Drive it ‘Till the Wheels Fall Off – Chrysler Recalling 12,000 Cars For Possible Wheel Loss

Chrysler has issued a recall for 12,674 Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger, Dodge Challenger and Dodge Magnum cars from the 2009 and 2010 model years. These cars may have been built without a front wheel spindle nut, and the lack of a wheel spindle nut could cause a wheel to become detached from the vehicle, according to the NHTSA.

The recall notice doesn’t tell owners how they can check if their car has the nut installed, but Chrysler will be contacting any owners of possibly affected vehicles, and dealerships will be inspecting cars and installing wheel spindle nuts when needed. Only rear wheel-drive versions of the 300, Charger, Challenger and Magnum are included in the recall, so if you have an AWD version of one of these cars, you’re safe.

Toyota has had a lot of bad publicity recently over the accident caused by “faulty” floor mats. The fault turned out to be that a dealer threw SUV floor mats in a Camry, but that fact came out long after most people had heard about Toyota’s faulty floormats, and the company even issued its own recall before finding out the truth behind the accident.  One can’t help but wonder if an accident related to this recall would be disastrous for Chrysler. The 300, Charger and Challenger are the only cars Chrysler has left that have any real appeal to consumers beyond A-to-B transportation. If these cars made headlines by being unsafe, it’s hard to imagine many buyers willing to take a chance on a Chrysler product in the coming months.

For your education/entertainment/horror, here are a few videos of cars with their wheels falling off.