All addressees please read and enjoy. This is not a joke, its for real!
Gene in Houston
Dodge has down graded the tow capacity of all R/T's from over 6000lbs to
2000lbs. The lowered suspension apparently created a safety issue. They admit
liability and probably will offer money or ?? as compensation to original
owners. I found out about the down grade while reading the owners manual on
my new R/T. A yellow addendum page fell out of the manual with the change on
it. The dealer didn't know anything about it but Chrystler Corp did.Spread
the word.
I have been in contact with the Daimler-Chrysler Complaint Center for the
last two weeks trying to get through to someone of authority whom would admit
their responsibility. At first their position was that the one inch lowered
suspension limited the tow capacity and they currently had no fix and take it
or leave it. Finally Monday a supervisor freely admitted Chrysler
responsibility and that they had no engineering solution and that they had
under consideration a cash rebate offer. He was suppose to call yesterday to
announce to me the terms, which he did not, but I got his extension number
and will bug him after a few days until they officially commit. It appears as
if it might be a big deal for them, what with probably 10,000 R/T owners
requiring compensation of some kind. He even talked of truck buy backs, in
which I was not interested. It is clear to me they have misrepresented the
truck and are legally required to do something to satisfy the customer!
My towing solution will be to invest in the air bag add-on's that the lowered
truck people use. They add brackets to the frame side rails at the axle area,
one on each side of the truck, and install inflatable air bags between those
brackets and the differential case or spring central perch. They tell me it
will add 3000# to the suspension's ability to carry a load, far exceeding the
frames capability. It works similarly to air shocks without having to give up
the R/T special extra heavy duty shocks. You just air up the bags to level
out the truck when you are towing or carrying a heavy load and release the
air when you're not. Chrysler would not allow my dealer to do this
modification, even though my dealer suggested it, as they are worried about
liability on something that was not "designed here".
It is not just a "bumper tow" that Chrysler is concerned about. They
mentioned something about some compensation for the customer's purchase of
the accessory hitch, as well. They are absolutely limiting the tow capacity
with or without a receiver style hitch.
I suspect that someone sued them when they towed to the limit and crashed. My
R/T only has 2 inches of travel between the top of the spring and the rubber
bumper on the frame. I've been told (in the Mopar chat room) that the
difference between a standard and an R/T rear spring is about 2 inches of
arch to that spring, with the R/T spring being flatter. When towing a large
trailer did you ever look to see if you were siting on the bump stops? With
only 2 inches of down travel from nominal I'll bet you were!
If you are worried that my info might be bogus call the Chrysler Complaint
Center (1-800-992-1997) and ask. Maybe a few more complaints will build a
fire under them to get the situation solved. They still have not re-contacted
me with an "offer". I hate the thought that my new truck is so tow limited by
a stylish decision to lower the truck one inch!
I contacted Chrysler about the RT towing limit recently set to 2000 lbs from
the original 6000 lbs and I thought you might like an update. Apparently they
will send out a letter to original owners in the next week or two, dropping
the tow capacity to 2000 lbs. The offer from Chrysler may include a buy back
program or a money back offer which at present is only $300 but might be
pushed up by the time the letter arrives or after all the RT owners raise a
big stink. I suggested to him that the latter might happen. He is aware of
your Web Site and plans to make Chysler management aware of your forum for
discontent. Such discontent might drive the money offer up. By the way no one
sued. The complaint people did a review of the design after being questioned
and their engineering decided the high tow capacity was a risk for Chrysler,
so they lowered it.
The $300 will let an owner retrofit the "air bag solution" I outlined in a
previous email. Chrysler does not want anyone to do it since it's not their
design and will try to convince owners to not do it. But these are our trucks
and we can modify them without a threat of warranty cancellation as long as
our modification doesn't cause a warranty problem (laws make it so).
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