Home or
Site Layout or
Site Index or
Quick Jumps or
Search Engine Directory or
The Mart
Auto
News, Analysis and EditorialChrysler
Recalls a Bundle
Bookmarking
Auto on Info pages
Home or
Site Layout or
Site Index or
Quick Jumps or
Search Engine Directory or
The Mart
Auto
News, Analysis and EditorialChrysler
Recalls a Bundle
Auto on Info December 2004
Chrysler Recalls a Bundle
Prompted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Chrysler recalls:
71,763 2004 Dodge Durango SUVs, for battery cables that can abrade and cause an under-the-hood fire,
26,354 2005 Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Stratus cars, for steering knuckles that can crack and cause a loss of vehicle control,
600,000 2002-2003 Dodge Durango SUVs and Dakota pickups, for upper ball joints that can fail and cause the suspension to collapse and a wheel to fall off.
Chrysler hesitated to issue the 600,000 Dodge Durango SUV and Dakota pickup recall. It contended that no injuries had been reported to the NHTSA or it and a lot of noise would be heard when a ball joint fails, a fact which should prompt the driver to stop use and haul in the vehicle for the $750-$1,200 repair - at owner's expense. A recall requires the manufacturer to foot the bill for repair.
The Associated Press reports that it could not find reported injuries at NHTSA's website; however, it also reports that at the time that the NHTSA commenced its investigation in July 2003, the NHTSA had received 28 complaints of ball joint failure, five of which had resulted in crashes.1
Despite Chrysler's reluctance to issue a recall, after NHTSA made a public request for it to do so that resulted in some Dodge dealers' reporting a deluge of inquiries, Chrysler decided it best to cooperate.
The 1996-2000 Reliability Percentrank average of the Dodge Durango is a rather deplorable .18 (see Table I-SUVCRP) out of a possible 1.00 (see Methodology). The 1996-2000 RPAs of the Dodge Dakota pickup 2wd, the Dodge Dakota pickup 4wd, and the Dodge Stratus V6 are less deplorable - .49, .38, and .56, respectively (see Table of Dodge Reliability Percentranks). Chrysler's overall 1996-2000 RPA is .33, not greatly differing from GM's .29 (see Table I-MVRP), the lowest of the auto manufacturers with a 3% or more U.S. market share.
1 "DaimlerChrysler Recalls 600,000 Vehicles," December 10, 2004, the Associated Press, available at Yahoo! News
Sources for NHTSA's investigative action: "Chrysler Recalls 98,000 Cars and SUVs," December 10, 2004, Reuters, available at Yahoo! News, "Federal Safety Agency Seeks Dodge Recall," December 9, 2004, the Associated Press, available at Yahoo! News, "DaimlerChrysler Recalls 600,000 Vehicles," December 10, 2004, the Associated Press, available at Yahoo! News, and "Chrysler to Recall 600,000 SUVs, Pick-ups," December 10, 2004, AFP, available at Yahoo! News
Links to Amazon.com
Some Ideas for Christmas Gifts Panasonic portable DVD players Sony portable DVD players Toshiba portable DVD players Samsung portable DVD players Audiovox portable DVD players Chicago Open Range The Missing Master and Commander - The Far Side of the World To view more travel accessory ideas and icons, click here.
Automotive News Menu Pages Auto Manufacturers: Toyota - Honda - Subaru - Nissan - Ford - Chrysler - General Motors - Volkswagen Topics: Reviews - Recalls - Safety Investigations - Safety Test Results - Automotive Excellence - Automotive Dishonor, Discredit, or Demerit - Lawsuits - Automotive Finances - Car and Truck Sales and Market Shares - Auto on Info
Search Engine Directory This table is provided primarily to give the visitor quick access to those search engines that site manager has found to be more consistently useful for information acquisition. For descriptions, strengths, weaknesses, comments, and other names and formats by which the following search engines are known, go to Search Engine Directory Page. Search Engines Yahoo! Teoma Wisenut DMOZ Gigablast Metasearch Engine
Product Search Engine
Comments: Shopping at Amazon.com via this link helps support this site.
Auto on Info Standings for Selected Search Phrases on Auto News
Site Rank in Results for Search Phrase Car Quality News Site Rank in Results for Search Phrase Auto Quality News Site Rank in Results for Search Phrase Auto News First by Yahoo! Search from 5,230,000 results First by Yahoo! Search from 3,510,000 results Thirty-ninth by Yahoo! Search from 37,600,000 results First by MSN Search from 1,110,112 results First by MSN Search from 716,283 results Fifteenth by MSN Search from 7,682,302 results Fifteenth by Google from 3,730,000 results Tenth by Google from 2,400,000 results Eightieth by Google from 7,450,000 results Standings are as of 14/03/2004.
