Whatever Happened To Dodge’s Security Update?

Read the full story on The Auto Wire

Back in August 2021 Dodge was playing damage control with all the Hellcat thefts in the news, so it rolled out a security update plus two other new security measures to keep thieves from swiping performance models. Here it is November 2024 and we don’t know nor can we find a single Hellcat or Scat Pack owner who has received any of these measures on their muscle car.

Learn why Stellantis is in serious trouble.

We have personal experience with this matter since some of our staff owns Mopars which supposedly qualified for these upgrades. However, calls and visits to multiple dealership service departments only resulted in confusion and frustration.

In short, the dealerships claimed to know nothing about these security measures being offered by Dodge. Follow-up communications were full of more denials and admissions of ignorance. Think what you want about that, but we’ve spoken with other Dodge owners in multiple states and they’ve had similar experiences.

Dodge got quite a bit of positive media coverage when it announced these security updates, with some even going so far as to suggest it would end the Hellcat theft epidemic. Yet here we are three years later with Hellcats and Scat Packs getting stolen regularly still.

The measure which most people seemed to concentrate on, Enhanced Security Mode, would require the owner to type a four-digit code to unlock the engine, otherwise output would be capped at under three horsepower. That was supposed to be available in January 2022 for 2020 and 2021 models, then later for the 2015 through 2019 group.

If you want to jog your memory about these security enhancements for certain Dodge Chargers and Challengers, check out the official announcement here. Then if your vehicle qualifies for them, go hit up your local dealer and see what kind of response you get. Let us know what happens – we’re genuinely curious.

Image via Stellantis

Follow The Auto Wire on Google News.

Join our Newsletter, subscribe to our YouTube page, and follow us on Facebook.