Dodge Viper

Cause of death

Killed by regulation

Made by

Dodge

A new federal ejection-mitigation airbag requirement would not fit the Viper's existing packaging.

Twenty-five years of a hand-assembled 8.4-litre V10, built at the end by a crew of 87 people in a plant whose Detroit zip code made the Viper the only American sports car actually built in Motor City. It was not killed by neglect: FCA design boss Ralph Gilles said publicly that the car had sold well over its final couple of years and that the problem was a coming ejection-mitigation airbag regulation the body could not package. The last Viper rolled off the Conner Avenue line in August 2017, weeks before the plant closed for good.