Issue link: http://pfmmag.epubxp.com/i/77229
FOCUS New Patrol Vehicles I Dodge Summer Police Advisory Board programmed to increase the maximum interval from 8,000 miles to 10,000 miles. Dodge has also added an Automatic Oil Change In- dicator algorithm that considers a variety of factors for illumination. Te algorithm considers idle hours, but that is just one of the op- erational factors. Te light will illuminate after 350 hours of engine operation. However, other factors may cause it to illuminate earlier. On the officer safety front, the Charger Pursuit continues to come with seven standard airbags: two front, two side thorax, two side curtain and now a driver's knee airbag. Te Charger Pursuit has had these safety features since the 2011 redesign. Improving Local Dealers Pete Grady, VP of Network Development & Fleet, and George Bomanski, National Law Enforcement Service Manager, both spoke of ongoing efforts to improve the technical expertise and market awareness of local dealers when it comes to police vehicles. In fact, Dodge wants to know about local dealerships that are not fleet- friendly, police-friendly. Today, 600 dealerships have an Express Lane with a police pri- ority and 80 percent of all dealers have Saturday hours. Tat is 95 percent in metro areas. Te way technicians are trained and evalu- ated is changing from a curriculum (attendance)-based format to a competency-based format. To achieve the Gold Tool award, the tech must take 12 tests a year, each covering separate areas – and one is police vehicles. On the parts side, Dodge has a special program for emergency vehicles that are down. Even though the part may show as back- ordered for several weeks, they have a system in place to deliver the back-ordered part within 48 hours for a police vehicle. Have the local dealer contact the regional fleet service manager with whom the police agency is and what the part number is. On the corporate end, Dodge has a dedicated and enhanced fleet hotline: 800-999-FLEET. Tis is the best way to get answers, and the best way to document service issues and possible new service problems. Dodge has a weekly conference call with field, service, T In addition to retail-oriented tests for durability, Dodge runs some police-specific tests. They re-create the service issue and develop a durability test for that issue. S For departments running a full-size spare, the upfit brackets from Crown NA are a must-have. This mounts spare flat in the trunk, with or without the optional package tray. corporate quality, supplier quality, and factory quality personnel to track and resolve service issues. Dodge Fleet knows that Sales sells one car, and Service sells the rest. Police-Specific Durability Testing Neil Young, the law enforcement Vehicle Integration Responsible (VIR) covered some of the structural durability testing in the police duty cycle. Tis four-month accelerated testing at proving grounds in Michigan and Arizona works out to 150K customer equivalent miles. Te Charger is loaded to match the expected police usage, which is different than retail usage. Te tests include what everyone thinks about proving grounds: pot holes, washboard roads, frame twists, bumps and dips, low amplitude roughness, high amplitude jounces. All of these are also part of "retail" vehicle structural tests. In addition to running or re-running retail- oriented tests, Dodge does some police-only, police-specific develop- ment tests, again to better match expected police usage. Dodge kept adding unique police-specific durability tests until their durability test results correlated with real-world police results. Tese special events are based on warranty claims or other complaints, sur- veys and tests performed by Michigan State Police and Los Angeles County Sherriff. Te end result is a durability schedule that better matches expected police pursuit usage and detects design issues during testing and development so corrective actions can be taken prior to releasing the product to the field. For police cars, they added an urban speed curb impact, and they tripled the number of hard, controlled stops. Dodge added a special handling course with cornering forces up to 0.8 g, which is far in ex- cess of anything a normal retail car sees, except the SRT vehicles. Tis handling course duplicates the loads and forces seen in pursuit driving, and especially the tests performed by the Michigan State Police and the Los Angeles County Sheriff. It is run clockwise, then counter- 22 Police Fleet Manager Jul-Aug 2012