This is covered very nicely in the LXforum. It's a way for dealers to make about $400 off you at least once during the life of your Chrysler product equipped with a floor console shifter. Had to have my Magnum towed to the dealer from a Costco Tire center today - 1 Block away from the Chrysler dealer: estimate $400.

http://www.lxforums.com/board/showthread.php?t=73876

 

UPDATE: Total damage was $458. It was not the pink plastic part mentioned on many sites, but another cheap plastic part. There was another Magnum at the same dealer, same day, same problem, Chrysler worked with them and ate everything but a $50 co-pay. The service tech (nice guy!) thinks they'll probably do the same for me. If this happens to you, do not hesitate to call cuatomer care and get a case number. If nothing else, you'll probably get a free tow - I did on an '05 with 69.5k miles. The LX-model shifter will, in all liklihood, become a recall item one day. So, if you've had to have the shifter repaired or replaced, keep the receipts in anticipation of that happening.

 

I mustve been one of the lucky ones. I had my magnum for 92000 miles and never broke the pink thingy. I do know that a company called billet tech makes a billet version of the pink thingy so it won't break. Just in case anyone wanted to know.

 

Final update on my issue: The Customer Care folks at Dodge couldn't have been nicer. They refunded all but $150 to me with very quick turnaround. I think my co-pay was higher than the '07 because mine is a couple of years older and I had never had any kind of extended warranty - at least that's how the lady 'splained it to me.

As to the billet guys, I guess that's good to know, if you're a mechanic - but when stuck in the Costco tire bay, you're kinda in a "Could you figure something out right now, please, I need that bay" situation.

I missed his name, but the tow guy was a genius. I've always considered myself a pretty good driver, but this guy (Kauff's, W Palm Beach) swung that big old two-car deck around, dodged and old lady parked where she shouldn't be, backed in and had the Maggy out in no time and no damage. My hat's off to him whoever that masked man was!

 

Well as far as the billet piece goes. It's more of a item you swap out before it breaks so it never happens to you. But Im glad everything seemed to work out for you.

 

Hi,
Thanks for the advice
My Magnum won't go out of park without moving the pink thingie. No brake or reverse lights.
Shop has done two hours work at 90/hr checking basic wiring. All they could do was get the brakes and reverse working at the same time.
Now they are going to do two hours of computer testing at $125/hr.

 

Scallion,

I also recommend calling customer care. Numbers below.

800-992-1997 United States
800-465-2001 Canada

 

Chris B., is there a time or mileage constraint on this part?

 

If you mean will Chrysler consider reimbursement no matter the time or mileage, the answer is that Customer Care looks on a case by case basis regardless of age or mileage when it comes to offering reimbursement assistance. If the part that failed was covered under the gearshift recall for the 2006-2009 model years and your vehicle is listed under the recall, it would still be covered. The best way to find out would be to call one of the Customer Care numbers listed above.

 

Chris,

thank you the info, but what is going on with this recall. The individual from customer service told me that my vehicle wasn't covered under thus recall. How can that be with the massive amount of failures (including mine) of this part and they decide mine isn't covered? How can that be??