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Dodge shows can-do attitude with grand Can'avan sculpture

There are lots of ways to celebrate an important birthday, and all of them are well deserved. You can throw a big party, buy yourself something nice, or - if you're the altruistic type - do something for others in need. The latter is how Chrysler has opted to mark the 30th anniversary of its Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country.
Together with hunger-advocacy organization Canstruction, the Chrysler Foundation has built a full-scale replica of the Grand Caravan out of 30,000 food cans in the square at the corner of Yonge and Dundas in Toronto, a ways down the highway from where the real vans are built in Windsor. The sculpture was built over the course of 10 hours by 30 volunteers and was displayed earlier this week.
Now the installation is being taken down, and the cans of food are being donated to the Daily Bread Food Bank, which will assemble them into 2,000 food baskets to be distributed to those in need through its network of 200 food banks across the Canadian metropolis. Check out a neat time-lapse video of the build and the press release below.

Chrysler recalling nearly half a million vehicles with active head restraints

Chrysler has announced that it will recall roughly 490,000 vehicles around the globe due to a potential active head-restraint problem. The problem is being blamed on "potentially faulty microcontrollers" that may keep the vehicles' anti-whiplash active safety feature from working properly. Chrysler says it has no knowledge of any accidents or injuries related to the issue. Models covered under the recall include the 2011-2013 Chrysler Sebring, 200 (shown) and Dodge Avenger models, along with 2011-2013 Jeep Liberty and 2011-2012 Dodge Nitro SUVs.
Interestingly, the Pentastar notes that the faulty part came from an (unnamed) supplier who furnished the parts in the wake of Japan's 2011 earthquake and tsunami, natural disasters which decimated the world's supply of microcontrollers.
Chrysler says of those nearly half a million vehicles affected, around 442,000 of them reside in the US, with an additional 25,000 in Canada and 10,000 units in Mexico. A further 12,000 models were shipped beyond the NAFTA region. The Auburn Hills automaker will begin sending out recall notices shortly, and technicians will upgrade the system software or replace the microcontroller as necessary at no cost to owners.

Chrysler's next-gen minivans will get more expensive

Chrysler introduced the value-oriented Great American Package on the base model Chrysler 300 in 2005. That morphed into the American Value Package available as an option on the Dodge Grand Caravan in 2012, which made it the lowest-priced minivan in the country, now with an MSRP of $21,395. Automotive News reports that Chrysler is going to kill the value package when the new Town & Country arrives for 2017, because the new platform and technology of the coming minivan make it "a difficult price point to get to." AN says the next-generation haulers will come in around $26,000 and can go beyond $45,000 with options; clicking every "Add" button we could find on the Town & Country build page, we couldn't get past $43,000 for today's model. That entry pricing in 2017 would eliminate the first three trims on the Dodge option, the American Value Package, the SE that starts at $24,195, and the SE Plus that starts at $24,995. This makes us think the next-generation haulers will take a sizable step upscale in terms of feel, content, and trim, a la the Chrysler 200. In this writer's opinion, if they do as good a job as they've been doing recently, the extra money will be worth it. There have been spy shots and a lot of rumors about it, like the Caravan minivan going away and becoming a crossover, but we'll see it revealed at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show. News Source: Automotive News - sub. req. Chrysler Dodge Car Buying Minivan/Van chrysler town and country price dodge grand caravan