Normal Driving Conditions Warranty Clause

[gmiles]

Guys,

Not that I expected my warranty claim to be covered... but the reason given was a bit odd.
I have a grind while shifting from 2-3 at 6k RPM..

The service manager called the regional rep and the rep said to "tell him to review his warranty, that the 2-3 shift at 6k RPM exceeds the speed limit and therefore that is not considered normal driving conditions and not covered under warranty."

Anybody else heard a similar line?

Geez...

[swexlin]

Guys,

Not that I expected my warranty claim to be covered... but the reason given was a bit odd.
I have a grind while shifting from 2-3 at 6k RPM..

The service manager called the regional rep and the rep said to "tell him to review his warranty, that the 2-3 shift at 6k RPM exceeds the speed limit and therefore that is not considered normal driving conditions and not covered under warranty."

Anybody else heard a similar line?

Geez...

Horseshit, pure and simple. You may need an attorney for this one, I'm sorry to day. How do they know you weren't on a track, or in an emergency situation. So in other words, most any defect that shows over 70 mph (the max speed limit in some areas in this country) wouldn't be warrantied?

[gmiles]

Not worth the legal hassle as it's possible that my mods created the problem.. my issue is they won't even check to see what the problem is... And the mechanic can't replicate the problem because it's illegal on public roads.. and as he said.. "no dealership has a dyno"

I've reviewed my warranty and this is as close as I can find.

3.4 Racing Not Covered
Your warranties don’t cover the costs of repairing
damage or conditions caused by racing, nor do they
cover the repair of any defects that are found as the result
of participating in a racing event.

[ViperSmith]

Where in the warranty are "normal driving conditions" defined?

[lochnessmonster]

Call FCA customer service and have them open a ticket on the matter. In my dealings with them, they have been very interested in maintaining a good relationship with the customer (me). They contacted the service manager at my dealership right away and started working on a solution to my problem. They were a little slow in returning my phone calls, but ultimately did call me back and the problem was solved. It's worth a try, and won't involve the "legal hassle".

[gmiles]

FCA.. The vehicle is running as designed. No you may not speak to a supervisor as they are unavailable. May I leave a voicemail. No you may not. When would I be able to speak to a supervisor. You will not be able to as the diagnosis is that the vehicle is running as designed. Do supervisors have voicemail. Yes, may I be transferred to that voicemail. No you may not. and around we went.

I was extremely cordial but she followed her script. KD515 Kiera.

[Viktimize]

Where in the warranty are "normal driving conditions" defined?

Bingo! What is normal to me might not be normal to someone else. So unless they defined what "normal driving" is to them, they still liable to honour the warranty.

But you're screwed either way, because even if they want to honour the warranty, the tech still can't recreate the issue. So he can't troubleshoot a problem that does not exist for him.

[lochnessmonster]

Wow!!! Sorry to hear that!!! Very disappointing, and certainly not consistent with the experience I had, although I was dealing with FCA customer service in Canada, but I would expect the service to be just as good down south

[gmiles]

I know Loch... it was. I plan to call back tomorrow to see if I just got a bad egg. Anyone have a name or extension of supervisor up there?
Again, not like I expect it to be covered but the method of decline is a bit off. Wasting my time on principle again...

[Rare Snake]

Not worth the legal hassle as it's possible that my mods created the problem.. my issue is they won't even check to see what the problem is... And the mechanic can't replicate the problem because it's illegal on public roads.. and as he said.. "no dealership has a dyno"

I've reviewed my warranty and this is as close as I can find.

3.4 Racing Not Covered
Your warranties don’t cover the costs of repairing
damage or conditions caused by racing, nor do they
cover the repair of any defects that are found as the result
of participating in a racing event.

Isn't the whole R29 recall petty much based on a "racing condition"?

The engine on about 260 of the above vehicles may experience unintended oil
consumption under rare conditions during high-speed right-hand cornering when
the engine is at light throttle and high RPM, engine oil can be forced into the Make
Up Air hose. This condition may compromise engine durability.

