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Chrysler recalling 280k Dodge Ram 1500 pickups over axle seizures

Following a June investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will be recalling 280,000 Dodge Ram pickups from model year 2005. The issue, NHTSA told The Detroit News, centered on a loose pinion nut, which could cause the rear axle to seize and, potentially, the driveshaft to detach. The affected vehicles were built between January of 2004 and August of 2005, while of the 280,000 trucks, only 257,000 were sold in the US market. According to The News, the recall will begin on February 13, and will see owners report to dealerships to have "a retention feature" added to the pinion nut.

2025 SRT Hellcat concepts as previewed by high schoolers

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has some very talented designers in its ranks. Like any good company, though, the automaker is always on the lookout for early talent. Even if they're still in high school. One of those talent-seeking initiatives is the company's Drive for Design contest, an event open to tenth-, eleventh-, and twelfth-grade students that are hoping for a future in design. For this year's event, students from across the country were given a shot to design their vision for a 2025 model-year Dodge SRT Hellcat. The results are impressive, as you can see in the gallery above. First place went to Ben Treinen, from Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati. Second place was the only award to go to a student outside the Rust Belt, with Macon, GA's Harrison Kunselman, a student at Mount de Sales Academy taking the silver. Third place was won by a metro Detroiter – Bloomfield Hills High School student Hwanseong Jang, while fourth went to Andrew Gombac of Loyola Academy in Wilmette, IL. According to FCA, all four winners will have their sketches on display at the 2016 Autorama at Cobo Center at the end of February. They'll also win some pretty nifty prizes. First place will get a new Apple MacBook Pro, while second, third, and fourth get the new Apple iPad Pro and Apple Pencil (arguably just as good of a prize for budding designers). All four finishers will also attend a three-week automotive design course at Detroit's prestigious College for Creative Studies, have dinner with FCA designers, and score three passes to Autorama. FCA will cover travel and lodging to Auburn Hills. Read on for the official blast from FCA. Related Video: FCA US Design Team Announces Winners of Drive for Design Contest January 19, 2016 , Auburn Hills, Mich. - The FCA US LLC Design team today announced four winners in this year's Drive for Design contest. The FCA US Drive for Design contest challenged U.S. high school students in grades 10-12 to design a Dodge SRT Hellcat for the year 2025. "The Drive for Design contest continues to be a great way for the FCA US Design team to connect with students that show an interest in art and design," said Mark Trostle – Head of Dodge and SRT Design, FCA US LLC.

Ford Police Interceptors dominate Michigan State Police testing

Once again, Ford Motor Company builds the fastest police vehicles. The Blue Oval touted the news in an official release following Michigan State Police and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department testing. Ford did very well. Except for one acceleration metric – zero to 10 miles per hour – the Blue Oval's Taurus and Explorer-based cop cars were the quickest, with particular praise coming for the EcoBoost-powered models, which bested Chevrolet and Dodge's V8-powered variants. Dearborn's products also posted the fastest average times around MSP's vehicle dynamics course. But it wasn't all positive for Ford. The only four-cylinder in the contest, the 2.0-liter, EcoBoost Ford SSP Sedan, had both the lowest top speed, 120 mph, and the slowest acceleration figures. It was also the slowest in track testing. Ford's products also failed to match the braking and top speeds of its rivals from Detroit and Auburn Hills – the rear-drive Charger Pursuit posted the best braking stats of the entire test, while the V8-powered Chevrolet Caprice hit the highest top speed, at 155 mph. Ford did score a top speed award, among SUVs, but at 132 mph, the naturally aspirated Police Interceptor Utility had to share its award with the equally fast, rear-drive Chevrolet Tahoe. The LA County Sheriff's timing isn't publicly available, but according to Ford, the EcoBoost-powered police cars put on a similarly impressive show for cops on the West Coast. We've assembled a spreadsheet on Google Docs that offers an easy to browse comparison of the different stats assembled by the Michigan State Police, and divided the vehicles between standard V6-powered sedans, high-performance sedans (EcoBoost and V8 models), and SUVs. You can check it out here. Related Video: