Hi to all... I'm a new member here and looking for some assistance with helping to solve my problem. My wife an I just purchased a Black 2011 Durango R/T about 10 days ago and it has been in the service department for the last 7 days due to the steering wheel shaking from left to right when driving at highway speeds. We initially thought it was just a wheel balance issue but the wheels were balanced by the service department and the shake was still there. Other wheels from another R/T on the dealer lot were put on the vehicle and the shake was still there which ruled out a wheel issue (bent rim, etc) and subsequently when they drove the other R/T it too had the same steering wheel shake. So it appears to be some sort of defect with the vehicle and appears to be specific to R/T's only. Now all these days have past and the dealer and Chrysler's STAR engineers still cannot figure what the issue is to correct it. Suffice it to say I am very dissapointed and I have put in a case complaint with Chrysler... Numerous calls to Chrysler and to the dealer have proved worhtless as they still cannot figure out what is causing the issue! They've supposedly checked the whole chassis, measured run-out on the hubs, the rotors, the driveshaft, etc. and still have not discovered the cause of the shake. Any ideas and has anybody experienced this issue on their Durango?

Thanks for any help!

 

Have they tried driving it with the stability control system disabled? Even though it should spit out a code if there is a problem, a fluctuating signal from an accelerometer or wheel speed sensor could be causing a brake to pulsate on one wheel.

 

I don't think they have tried that... Sound like it's worth a shot! I will tell the service department to try this to see what happens. I appreciate the feedback

 

Is it an AWD or a RWD model?

 

Don't know what to tell you but as you mentioned your R/T was bought 10 days ago and for the last 7 days its in the shop that is just horrible....don't these dealerships do a thorough job of prepping and inspection to make sure no major problem could be lurking around the corner before the keys are handed to the owner? Previous brand new vehicles I've bought like Honda and Acura went a thorough prep and check before hand over. Seems like Dodge is inconsistent in this area and just do an abbreviated task IMHO.

 

Dealers are not Dodge. An extension yes, but not the company. The United States government does not allow car makers to own dealers.... yet. So it isn't quite fair to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Thus, it is the shady, shoddy, poorly ran stealerships of legend that still exist today that causes a lot of these problems. 5 Star dealerships are a joke too so one never knows really. I haven't found any dealership I would consider honest, trustworthy and destined to get my hard earned money on my next purchase. I can however tell you who will not get my new-vehicle purchase funds rather easily.

And in that light... avoid Westgate Chrysler in Plainfield, Indiana for any repair service or new car sales purchases. IMHO, only their parts department is fair and honest. To bad those guys don't run the company.

Where Dodge needs their spanking is the on-going process of allowing these jokers to still represent their products to the public. Sometimes I wonder what keeps some of the stealerships in business and then I remember, their unfair, crooked practices are what does it.

IndyD

 

My R/T is an AWD model...

An update with some rather surprising results... The dealer's technician test drove another R/T that has the same exact problem with the steering wheel shaking at highway speeds. So out of curiousity, I aksed them to drive another Durango model on their lot that is not an R/T or a Hemi. So they actually let me drive a V6 Citadel and low an behold, it has the same exact issue, the steering wheel shaking left to right at highway speeds. The only common denominators now are that these are all AWD models and recently built vehicles (my R/T's build date is 4/30/11). So where do we go from here?? They are on the phone with Chrysler and they are stumped. The dealer told me that either it is a characteristic of the vehicle (which I seriously doubt) or there is some of build issue coming from the factory that they haven't figured out yet.

 

The steering in my AWD V8 Citadel and the two others, a V6 Crew and V8 citadel, that I test drove before buying mine in March feel rock solid and steady at all speeds. The RT wasn’t out yet. I know this may be a stupid question and no offence is intended buy it, but… Are all these Durango’s being test driven on the same stretch of highway? But, my guess is that the dealer is missing something and didn’t check the suspension components as thorough as they told you. Also this may not be a factory problem at all, it could be the shipping company improperly securing the Durango’s to the trucks by strapping A-arms or other components.

 

The R/T that I purchased actually came from another dealer 50 miles away from where I purchased it (my dealer located the Black R/T for me and got the vehicle over to them by a salesman driving it to the dealer)... The test drive I took with the V6 citadel was on a different highway from the R/T's. They are actually doing a wheel alignment on my R/T right now to rule this out as well. I know there is some negative camber dialed into the Durangos, more so on the R/T to help improve cornering. Let's see if this corrects the shake.

 

i would check a quick balance on all 4 tires as well
road force balancing if they have it
make sure they do the backs
a wobble in the bakc will still be noticed in the steering...ask me how I know!