's head was well controlled by the frontal airbag, which stayed in position during the crash. The side curtain airbag deployed and had sufficient forward coverage to protect the head from contact with side structures. The 200 earns a good rating in every measurement category for small overlap protection including structure, restraints and dummy kinematics, and injury measures for the head and neck, chest, pelvis, and legs and feet.