2013 Chrysler Town & Country 4dr Wgn Touring on 2040-cars

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Toyota tops Consumer Reports best, worst used car values

We often mock Toyota for building boring, soulless cars, but a new study by Consumer Reports suggests that regardless of whether that's true, the company has some of the best used cars on the market. In its report on used cars from 2004-2013, the Japanese automaker had 11 vehicles among its brands on the list - more than any other automaker.
CR breaks the list down by cost and vehicle size, and Toyota has at least one entry at every price point and in nearly every segment. To score a recommendation, a vehicle had to perform well in the magazine's initial tests and score above-average reliability results. It also tried to only suggest cars with electronic stability control. Of the 28 recommended vehicles, Honda/Acura had the second most mentions at six, and Ford, Hyundai and Subaru managed two each.
The Detroit brands also made it to the list, but not in a positive way. Consumer Reports compiled a list of 22 vehicles it wouldn't recommend because "they have multiple years of much-worse-than-average overall reliability." General Motors had the most unrecommended models on the list at six, but Chrysler and Ford weren't far behind, with five cars each from their brands not making the grade. The full list of recommendations is available on CR's website.

Chrysler highlights Mopar lineup for SEMA

SEMA is all about aftermarket parts, and in Auburn Hills that all comes down to one name: Mopar. After having previewed its lineup for this year's Vegas tuner expo earlier this month, Chrysler has now revealed what may not quite be its full dossier of modified show cars, but a good portion of them.
All told Mopar is preparing 20 vehicles for display at SEMA this year. Among them you'll find the Ram Sun Chaser, a 1500 Quad Cab show truck kitted out in two-tone orange and black paint, a roof rack for surfboards, onboard shower and convertible tailgate. The white Fiat 500L is called the Adventurer and is modified for a more rugged look that could hint at the upcoming crossover version. The Jeep Cherokee Trail Carver upgrades on the Trailhawk package with everything from roof basket to rock rails. To counterbalance the off-roaders, there's also a modified Chrysler 300S with a deep black paint job, special grille, Varvatos-edition wheels and more.
All four concepts details so far have Katzkin interiors as well, and there's also an unspecified Dodge Durango with a storm-trooper look in the gallery above. But for more details on what Mopar has installed on the Ram, 500L, Cherokee and 300, you'll want to delve into the press release below.

Chrysler Recalls Jeep SUVs For Ignition Switches

The ignition switch defects that engulfed General Motors are now a rapidly growing problem at Chrysler. Chrysler said Tuesday it is recalling up to 792,300 older Jeep SUVs worldwide because the ignition switches could fall out of the "run" position, shutting off the engine and disabling air bags as well as power-assisted steering and braking. That's the same problem that has forced GM to recall more than 15 million cars over the last six months. Chrysler's recall covers 2005-2007 Grand Cherokees and 2006-2007 Commanders. The company said it is not sure exactly how many will be recalled, but said it will notify customers by mid-September. Chrysler said an outside force such as a driver's knee can knock switches out of the "run" position. Engineers are working on a fix. The Auburn Hills, Michigan-based automaker, now part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, said it knows of no related injuries and only one accident. But it said owners should keep clearance between their knees and keys until repairs are made. Chrysler has now recalled more than 1.7 million vehicles for ignition-switch problems. In June, the company added 696,000 minivans and SUVs to a 2011 recall to fix faulty ignition switches. Those recalls covered Dodge Journey SUVs and Chrysler Town & Country, Dodge Caravan and Volkswagen Routan minivans - which Chrysler made for the German automaker - from the 2007 to 2010 model years. Tuesday's recall is the outgrowth of two investigations opened by U.S. safety regulators last month as part of a broader probe into ignition-switch and air-bag problems across the auto industry. The agency wouldn't say Tuesday whether its investigation could lead to recalls at other automakers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in June that it was investigating Jeep Commanders and Grand Cherokees after getting 32 complaints that a driver's knee can hit the key fob or key chain, causing the ignition switch to move out of position. The federal investigation is still open. The agency said Tuesday that it is requesting additional information from Chrysler to ensure that its repairs will be effective. The investigations and recalls come after GM bungled an ignition-switch recall of older small cars. GM acknowledged that it knew of the ignition problem for more than a decade but failed to recall the cars until earlier this year, when it recalled 2.6 million small cars such as the Chevrolet Cobalt.