Hey all,
Just bought a 2011 Citadel 12 days ago. I was pulling out of a parking space and noticed that the dash had multiple lights on; check engine light, ACC and FCW. As I started to pull away I noticed that the vehicle required a lot of pressure on the accelerator to get it moving. After looking at the dash board I noticed the vehicle was stuck in 4th gear.

I had the vehicle towed to a local dealership and was told that the drive train PCM failed and that it needed to be replaced (this was this past Monday). I was then told that the part was on backorder and there was no ETA on the part!

After speaking with a Chrysler Cust. Service Rep I was told that she could get me the part quicker because the vehicle was not operable. Understanding what a backorder is with no ETA, I asked her what she could possibly do about it and she stated that she could get me an ETA and put a rush on the order. After holding for 20 minutes I was told that the part could be at the dealership as early as 2/3 but could be later. When I asked if it could be a week later or month later than 2/3 she said "yes, that is possible."

So here I am over $40k and 12 days later with a Dodge Caravan rental (which I had to ask for repeatedly) and no idea of when I will get my vehicle back. My wife and I loved the Durango for the 3.5 days we got to use it, but now are wondering if we should have went with a Chevy Tahoe instead.

So (deep breath), is there anyone else out there that has had this issue or another mechanical issue so quickly after their purchase? If so I am curious as to how it was handled by the dealership and Chrysler.

Thanks for letting me vent

 

Electronics will fail no matter the vehicle. I do not think you need to "blame" dodge for it. I am sure if you look at Tahoe forums there are people with issues there too. I work on F-16 fighter jets. You would think an aircraft worth a few million would have no issues right? Well, sometimes we cant fly a jet for weeks waiting on a part. I understand your frustation but sometimes things break. Look at it this way. You are keeping the miles down on the vehicle. Always a good in all bad. Hope everything works out for you.

 

Sorry to hear about that, but yes, electronics of all types can fail, particularly since most are made in China these days.

If it takes very long to get the part you can investigate the lemon laws of your state. Usually after a period of time (and it's not usually more than a couple of weeks) you can return the vehicle and get a full refund or a new car.

 

What stinks is the lack of inventory on the part. There's no excuse for that.

 

That is a very scary story... true, parts do fail, but to not have a replacement part available for the near future is not normal. I agree with the previous post, look into your state's lemon law.

 

Well in any case you went and bought a brand new third gen Durango. It is all re done and there will be problems. This isn't the first time these things happen, and it certainly isn't limited to Dodge. You can blame Dodge if you choose, but are you willing to blame yourself too?

 

Thanks for the response guys.

The blame game...well I think I can take a little of the blame for buying a brand new vehicle that had an MSRP of $47,640 and by chance I chose one that had a part that failed and did so within 4 days of purchase.

The question is why am I and 13 other owners waiting on the same part with no ETA in site? I don't think it is acceptable to have a vital part be on an indefinite backorder. Moparman, would you be thinking this was your fault if you spent $40k on a vehicle and had this happen to you?

I spoke with a mechanic who worked for GM dealers for over 25 years and he wondered why they couldn't pull the PCM from another D on the lot and replace it.

Also, I was told by the service manager that there was a service bulletin for an update for this part so I am wondering if this was done before it left the lot. I spoke with another 2011 owner who stated that she had an update done to her D on a control module a couple months after her purchase...the update pre-dated her purchase date. Hopefully this wasn't the case with my vehicle.

Just sucks that this happened, as we were really enjoying the vehicle.

 

I agree with you 100%; the inability to get the damned thing fixed is unreal. I notice there are a lot of dodge-apologists / trolls on this board that put the blame on you so don't take too much offense.

I have been contemplating a '12 purchase for a couple weeks (held back by very bad sales folks) and this is making me reconsider.

 

Hey OrlandoD don't worry, no offense taken. Anyone who would post a comment like that obviously has no idea how to empathize.

I went through the same thing here with the sales people in my area (live in Michigan). I ended up driving almost 70 miles (near Detroit) to purchase ours. Have done this for our last 3 vehicles because of the large volume these dealerships move. They know the vehicles, they want to make a sale and because of that volume they are usually able to go a little lower on their prices.

I understand that electronics and other parts will fail, but not being able to replace the part in a timely manner is what makes no sense to me.

We have owned 2 other Chrysler vehicles ('97Jeep Cherokee Sport and '07 Jeep Commander) and never had any major mechanical issues. Hopefully the part will make it here soon and it will never be an issue again.

I started this thread to get an idea of the occurrence of this same issue and to see what other people thought of Chrysler cust. service.

 

Lmao now I'm a troll. Okay well in all honesty I wouldn't make the mistake of buying anything brand new. I would always buy used and at least a couple years old so those problems could have been worked out.