I own a 2000 Dodge Ram Laramie 4X4 with only 3,586 miles. I purchased the truck new
and it has been garage kept. I recently discovered that the dash is riddled with large
distinctive cracks. Within a week of searching the small town I live in, I found four other
99-01 Ram owners with the same exact dash problem. After visiting my local
Chrysler/Dodge dealership, from which I purchased my truck and talking with the service
manager I was told by him, “that there was nothing he could do and he had never heard of
this problem with the dashes.” I then asked when the Daimler Chrysler dealer
representative would be in so I could speak with him and attempt to solve my problem.
The service manager arrogantly told me, “the dealer representative would than likely not
want to speak with me and the he has more important things to worry about.” I then
made a call to the Daimler Chrysler customer service line and after many automated
phone prompts and very extensive wait times, I was transferred to other representatives in
a game of phone crises cross I was finally told that I could not be helped, because my
warranty had expired. After seeing how extremely common this dash problem is via
dodgeforum, I am proposing to anyone with the ***** and self respect that we come and
stand together and take legal action. It is time to force the corporate Goliath known as
Daimler Chrysler to take responsibility for it’s cheaply and extremely overpriced
automobiles assembled in Mexico and to tend to their so called “valued customers”.
Anyone who is interested please reply this post or send me a message.

Ram Tough.... what a damn joke.

 

umm go buy a ford then

 

x2

 

[sm=violin.gif]

 

goodluck with the lawsuit.. but your not gonna win

 

first off, im pretty sure theres already a legal issue over this. or maybe that was the chipping paint. none the less, chill out man. you have a 7 year old truck that is indeed out of warranty. once its out of warranty, its not their responsiblity. your only luck would be if youve been very loyal to this dealership and their very nice they might help you out personally, but thatd be a case by case situation. i wouldnt count on it.

but thats awesome that you have such low mileage on it.

 

What action are you actually proposing? I'd like to join you but my dash that was installed in 1998 by Mexicans is fine. This is a Texas truck and has spent MANY hours in the blazing sun. It's not been garaged and has had no protective measures taken for it (Armor All, sunshade, etc.). Has it been determined what model years this problem affects? A particular manufacturing plant? If mine splinters sometime (probably tomorrow[:@] ) I will absolutely add my support to your effort.

 

I'm glad the last few posts were added....the first ones were slightly useless. Although I know all the manufacturers have problems.... I think anyone would agree a vehicle is a complicated machine and I expect some design/engineering issues. I also do think certain problems are clearly from poor quality parts that were used to save cost and should be taken care of by the manufacturer. It really bothers me when you get treated like you are an idiot by the people at the dealerships ( I drive a 2006 ford explorer transmission nightmares) .....that changes the whole situtation in my mind.

For the record my 98 dash is in great condition.....but it seems to be an obvious problem and the manufacturers should have some type system in place to treat these customers properly even if it just means acknowledging the problem and discounting the parts/repair.

Dealing with ford last year was enough to make me understand the frustration people feel and the way they get treated....its not right and they are losing business because of it in my opinion.

 

getting crappy service from a dealer would **** me off too, getting crappy service from a corporation that i buy a vehicle from would **** me off more, and yes there may be an issue with the material a dodge ram dash is made from...but come on who goes on aDODGE forum and talks crap on DODGE

plus the warranty is up so legally ur in a bad position; sounds like more of a reason to not buy aDODGE truck than to sue the company

 

my 96 was put together in mexico and i dont have a cracked dash and its 11 years old i dont think its from all the sun beating down on it since u keep it in the garage it could be climate changes going from hot to cold cold to hot that could be a factor to and where it was made. theres also no need to bad mouth the company just because one part on the whole truck broke things break so fix them if mine breaks then i will buy a new one and replace it it lasted 11 years so far thats preatty good run i think