Hello All,

I have a 2002 Dodge Ram 1500 4 dr p/u. About 6 months ago I started noticing cracks on my dashboard, as time went on the cracks started growingand new cracks started appearing. Now my entire dashboard has these long cracks. I dont use any harsh cleaners mostly soapy water or an occasional Armor-all.
I dont know what type of warranty it had if it was a 100,000 mile or 5 year or what since I bought the truck from the original owner after they owned it for onlya year.
My question is, what recourse do I have on getting the dashboard replaced at the mfg expense? I mean it has gone through normal wear and tear and I dont live in a climate which is unbearable... I mean its southern california!
Is there anything I can do other then replace it at my own expense?

 

seems to be kind of a common thing with dodges. First thing i would suggest is call the dealer give them your vin and find out if you can get it fixed under warranty. If not you can always get a dash mat just to cover it up. Or go to the junkyard and pull one and replace it yourself....

 

what yr is your truck and how many miles? my guess is that it will not be covered under warranty unless it is still under the 3/36.....no other warranty dodge has will cover it except that

 

My 2002 dash cracked as well. I knew about the one, from the windshield to the center, small round "grill" in the center of the dash, but then another one showed up on the passenger side, over the glovebox.

I went too JCWhitney.com and bought a Dash Mat, in black to cover the dash. It was $29.99 and is very well tailored to fit. I was impressed.....

 

Same issue here. Daimler Chrysler refuses to do anything to help. This is what I am looking at.

http://www.coverlaymfg.com/index.php?crn=208

 

This cracking dashboard problem appears to be farily widespread and not just to a couple of model years. I have a 99 RAM 2500 Quad 4X4 Cummins and my dash started cracking in May '04, it's now got about 10 cracks that intersect so the plastic cowl is nowfree of it's anchors. In 2004 the Dodge dealer I took it to told me to get over it, that Dodge wasn't going to replace it or even acknowlge there was a problem. They then quoted me $800.00 for just the plasticpart. Not having any evidense that the problem was more widespread at the time I didn't have much of a fighting chance with Dodge. Today after seeing news reports out of Florida regarding this problem and more talk like this on the web there is pretty clear evidense thatthis dashplastic moldhas a durability issue for however many model years this particular mold process was used. Ispoke toCustomer Care at Dodge today and they once again told me to go away and that theyknow nothing about a Dash Cracking problem on Dodge Ramtrucks ofprevious years. I'm just going to try and weld the plastic dashcowlas best I can then throw a molded dash cover over it and hope it doesn't get any worse.Longer term,I probably won't consider Dodge for mynext truck.Not becauseit's not a good truckbut because the company phylosphy doesn'tseem to foster good will toward it's customers. IfChrysler, GM, and Fordare still wondering why the Asians are doing so well and taking market share,those executives should consider scenerios like this for a plausible explanation.If Toyota or Nissan puts aDiesel in their trucks by the time I get ready toreplace this one, it'll be academic.

 

I had a 97 Ram which I bought used and the previous owner had a dash cover on it the entire time. About a year after I bought it, it split down the middle. I put some epoxy on it to try to stop it from splitting anymore and put another dash mat on it. Bought my 03 Ram and was aware of this problem so I looked for it before I bought it. After about 6 months this dash cracked on me also, so again I bought a dash cover and am dealing with it for now. With my 97 the dealer quoted me 1200 bucks to replace the dash. The charge I believe 5.5 hrs of labor for doing it, but some of the guys on here that work at dealers say that if they have done it before they can have it done in about 3. All I know is it is too big of a job for me to tackle.

 

I had my '04 about six months or so when I heard of the issue. Ever since I don't get out of the truck without putting the old sunscreens in the windshield, even if it's just to go into a store. Of course, here in Florida, it's good practice to keep the heat down in the cab anyway. I also make sure I wipe the dash liberally with a good vinyl preservative, in hopes of keeping it a little more supple and hopefully more resistant to cracking...