WTF is going on with Viper Parts

[VENOM-TA]

Thank you for your efforts with this Viper George. Maybe more of us should reach out with similar concerns so they actually listen. Drove my car last night and was a nervous Nelly to say the least. Takes some of the fun out of it.

Maybe some kind of petition or document and have it signed by all the members who will.. forward it to the higher ups..

[Old School]

Not sure why it should take them so long unless they are redesigning it to be more reliable.

Their vendor for window regulators is probably making ones for a Toyota or something, that's where the money is.....

[V10Sidepipes]

Maybe some kind of petition or document and have it signed by all the members who will.. forward it to the higher ups..

One would think that working to secure replacements for hard to find parts would be a priority for an Owners club. Maybe that’s why the magazine is so important… so you can still live the viper life while your car is on the lift waiting for backordered parts.

[Gen5snake]

Maybe some kind of petition or document and have it signed by all the members who will.. forward it to the higher ups..

This is the only way to go. That plus involvement from the VOA. If the VOA needs some funding to pursue this, I'll be happy to make a donation to the cause.

[Steve M]

This is the only way to go. That plus involvement from the VOA. If the VOA needs some funding to pursue this, I'll be happy to make a donation to the cause.

They already have all the funding they need to pursue this.

But they don't, and they won't. I'm not even sure anything they'd do would actually be effective.

[ViperGeorge]

Maybe some kind of petition or document and have it signed by all the members who will.. forward it to the higher ups..

This is not a bad idea. Several years ago when Chrysler was thinking of selling off the Viper brand I developed a petition which I posted on the forum. I had something like 200 forum members sign it. I sent it off to the CEO of Dodge, SRT, and FCA. I got a call at home from someone in marketing at FCA and was told "thank you for the petition, it is being circulated among senior management and it IS making a difference." They didn't end up selling the Viper brand and the Gen 5 was born. I'm not taking credit but I'm sure the petition got their attention. If we do a petition we should ask everyone to indicate how many Stellantis vehicles they own. There is power in numbers!

[VENOM-TA]

This is not a bad idea. Several years ago when Chrysler was thinking of selling off the Viper brand I developed a petition which I posted on the forum. I had something like 200 forum members sign it. I sent it off to the CEO of Dodge, SRT, and FCA. I got a call at home from someone in marketing at FCA and was told "thank you for the petition, it is being circulated among senior management and it IS making a difference." They didn't end up selling the Viper brand and the Gen 5 was born. I'm not taking credit but I'm sure the petition got their attention. If we do a petition we should ask everyone to indicate how many Stellantis vehicles they own. There is power in numbers!

If you do, I’ll be the 2nd to sign it.. my last 6 vehicles have been Stellantis vehicles..

[efnfast]

what do you expect them to do?

They arn't going to do a run of say 100,000 window regulators because they know they'll never move the inventory

And if they do a smaller run they have to upcharge the part like crazy to make it worth it. If they made, say, 1,000, you guys would be bitching about paying $1,500 for a regulator.

[StrokerAce]

what do you expect them to do?

They arn't going to do a run of say 100,000 window regulators because they know they'll never move the inventory

And if they do a smaller run they have to upcharge the part like crazy to make it worth it. If they made, say, 1,000, you guys would be bitching about paying $1,500 for a regulator.

Please, do share the costing by volumes. Haha

[efnfast]

I did a one-off run of windshields once ... each one cost me 50x what a windshield should normally cost (but I got my damn windshields).

Why do you think tires for a Countach are $1,300/tire.

[StrokerAce]

I did a one-off run of windshields once ... each one cost me 50x what a windshield should normally cost (but I got my damn windshields).

Why do you think tires for a Countach are $1,300/tire.

I fully understand manufacturing and STD cost especially around run quantities and over/under absorption.

There is bound to be an increase in price from before but they wouldn't need to make 100k to keep prices at a modest increase. They didn't make 100k of them before, hell, they barely made a small fraction of that.

Not all the units of a single part are made in a single run. They are made in various runs and quantities of each run. Maybe because of the time that has passed they are able to charge for the individual run, that I don't know, but highly probable.

