Chrysler cuts powertrain warranty to 5 years

"Basically, the assumption of a lifetime warranty just wasn't that big a deal to consumers," Deneau said. >>>

Sounds like B.S. to me.. They probably gave a panel an offer of 5 years free or lifetime for $xxx and everyone jumped at 5 years for free. The details are lacking. I don't think anyone would blow off free lifetime drive train coverage.

I think this reduction in warranty is a reflection of the fact that people will hang on to their vehicles indefinately during a recession. The MEDIAN age of cars and light trucks on US roads has increased significantly over the past 5 to 10 years. The average age of passenger cars in use during 2008 was 9.4 years based on a Polk survey conducted from July 1 2007 to June 30 2008. The average age for light trucks was

7.5 years.

In 1990, the median age of cars operating in the US was 6.5 years, in

1969 it was 5.1 years.

What would you choose:

a) drivetrain coverage (I'm assuming parts and labor for stuff other than oil, filters, spark plugs, etc) but is not transferable if the car is sold, or

b) 5 year coverage for the same items, but is transferable to any owner of the car.

BTW, when exactly did Chrysler come out with this lifetime power train warranty? And was it just in the US? My CDN 300m had (I think) only a

3-year, 60k powertrain warranty back in the fall of 1999, and my CDN 2001 Ram had (I think) a 5 year, 100k warranty.

They seem to want to exclude vehicles that will see commercial use. I guess that means they think that people don't buy Ram's with diesel's for personal / home use.

What is the US drivetrain warranty on new Honda, Toyota and Nissan passenger cars these days?

Toyota

Honda Nissan Hyundai Kia

In the 1960's they touted their 5 yr/50,000 mile powertrain warranty. It was the same when I bought my Dodge Caravan in 1986. When I bought my 1990 Dodge Spirit, it was raised to 7yr/70,000.

It was 3yr/36,000 when I bought my Stratus. I think they got burned with all the 41TE claims in the early 1990's, so they lowered it.

Lighter users like myself, will most likely hit the 5 years first.

-KM

That they significantly lowered the warranty does not bode well for their confidence in the product they are peddling (and all that the word "peddling" implies).

Jim Higgins full-quoted:

To play the devil's advocate, why be critical of Chrysler when they are simply matching the powertrain warranty offered by Toyota, Honda and Nissan?

I think that Chrysler, and GM, have much more to prove. They need to have a very, very good warranty to move people to take a chance on their products. Many people, especially now, just do not have the resources to gamble on Chrysler or GM and take a real chance on coming up Snake Eyes. Perhaps a stellar warranty might move them to take such a chance.

If the worry here is that GM and Chrysler might still dissolve in a few years, then having a longer warranty now for a new car will be irrelavent.

And I don't know what you think they need to prove. My 300m is almost

10 years old and 90k miles and it's been extremely reliable and durable. Talk about maintenence free. Besides 2 or 3 oil changes a year and a few sets of tires and brake pads, it's required practically no maintenence. I'm still on the original battery and coolant. AC still works perfectly, and I've only changed one tail light bulb (even the headlights are still original). Only this year do I start to see some surface rust on the bottom of the front doors.

There are legions of former Chrysler and GM customers with very long memories of being repeatedly screwed by said companies. Chrysler/GM will have to do a lot to get those customers back, if they ever do. If those companies fail in that endeavor then they die due to their own failings and can blame no one other than themselves.

Our '02 300M has just over 90K miles and had a transmission coolant radiator replaced under the extended warranty (which was a freebie to help move the '02 models to make way for the '03 models -- although our car was built to order anyway because there wasn't already one with the combination of options we wanted). The extended warranty also covered a major problem with the transmission (problem covered by a TSB, but it took them a long time to fix, including waiting for parts), even though it was past the 70K miles that I understood that the warranty covered. $100 deductible in each case.

I did get the coolant changed, but ours is still on the original battery too.

Did all existing powertrain warranties get extended to lifetime automatically? That would explain why our transmission problem was covered beyond the 70K miles.

