Well, it really doesn't matter who didn't tell whom. It doesn't matter
what "disclaimers" DC puts in their manuals/brochures (they aren't worth thier
legal weight in ink: especially if it's in fine print). Simple legal fact:
Misrepresentation occurs when a product is presented, displayed, or propounded
to have abilities it doesn't. The Misrepresentation occurred at the
Dealership and Manufacturer levels. DC showed in ads, in it's manuals and
perpetuated the information by supplying FACTORY tow hitches rated at the
standard Dakota's towing ability. The Dealerships are protected from
prosecution because they were only supplying the customers with the
information from the manufacturers. Therefore the manufacturer is totally at
fault for this.
Nearly every state in the US supports Misrepresentation suits or a variant
thereof. The Engineering reasons for the problem are irrelevant to the
Misrepresentation itself. It may have bearing on what possible solutions the
court may allow the claimants to follow, but DC is guilty of Misrepresentation
in a clear cut and dry fashion. A decent law firm could get good compensation
to R/T owners on this. It's not enough to say "OOPS! Sorry" and brush it
under the rug. DC needs to offer R/T owners some options:
#1 Buy Back the Truck
#2 Pay R/T owners for the loss of resale value
Pay owners for the cost of a hitch (if purchased with truck)
#3 Roll the owners into another truck of choice (making a fair deal)
#4 Fix the problem and generate a recall for the trucks to be fixed
#4 may not be workable due to engineering reasons (Though air bags should
solve any frame/flex problems, or bolting on an additional support plate), but
by all means, the first 3 are what DC should've offered R/T owners, not just
the hitch cost. It's just bad karma on DC's part and reeks of some bean
counters solution to a big problem. I don't own an R/T (almost bought one but
they only had RC's back then) so it's not really my fight, but I don't want
R/T owners to think they have to accept what BS DC is handing out. There is
another way and if I did own an R/T I'd have called an attorney long ago...
Shaun H.
---original message---
Hi. This is a great and nobel act, but as Jack and I discussed before,
it could be a losing battle. Not to be the devils advicate, nor to not
support my fellow DML'ers, but ever read the fine print at the bottom of
the brochure's or pckg descriptions? Packages and performance issues
are always subject to change without informing the customer!
Technically it is the responsibility of the consumer to be educated on
what they are purchasing. If you don't ask, you won't know. When you
pick up your vehicle from the dealer, all they are responsible for is to
make sure that you know where everything is on the vehicle and how to
operate all of the functions, i.e. windshield wipers, turn signals etc
etc.. Now, don't get me wrong. DC screwed the pooch on this one! I
know, I work there so I get a little deeper into some of the q&a with
some of the big shots there. It was not an engineering issue, nor a
design office (where I work) issue but a publishing and PR issue. The
engineers knew the problem and so did everyone but somehow it didn't go
through the right channels to get to the publisher. THIS IS ALL THE WAY
THAT I UNDERSTAND IT AND NOT A DAIMLERCHRYSLER PUBLIC RELATIONS
TRANSCRIPT TO ANYONE!
So, the way that they lowered the R/T is by using flat leaf springs in
back. I Forget the way that they did it in front and I threw away my
letter on it. The reason that the towing package is restricted is
because over time of towing heavy loads it will weaken the Frame in the
leaf area and become a serious safety issue. So yes, it truly is a
problem, but not a short term one. This obviously would be a long term
stress problem not something that is just going to break the first
couple times of towing! At first I thought it was a rear end and/or
drive shaft angle problem. Guess not.
Please, understand that I am not a rep of DC, I only work there! I am
peon! I know nothing!
Eric
Shoot, everything that I just said could be wrong too!
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:14:31 EDT