I have a 2011 Caliber. Original owner. 80k miles. Last weekend my son was driving the vehicle and reported a pop sound followed by a steering pulling to the left and a loud noise when brakes applied. Turns out the crossmember was the culprit. Rusted through. Took the car to a dealer to have it repaired under service bulliten 23-007-17 Rev C.

Just received a call from the dealer. They report other connecting parts are also affected by the rust but won't be covered by Dodge or the dealership. An extra $600. Since the rusting crossmember (a known issue) directly affected the connecting parts, shouldn't those also be covered by the manufacturer?

 

Assuming your car is out of warranty, the dealer will only replace the exact parts specified in the bulletin for free.

 

I'm just finding it hard to see where this vehicle needs to have $2,000+ worth of additional work done to it all because of damage they claim is a direct result of the crossmembers issue.

 

Is that the case? Was the damage to the other parts not covered by the service bulletin a direct result of the damaged cross member covered under the service bulletin? In other words, did the cross member completely fail and bend or break other suspension components in the process. I'm doubtful this is the case, but, If so, then you might have a small claims worthy case.

On the other hand, is it all just rust damage? Meaning that the cross member and the other components were both damaged by the same cause.

My guess is that they issued the service bulletin on the cross member because that is a structural component the failure of which from rusting through would make the car less crash worthy. If it is all just rust damage, and your rust warranty has expired, you are on your own for the other rusted out suspension parts.

These are cheap and not terribly great cars, don't expect it to last a long time.