Perce

Neither.

I drive cars till they are ready for the bone yard.

I'd prefer a flat 100k miles drive train warranty irregardless of car age.

MoPar Man wrote:They seem to want to exclude vehicles that will see commercial use. I guess that means they think that people don't buy Ram's with diesel's for personal / home use.

Many trucks owners in Louisiana buy the diesel truck for personal use.

MoPar Man: Nice to hear of your very good 300M experiences. I've only had my 2004 300M for a year and it's been faultless. Whoops I did have to replace the center brake light, not an easy task.

Two of my neighbors have the 300M yr2000 and yr2001, they also have been basically faultless.

IMO most people buying a new car only need a 5 yr warranty, they'll trade it in before then.

As for Chrysler I really don't care, they've had nothing since 2004 that interests me. Now I'm set for 5+ years.

Because Chrysler has for many years had a better warranty than most that sets them above the rest. Now they're just one of the same. That causes some of their appeal to be lost.

My trouble is the fact that Chrysler won't offer a decent warranty on their diesels or performance cars such as the SRT's. My 2008 SRT4 only has a 3yr/36K warranty. My 2007 Diesel Ram only has a 3yr/36K warranty (A few parts of cummins engine are longer). Their more expensive top of the line products have the lowest warranties.

Many new prospective auto customers have no idea what the warranty terms were in the past or how they've changed historically for any manufacturer. Yes, a few of us Chrysler junkies know it, but not the average car buyer.

But perhaps Chrysler's "lifetime" warranty was unwarranted, unworkable, or unrealistic? What other consumer product can you point to that has ever had such a warranty?

They clearly anticipate that those vehicles will be driven harder and experience more potential for heavy, abnormal or even irresponsible useage.

If I bought (or were seriously looking) at such a vehicle, I would be pissed off at the reduction in warranty period. But I have no intention to ever buy an SRT or diesel vehicle (from Chrysler or anyone else).

In that regard, how do the German and Japanese warranties compare for similar vehicles?

I know someone that bought a BMW M3 a few years ago, and within 6 months he blew the motor at a track. It was covered by BMW - but they weren't happy about it. It's that kind of nonesense that I can see Chrysler protecting itself against.

There are many former GM, Ford, and some Chrysler customers who got excellent service from their vehicles yet due to the irrational media love for imports they traded in their 200K mi "domestics" for imports costing thousands more. Fleet users actually know which vehicles are cost effective and most fleets buy a lot of domestics. Our fleet is about 95% domestic and we just don't have any problems with them anymore then we do with the occasional "import". If someone has a domestic and a bulb burns out they act like it's the end of the world. Someone who has an import and their transmission goes out just shrugs it off they have been so brainwashed. For some reason "hate America" is in vogue when it comes to cars.

All the recent cars (last 20 years) I've had were just getting broken in at 100K. I liked the Chrysler lifetime power train warranty. It was a second level factor in my last buying decision and I did wind up buying a Chrysler product partly because of the warranty.

With very good reason.

Sears Diehard batteries of yesteryear had lifetime warranties. Turns out that Sears had to honor the warranty more than it planned and thus canceled it.

Well sure they do but people pay a premium price for those vehicles because they're designed for heavy work. A weak warranty tells me the Dodge Ram built tough slogan may not be so true.

I bought a leftover old stock 2008 Caliber SRT4 last March. Bought new for about $8000 off sticker. For the money it is one heck of a fun fast car and gets great mpg. Also have a 2007 Ram Diesel. It pulls my trailer with ease. No gasser could perform as well.

Not sure for performance vehicles but neither make full sized diesel trucks sold in the USA.

Their warranty specifies that racing and other abusive driving would void portions of the warranty. But its not easy to prove such abuse.

Trouble I have is that manufactures advertising raves about a sports cars performance. They show them driven in an abusive manner touting their capabilities but then won't warrant them for people who buy and drive them just as advertised.