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A couple of weeks ago I posted a blog about the unusual exterior hood release of our long-term 2009 Dodge Viper. Immediately someone asked if it locked when the car was locked or could somebody open the hood of a parked and locked Viper.
Well, yesterday I checked and was surprised to find that it does not lock. Viper owners beware.
Scott Oldham, Editor in Chief @ 17,287 miles
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felonious says:
03:17 PM, 10/ 8/10
Last time I had a non-locking hood was in my 1965 Mustang. Some vatos stole my battery for their hydraulics - twice!
wobbly_ears says:
03:24 PM, 10/ 8/10
Wow! What a stupid design decisions.
Any reason why the great minds at Chrysler thought this was a good idea??
slickersdrip says:
03:43 PM, 10/ 8/10
Wow, that would make me feel awesome about leaving that at an airport for a week.
msadventure says:
06:36 PM, 10/ 8/10
Yikes - scary!
hondanut says:
07:52 PM, 10/ 8/10
Good fact to know. The next time I see a parked Viper, I'm going to open that hood and transplant that V10 into my Jetta. No one will notice.
cwalton1 says:
07:58 PM, 10/ 8/10
But if the car is locked (arming the alarm) then the alarm goes berserk if you pull the lever. This I know from an early morning at the test track when somebody locked the Viper.
Chris Walton
hybris says:
08:28 PM, 10/ 8/10
There as to be a mod somewhere that can lock that with the doors.
majin_ssj_eric says:
09:37 PM, 10/ 8/10
Don't care. Still love this car!
threemopars says:
10:14 PM, 10/ 8/10
"Wow, that would make me feel awesome about leaving that at an airport for a week."
Rigggghhhhttt and people just leave an exotic car at the airport for a week.
The car alarm arms when the car is locked, actually it auto-arms anyways regardless if you lock the car or not. Unlatching the hood would set off the alarm. It's not like the car is going to start anways.
dmos says:
07:00 AM, 10/ 9/10
My Jeep has the same thing.. less the pull. You just flip down the rubber holders, push the centre piece over and presto: open engine compartment. As an owner it beats fiddling around for a small tab in winter with gloves on. Then again my Jeep is a little more commonplace than a Viper.
joliveira says:
01:03 PM, 10/ 9/10
Who cares if the alarm arms, of they can't get your engine out.... if you have neighbor that doesn't like your face and is crazy enought, he opens that hood, and throw at it a bunch of fresh egs and flour to your beloved engine.... this is a gigantic fail in design....
slickersdrip says:
09:58 PM, 10/ 9/10
threemopars,
First off, the Viper is in no way exotic. It's a super car. I'd hazard a guess if Dodge could have sold more of them, they would have made more of them. It's not a limited edition car for any reason for their *terrible* practicality and every day use that this car lacks. For the $80-90K range I expect a super car that I can drive every day. Someone could have a new Z06, new 911 or new GT-R for that kind of money. It could be left at an airport. This isn't some hyper exotic limited edition car like a Ferrari.
I do like Dodge and I love the Viper-- but at the end of the day it's a mass production car. Not a kit car. It should have *at least* accommodations that can be found in a Neon. I like the simplicity of no traction control, manual transmission only, etc. But this is a stupid omission. I have a friend with a ZR-1 who has left it at Austin-Bergstrom for a week while he was in Hawaii. It's his only car, and that's the way it is.
I guess this is just another reason why the Viper failed to be extremely popular. It had to be a toy/a second vehicle. I'd like to be the guy who bought a Viper and drove it every day.
I'm not saying that someone would be able to pop the hood and steal the engine, but pop the hood and do something wonky with my car isn't something I like.
sideswiper says:
10:14 PM, 10/ 9/10
No one else is tempted to try this out at their next sighting?
slickersdrip says:
01:16 AM, 10/10/10
@sideswiper: *shifty*
dougtheeng says:
05:45 AM, 10/11/10
"I'm not saying that someone would be able to pop the hood and steal the engine, but pop the hood and do something wonky with my car isn't something I like."
I don't know about the rest of your rant but I agree with this comment. I like things under lock and key.
kevinlch says:
01:50 PM, 10/11/10
new slogan: At Dodge, everything is an afterthought.
bengal3200 says:
12:59 PM, 10/29/10
Here's an idea, IL, stop friggin' telling everyone about it. No one (except owners) new before you went ranting about it. Then you won't have to worry about some schmuck popping your hood and slicing your coolent lines.