I am not sure if the dealership created safety problem with my car is a result of the Federal Government NHTSA safety recall 'fix' itself, or if the dealership damaged my car during the safety recall work.
Whatever the cause for the unsafe malfunction of my transmission floor shifter mechanism, BOTH FACTORY AUTHORIZED DAIMLER CHRYSLER AUTO DEALERSHIPS I've dealt with REFUSE TO EVEN ADMIT THERE IS A PROBLEM, A DANGEROUS SAFETY PROBLEM IN ACTUALITY.
There is a systematic company 'denial' routine that is pervasive in all my dealings with anything "Daimler Chrysler" and their authorized dealerships, your problem is thus 'dismissed' in this 'authorized' manner.
This results in absolutely no accountability on their part for damage they caused and therefore are no company repairs or monetary compensation for their wronged customer.
No chance for the customer's automobile and wallet being 'made whole' again (by them) for damages caused by their dealership or maybe even the result of the safety recall 'fix' itself.
Daimler-Chrysler Headquarters refuses to do anything about my reported-to-them situation, and will only take their dealership's version of the situation — which is just another level of complete denial of any kind of problem what so ever on their part, skillfully done.
Therefore, if their Daimler-Chrysler representatives say there is "no problem, " Daimler-Chrysler accepts only their reps word, and the consumer is screwed, for they will authorize nothing to correct their dealership's caused damage or recall 'fix.'
The consumer is thus put in a situation to pay for possibly costly repairs that were a result of their dealership's incompetent, careless work, when THE CUSTOMER SHOULD BE OUT ZERO DOLLARS FOR NHTSA SAFETY RECALL WORK.
*In my case, they made my safely functioning transmission floor shifter completely and dangerously unsafe. I have included specifics below.
Details of specific problem created by dealership safety recall work:
I have a 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited, 5.2 liter engine, automatic transmission. There was a safety recall for the "Secondary Detinet System to Floor Shifter, NHTSA Recall Bulletin."
MY FLOOR SHIFTER MECHANISM WAS WORKING PERFECTLY FINE AND SAFELY BEFORE THE RECALL WORK WAS DONE AT THE DEALERSHIP. I'm middle age, I've driven a lot of cars, and I know what a 'normal' floor shifter should 'feel' like when shifting between gears, or how 'secure' it should be when in a gear. I certainly knew my transmission floor shifter was working properly when I took it in, and was very different when they gave me my car back. They strangely gave me my car back idling in place at the dealership, so I didn't realize there was a problem with my shifter until I returned home and turned my car on again less than an hour later to go out again.
The transmission floor shifter now has a 'hair trigger' movement, without having to touch, let along depress, the release button in the shifter's handle that enables the driver to shift from gear to gear.
Barely putting any pressure on the column floor shifter handle, and not depressing the release button, it will slide from reverse into neutral, or drive into neutral, even while driving the vehicle. How dangerous is this!
At times, the shifter can slide from reverse into neutral and then into drive with the slightest touch, WITHOUT DEPRESSING THE SHIFTER RELEASE BUTTON, Worse yet.
The shifter feels barely in gear (locked in place in the gear) when you do 'find' the current gear positions, and then as I've said, slips out with a gentle touch.
THIS IS WHAT THE DEALERSHIPS ARE CLAIMING "DOESN'T EXIST, " claim their is "no problem, " or "it doesn't do it for them, " or some other clever, well known and used form of a lie.
The only reason I took my car into an authorized Daimler-Chrysler-Jeep dealership was for this specific NHTSA safety recall, and now I don't know if I'll ever take a vehicle in for another safety recall.
They don't care if they damage your car, or if the 'fix' may not be installed properly, or maybe even make the recall problem worse, and dismiss it all with denials.
Your word against there's, is what a policeman told me, and good luck.
I wonder if others receiving this same or similar safety recall 'fix' have experienced similar problems, and told this was "normal" functioning, or that there is "no problem, " like I have.
My complaint process:
I immediately (with in hours of their completed 'fix') contacted the dealership that damaged my car about the NEW, unsafe transmission floor shifter problem they gave me my car back with, returned to the dealership to demonstrate the problem and give them the opportunity to fix it, BUT the dealership refused to acknowledge there was any problem at all, let alone a safety problem.
I went all the way to the top management of Breck Dodge (now Tucson Dodge), and they all stone-faced lied about the physical reality of the unsafe damage to my car. Managers wouldn't even come out and look at it with me, said they trust their service rep.
I placed a Better Business Bureau complaint against Breck (Tucson) Dodge, which was a complete waste of time.
I later contacted Steve Christy Chrysler dealership, and they have given me the same 'song and dance' routine of basically, no problem exists, so take your car and go away.
Throughout this 'process, ' I followed up early contacting Daimler-Chrysler-Jeep's 800 Consumer Affairs by phone and logged a complaint about the safety damage to my floor shifter from their authorized dealership, but only recently was informed they would only take their dealership's version of the situation. What a sad joke on the consumer, like me, thinking they cared, or would mediate in good faith.
I also asked to meet with, Daimler Chrysler's Regional Representative, to have him please contact me directly, which he refuses to do or acknowledge. He will only talk to the Service Managers of local dealerships, and make appointments for customers through them, and then with no notice, cancel or change the time and date of our scheduled meeting, as if people should be at his beacon call, and we can be anywhere at anytime he requests.
Due to serious health problems, I have had to stop pursuing the idea with a meeting with the Regional Representative. This is just another underhanded, stealth 'company' policy of how to further disable customers they have wronged.
I'm 99.9% sure the Regional Rep won't find a problem exists either if or when I meet with him.
I also tried Daimler Chrysler's 800 Customer Relations phone line, to either give me the Regional Rep's contact information, or contact him on my behalf, and instruct him to contact me, but they claimed they could not do that!
Summary:
Since the day the dealership returned my automobile to me the shifter mechanism is now dangerously unsafe, and even though I have taken my vehicle into two authorized dealerships, where I have easily demonstrated the problem to them, both have done one form or another of the same 'denial of problem's existence' expertly.
Since they are so adept at doing their denial routine, I also wonder how many others have had the same or similar experiences. They obviously have been coached and well practiced, for it's been the same treatment/handling at both dealerships.
I hope someone can tell me what other recourses I have to get Chrysler-Daimler and/or the Tucson Dodge (formerly Breck Dodge) to pay for the necessary repairs to the car's transmission floor shifter (or other damages they caused from the recall work), other than a lawyer. I can't afford a lawyer to begin with, and can't image any lawyer would be interested in this situation.
Besides wanting to expose this intentional fraud of denying easily observable safety malfunctions, I want to be reimbursed by the responsible parties so I can have a truly trusted, honest, ethical, reliable and especially competent mechanic fix my car's safety problem caused by the dealership's safety recall work.
I would not want or trust any 'authorized' dealership to work on my car again. I wonder if they would let their wives, husbands, parents or children drive an automobile in the unsafe condition they put my car in.
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