Dodge Truck Recalls

There are occasional news articles about vehicle recalls stating that large numbers of vehicle of a particular manufacturer have been recalled due to certain problems. These news stories always generate a great amount of buzz because the numbers of vehicles and therefore the potential to have vehicular accidents are very high. You should not take these vehicles on the road because of safety and performance issues.

The problems can vary from major ones in the suspension or the brakes to very minor ones that will not cause you any harm if you drive the vehicle. There have been some much publicized Dodge truck recalls recently, especially in the Ram 1500 truck. In fact, Chrysler recalled over 150,000 trucks and SUVs late 2010 because of some design defects that had not been caught during the production process.

Chrysler first shocked its customers by recalling over 22,000 2008 Dodge Ram trucks because they had received many complaints that the vehicle had steering problems. There were no crashes attributed to this problem but the company went ahead and issued a recall in order to fix the problem. There was another problem with this vehicle that involved its rear axle. There was also a highly publicized recall of the Dodge Ram 2500 truck because of problems with its suspension that could easily have resulted in accidents.

Similarly, there were problems associated with the Dodge Dakota as well. The problem was that there was a possibility of the ignition / part shift interlock system not working properly. This could result in the shifter moving out of the park position even when the ignition key was removed. The other problem was that the ignition key could be removed when the shifter was not yet in the park position. There was no option for Chrysler but to recall the Dakota truck because this problem could easily lead to traffic accidents and subsequent fatalities.

There is a system in place to take care of vehicles that have been recalled because this is the manufacturer’s responsibility and not that of the person who bought the vehicle. You will receive a letter from the manufacturer of your vehicle, stating what exactly is wrong with it and that you should not drive it until the problem is solved. The manufacturer will also give you detailed instructions on what to do next. All you have to do is return your vehicle to the dealer you purchased it from and the company will take care of the problem from then on. The company will ensure that the defective parts are fixed and that your vehicle is returned to you in good condition. After all, this is a public relations disaster for the vehicle manufacturer and they too will want to get rid of the problem as painlessly as possible.

You will not be charged for any repairs that are made on your recalled vehicle in order to make it roadworthy. In fact, if you have already noticed this problem and have given it for repairs up to a year before the recall been announced, you will be entitled to a refund. Some dealers will even give you a replacement vehicle to drive while your recalled one is being repaired.

In case you have not received official notification regarding the Dodge truck recalls, you should check with the manufacturer’s website whether your vehicle belongs to the models or the year that is being recalled. Yours could very well belong to a year when there was no problem, in which case you have nothing to worry about.

The issue you will face is if you have purchased a recalled vehicle second hand and the previous owner has not got around to getting the problem fixed. You cannot expect to get assistance from the company if the time period for getting the repairs done has expired. In fact, any car that is over 8 years old is not eligible for any sort of recall or free repairs. If you have such a vehicle you will have to solve the problem on your own because the manufacturer is not obligated to help you.

The best way that you can handle the problem is to just get a replacement body part from a vehicle that did not belong to a recall year. There are plenty of salvage yards where you can get the required spare parts without too much trouble. There are also companies that specialize in customizing vehicles using these spare parts. They will get you exactly what you need so that you don’t have to do anything beyond pay them.

Don’t panic if you realize that your second hand vehicle belongs to one of the many Dodge truck recalls and you cannot get help from the manufacturer. You can easily replace the part because you certainly should not be driving a potentially dangerous vehicle around.