Come on really ???? You have a brand new 2013 GC and you are wondering if Chrysler is going to stand behind their bumper to bumper warrenty for a check engine light ????
What would lead you to believe that they would not ? In all the new vans I've had (4 now) I have NEVER had an issue with either Chrysler or any of the dealerships in dealing with warrenty items.....

 

Boy, talk about glass half empty. That's a new one.........

Over 10 yrs, I have probably read a million forum posts on a dozen sites for various marques and have yet to see a single person who was refused legitimate service under warranty. The only situation I've ever seen involved a mindless kid who drove his new Toyota and never once checked or added oil until the crankcase went bone dry. He had the car towed to the dealer dry & admitted fault, instead of covering his tracks. He replaced the motor on his dime 6 mo after purchase because he didn't follow normal service procedure (check and top off oil as needed). The warranty clearly should have been voided in that case because the Factory Operating Manual procedure was completely ignored.

Service engine lights are covered well beyond normal warranty period if trouble can be attributed to any emissions-related part. It's federal law and dealers customarily don't often fight it.

Owners making a stink and fighting tooth and nail with dealers for warranty coverage are invariably trying to get service repairs after the factory warranty expires. Many owners argue pre-existing condition, factory or TSB defect or use some other angle. However these are clearly out of warranty issues that will only be covered in limited instances under a good faith offering. From what I see, Dodge is no less stingy than premium car manufacturers like Mercedes and Lexus.

 

They did not fix the issue the first time I took my vehicle even with the check engine light on. The dealership said they could not duplicate the problem. They cleared the code, and gave me the keys to my vehicle.

Chrysler must have some kind of process before they fix an issue. The dealership won't do any warranty work until they get an approval from Chrysler.

 

Some insight is needed here to appreciate what happened:

There is no process to get approval to repair a car under warranty, aside from providing evidence of ownership or evidence of proper service (oil changes) if your engine blows and neglect is suspected. Somebody is not understanding something. Your service manager is an idiot and somehow not explaining the process to you. This issue has nothing to do with Chrysler warranty process/protocol. If you were arguing for a new engine in an older car under warranty with 65K mi instead of a factory remanufactured one, there would be some sort of Chrysler regional rep review that might take a couple days.

They did not fix the issue the first time you took your vehicle in because the issue did not exist when the car was at the dealer. This is why the light reset. The trouble may have existed for a period of 5 seconds, a week before visiting the dealer. Check engine lights stay on, trapping symptomatic history from a momentary hiccup caused by anything under the sun such as a gas cap that wasn't fully tightened or low fuel on a steep hill which affected pickup and pressure or bad fuel, whatever. If the light resets then the problem can't be confirmed or traced to determine root cause. This is how these problems are handled at every Mercedes or Lexus dealership. It is very difficult to troubleshoot or repair an intermittent problem when it does not exist at the time when the mechanic is looking at it. Mechanics can't throw parts at the car, guessing wildly or assuming things.

If a trouble exists for the mechanic to investigate and repair, a manual reset will not make the light go away for more than a few minutes or a mile or so of driving. Then troubleshooting and repair can be be performed.

Again, the situation you describe applies for all makes and models. It can be frustrating for all parties involved.

 

DGCaravan, all your dealer did was clear the light/code? Aren't they supposed to tell you what the code was/meant?

While I understand how people think Japanese and or Foreign vehicles are better/higher quality, because they've had luck with those vehicles and have not had luck with, say a Dodge...I still have to disagree. I've owned several American,Japanese, & Korean vehicles and they ALL had problems.

I have not personally seen how foreign makes a better vehicle. Maybe comparing a particular vehicle to vehicle, but not the entire company/foreign cars. I could go on about my experiences, but seeing as this is a Dodge forum I don't want to keep going on about Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, etc.

All cars have there problems.

 

I agree 100%.

DGCaravan, if a mechanic cannot replicate your problem, then in their eyes there is no problem. It is unethical and possibly outright illegal for a mechanic to tell you there is a problem they cannot observe. I understand it can be frustrating, but in my book it is worse for a mechanic to make up a problem where none exists than for them to tell me there is no problem where I think there is one.

All that being said, it is entirely possible that the service center you took it to has really bad customer service. It's also possible the service writer or whoever you talked to was a complete moron that gave you only a half assed or no assed explanation. None of that should reflect on the Grand Caravan line, Chrysler/Dodge warranties, or Chrysler/Dodge as a whole. Other threads on here have said that issues with individual dealerships are often a major influence on people's opinions of car manufacturers instead of the cars themselves.

If the CEL does come back on, take it to your local major chain auto parts store (O'Reilly, AutoZone, Advance, etc.) that can check the code for free. If they can pull a code you can Google it to find out what the problem is and what the fix is, and then take it in to the dealership armed with that information.

 

Who says quality is "nowhere close"? J.D. Powers and Consumer Reports surveys indicate the difference (in percentage) of troubles & complaints between the market-leading best and the worst sold is only about 30%. It is not 2x or something annoyingly noticeable like it was in 1983. Weaker companies are stepping up to the plate now to survive in a cut-throat market while longstanding leaders became fat, happy and lazy. This is why it's not worth paying $7500 more for a Toyota, unless you're willing to forfeit the cost of a 2 week luxurious vacation just to save yourself a trip or two to the shop every few years. I'm not gonna pay somebody $1K to buy me a pair of pants or fetch me some groceries either. I have too much common sense.

Also this quality differential is absolutely not a domestic vs foreign issue and it really hasn't been since the '90's. First of all, to the point of this thread, Dodge is owned by Fiat of Europe and GC is manufactured in Canada!! Secondly, Ford and GM domestics and world cars have consistently beat VW, Audi, BMW, Nissan, Mitsubishi and other prominent foreign mfrs in J.D. Powers and Consumer Reports Surveys over the last decade. Ford, Cadillac, Buick and Lincoln have equaled Toyota and Honda quality in surveys over the last 5 yrs and, in fact, beat MOST other foreign competition. GM and Ford rank above average when compared to ALL marques, foreign and domestic. The days of "foreign is better" are long gone and manufacturers building vehicles for our market often use American labor anyway. Toyotas sold here generally have more domestic content than a GC.

The major problems I've experienced with my GC are related to computers made by Siemens of Germany and the Asian-sourced wheel bearings. The parts made on our continent are holding up.

 

My wife has a 2009 Caravan, over 60k. Never had any repair that was scheduled. My '11 Fiesta has had ten! yes ten problems. Her '99 Caravan was very good as well. I'll buy a Dodge anytime, a Ford, never again.

 

Let me make something clear, I only own vehicles made in North America. Having said that, I have to be objective, and stick to facts. You mention J.D. Power & Associates, do you know that they predict the reliability of GC and T&C made in 2012 to be below average. They rate their projected reliability 2 stars out of 5. Also take look at J.D. Power 2013 Vehicle dependability study, I don't recall there was mention of any Chrysler products.

J.D. Power or consumer report reviews and ratings are not going to stop me from buying New Chrysler vehicles. I must add that reliability of Used vehicles is irrelevant to me, I only buy new vehicle every 3-5 years.

http://autos.jdpower.com/research/Ch...&bodyStyle=Van

 

Try searching this incredible forum before stating facts that are clearly untrue and are merely your assumptions

http://forum.chryslerminivan.net/sho...r-market/page2

I was inspired by other threads of people who did the conversion and did a video when I performed it myself. Finding seats and the floorboard is not a sure thing but they are out there.