Went through something similar after a model of car was finished through production for a few years. We had to make a run of suspension components and prices were high on materials. We had to sell at the prior agreed upon price. We lost our shorts.

[Mikey]

Windshield wipers are on backorder.....fml

[Matt Dillon]

Windshield wipers are on backorder.....fml

SMDH!

[HOLLYWOOD]

The biggest cause of all the regulators failing are three things besides an obvious inferior design; 1) when the assembly line is putting these into our cars they are damaging them when forcing them into the inside of the door. Chances are you bought the car with an already cracked regulator 2) a lot of failures occur from closing/slamming the door when the window is rolled halfway down, so when closing the door the window should be fully up or fully down 3) Don't slam these doors because if they weren't cracked before this will surely do it.

[swexlin]

The biggest cause of all the regulators failing are three things besides an obvious inferior design; 1) when the assembly line is putting these into our cars they are damaging them when forcing them into the inside of the door. Chances are you bought the car with an already cracked regulator 2) a lot of failures occur from closing/slamming the door when the window is rolled halfway down, so when closing the door the window should be fully up or fully down 3) Don't slam these doors because if they weren't cracked before this will surely do it.

This exactly! And when I owned my car, I also never used the auto up/down function. I just tapped the button to gradually lower or raise it. Never slammed my door, gently shut it with either the window fully up or fully down.

[Reaper]

My buddies 2013 just went to our local dodge dealer that we use for warranty work, recalls, etc. They have a good Viper tech there. His 13 has bad window regulators it turns out. The tech told him today he'll have to order the parts and that they are available but he wouldnt be able to get them until October. I thought that was good news. I had my car there last December for a new steering rack and he ordered the parts and the rack showed within a week. He said I also needed new wiper blades but they were backordered then too. They arrived the same time my rack did and he put everything on at once. So maybe parts are available sporadically or it just depends on where people look for them. Just my buddies current experience anyways.

[ViperGeorge]

My buddies 2013 just went to our local dodge dealer that we use for warranty work, recalls, etc. They have a good Viper tech there. His 13 has bad window regulators it turns out. The tech told him today he'll have to order the parts and that they are available but he wouldnt be able to get them until October. I thought that was good news. I had my car there last December for a new steering rack and he ordered the parts and the rack showed within a week. He said I also needed new wiper blades but they were backordered then too. They arrived the same time my rack did and he put everything on at once. So maybe parts are available sporadically or it just depends on where people look for them. Just my buddies current experience anyways.

I don't believe he will get the window regulators. Many dealer parts departments are saying they are available (i.e. not discontinued). They often show a delivery date several weeks out but that date comes and goes. According to my parts source (a dealer parts manager) there are 85 regulators of each side on back order with no ETA.

[Old School]

there are 85 regulators of each side on back order with no ETA.

85 each does sound like a lot, but I wonder how many of these are guys panic buying, similar to the toilet paper run at the beginning of Covid???

[ViperGeorge]

85 each does sound like a lot, but I wonder how many of these are guys panic buying, similar to the toilet paper run at the beginning of Covid???

Doesn't matter because no one is getting a regulator until Dodge really does make more.

[StrokerAce]

My window switch has been ordered for over 4 months. It's supposed to be this week that it comes in. I fear I have a better chance of seeing God drive a Miata on I4 than this part coming in.

[ViperSRT]

My window switch has been ordered for over 4 months. It's supposed to be this week that it comes in. I fear I have a better chance of seeing God drive a Miata on I4 than this part coming in.

Nope, even God can't drive through I4 traffic!

[usmcfieldmp]

Anyone have a broken window switch lying around they'd be willing to send me? I work in the nuclear industry and we're pretty good at reverse engineering old & obsolete parts.

[StrokerAce]

Anyone have a broken window switch lying around they'd be willing to send me? I work in the nuclear industry and we're pretty good at reverse engineering old & obsolete parts.

When I get my new one, sure.

[Mikey]

Any word on steering racks? My wheel has the ever so lsightest play and apparently it's only remedied with a new rack

[ViperGeorge]

Any word on steering racks? My wheel has the ever so lsightest play and apparently it's only remedied with a new rack

I believe steering racks are one part that is available although it may take a week or two to get.