[dewilmoth]

I'm fairly certain the term "racing event" means full blown timed format racing, not even HPDE on a track. I'd totally call their bluff on that one.

[TrackAire]

Jesus....what a cluster F of idiots working at FCA.

Maybe you should just ship your car to Woodhouse or Viper Exchange.

Then again, you can just start powershifting the shit out of your transmission until something breaks in the transmission or the noise is heard at every RPM. They'll cover it then.......

[Martin]

Kind of sounds like they took a look at the mods, and didn't want to tell you that they're denying the warranty because of them. Fighting a Magnuson-Moss battle has gone very bad for a number of dealers as the burden of proof is on them. They might have taken the easy way out by blaming everything on the "no racing coverage" clause - they can claim that since it's not legal to drive the car at those speeds on a public road, you must have been on a racetrack. If you're on a racetrack, you must be racing...

One advantage to this is that if you fight it, it's almost certain that they'll have to reverse their decision and treat it as a warranty claim. At that point, if they come back and then blame the issue on the mods, it would make them look like complete ass-hats for not blaming it on those in the first place.

It's a totally stupid argument for them to make. If a 6000 RPM 2-3 shift isn't something that they believe is a normal driving condition that is perfectly safe for the car to do, then why don't they use today's easy to find technology to prevent it from happening. Just stupid.

[ek1]

Reminds me of my experience with a Chrysler 300M back in 2000. I left the car at the dealer with a complaint of "The steering wheel vibrates at speeds over 60Mph". Picked up the car in the evening, got a printout "Cannot exceed speed limit. Cannot replicate the issue". Guess a process of natural selection bypassed this "employee of the month".

[7TH_SIGN]

Nightmare! It must be the modifications they are using to get out of covering it, supercharger and nitrous. A simple cold air intake has given me trouble in the past with warranty repair.

Didn't some others have issues with 2nd to 3rd shifts?

[98intrigue]

If your transmission is like how mine was, your 3rd gear synchro will soon fail and you won't even be able to use 3rd gear. Not sure how they won't warranty that. Good luck! I had no issue having mine replaced.

[ACRucrazy]

What in the hell..

[The_Ruski_Driver]

What are your mods?

[7TH_SIGN]

What are your mods?

From his signature it looks like, D3 F1X supercharger, Nitrous Outlet 350 shot C23.

[Arizona Vipers]

WOW.
I'm sure you were doing your 6K rpm 2-3 shift on non-public roads, right? There's lots of non government regulated roads on this planet.
Dodge has sponsored 100's of events across the USA over the years that were not on public road, and without speed limits. None of these events have ever voided the Viper's factory warranty.

[Jabba954]

Hah, I had an issue on my McLaren at about 90mph, and for obvious reasons the tech was not allowed to drive that fast on public roadways, so they just had me take the tech for a drive.

[KB Viper]

the motor in my prior 14 let go on a track and i never got 1 ounce of push back from the dealer or fca. i would call back and get in someones ass.

[The_Ruski_Driver]

I'm sure they are busting your balls because of the mods. Like others have said, may be worth calling FCA. Please keep us updated with your progress and good luck.

[Dave1968]

However, if you were FCA, would you cover someone that complained of a problem when they have installed a supercharger, and a 350 nitros shot? Hmmm. Not to be an ass, but I think that's probably pushing it a bit.

[7TH_SIGN]

the motor in my prior 14 let go on a track and i never got 1 ounce of push back from the dealer or fca. i would call back and get in someones ass.

That's not at all difficult with a near to stock car and the recalls with the motor.

However in this case he has an aftermarket supercharger and nitrous. It will take an act of God to cover that under warranty with those mods.

A lot of the times we can get angry at the dealerships however I can't really get mad at FCA or a dealership in this kind of a situation.

I wouldn't expect FCA to give me a new transmission if mine failed while my car was TT. Drop the transmission and rebuild it stronger than stock imo. Not placing blame on anyone just going off the totality of the circumstances.