Here is my horror story.

I was on a mini Vacation on my 4 days off to see mariners vs jays and check out Seattle.
Traveling down the I-5 just out side of Seattle doing about 120kmh (or whatever 70mph is) hear a noise out of my back end when letting off the gas, think it's a seized caliper, then the pitch changes, I start to pull off to look. As I am changing lanes the Rear drive shaft comes off, I am still doing highway speeds, I manage to get it to the shoulder and still doing about 30 kmh my rear diff locks up causing the truck to violently come to a dead stop.

After getting out there is fluid leaking my rear drive shaft is dragging and after 4 hours waiting for a flat bed to tow me to the closest dealership (in Renton WA) I notice my transfer case is cracked in 3 places.

Took 2 1/1 weeks to get my truck back, complete new bottom end (transfer case, drive shaft, rear diff) I was told the whole problem was the pinion nut backed off causing the subsequent damage.

In the mean time I am having one HELL of a fight with Chrysler Canada who thinks its ok this happened (which I consider myself VERY lucky I pulled off when I did because if I hadn't and the diff locked on the highway chances are myself and my passenger would be good and dead) they say as a "good will gesture" they will cover up to $50 a day towards the rental car I had to get up to a maximum of 5 days..........

I was also told if I had purchased extended warranty they would have provided a vehicle, my reply was why would I purchase extended when the truck is still within factory warranty?

So a multi million dollar company will not reimburse the money I had to pay to be able to get a rental vehicle so I can get to work, as well as the train tickets to get back to Vancouver. And they would not provide me a vehicle so I could get around, apparently they dealer should have done that I was told. Seeing as the servicing dealership is in the USA it would have been tricky to loan me a vehicle that would have had to go across a border....
I realize this is a bit of a unique case with it happening in another country but this company has basically told me this is my problem to deal with.


Chrysler clearly does not care about this issue or how serious this is, I have already contacted a lawyer.

Info on truck:
2010 Ram 1500 Quad Cab 4x4 5.7 Hemi SLT
Only Mod is leveling kit on front (installed through Chrysler)
All maintenance and servicing done at certified Dodge dealerships.
KM when issue happened 54,000 kms

Canada's longest lasting truck my ***............

As a final note, until Chrysler Canada treated me so poorly I was a very happy Ram owner, I recommended this truck to anyone looking to buy a new truck. I made sacrifices just so I could purchase this truck and have a vehicle I was proud to own, I can tell you I am now disgusted with this company and am now looking at other vehicle options even though I do love this truck.

Also a very big thank you to the Lithia Chrysler Dodge dealership for getting the truck fixed as fast as they did and for treating a foreign customer so well.

Thank for reading, and if you hear a strange noise PLEASE PULL OVER ASAP!

 

Rental cars are not a factory warranty feature. Sucks that it happened and you are not the first one that has reported this happening here.

 

Back in July, 2012. At the time they said 12 reports of differential/driveshaft issues resulting in rear end locking up. Based on direct reports on this forum and others it seems there are an awful lot more than 12 incidents. I don't know how long it takes to complete an investigation and issue a recall but this seems to be a serious situation.

 

I was under the understanding that they had already issued a recall for certain lines, but maybe not...

Glad your ok, I have heard stories here at home of people loosing tires and causing severe accidents. To loose a driveshaft, well...

As far as warranty work goes, I have never had to do anything that extensive. I think just the fact that you crossed the border is an issue in itself. However I do agree dodge is dodge does not matter where it is. If it were me I would have had it towed back to my local dealer. I have AMA so that would be no hassle to me, but at least I could be within driving distance of my abandoned truck.

I hope it works out for you tho, sucks when we hear stories like these on the forums...

 

You should write a letter and contact the NHTA so they have another person with an issue on file. This will help the rest of the owners out.
NHTA mandates safety recalls that the Manufacturer otherwise won't step up to the plate on!

 

You can also click on this link and fill out a report on-line. Reports of problems are very important in initiating investigations and recalls:
https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

 

The US gov is going to do nothing for him. In Canada you contact http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/

 

I went to the Transport Canada site (per your link above) and note that they also initiated a recall investigation in July, 2012. I believe Transport Canada and the NHTSA tend to work hand-in-hand...if one starts an investigation the other is going to follow suit as long as the vehicle is sold in both markets.

 

I had the same sad experience back in Sept 2010, and it was on the same I- 5, near exit 182 heading into Seattle, to visit and take in a concert in Tacoma. It was a bloody nite-mare. We got trapped in the middle of the highway @ 5:00 pm Friday, backed up traffic 10 miles. Trying to get help, fortunately a Fire truck from Everett happened to come by, came in behind us to block traffic and a State Tropper stopped and called for a tow. The reception at the dealership down there was not too friendly because I had my work on oil and diff done at Mr Lube, so Chrysler claimed that Mr Lube basicly screwed up. Long story, Mr Lube sent their investigator down and told them that Chrysler had a problem. Yah...it took 10 days to get a new rear end and the bottom line it cost me somewhere near $1000 in lost income and expenses. Picked up the truck and had to go to the dealership at home to fix basicly a simple rear sensor wire needed to be soldered together (they couldn't figure it out there.) Oh by the way it made my weekend , eh...

 

Bammit and Longbow - which differential do you have?
Seems many of these pinion nut issues are on the 4x4.
Anyone know if the 4x4s have different axles than 4x2s installed at factory? I'd imagine that the 3.21, 3.55 and 3.92 (LSD) are all pulled from the same "parts bin" regardless of drivetrain.