Charger recall

[Silverado12]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
EVERY car that has a scissor jack issued with it (which pretty much means 'every car') should come with chocks. The slightest shift of the vehicle forward or backward can tip the jack, its just common sense.

You can do it without chocks by being very careful and setting the P-brake as hard as you possibly can... but most people these days never touch the P-brake anyway, and think "Park" in the transmission is good enough. Its not good enough for changing tires with a scissor jack!!!



Agreed. I had an old 1988 S-10 that came with chocks.

 

[Hokiefyd]

I should think that *something* has to be different with THIS particular Charger model. Chrysler's official statement is that the chocks are for use to stabilize the vehicle, as instructed in the owners manual. But, also, "The recall is limited to 2011-2016 Dodge Chargers."

Hmm.

No other FCA owner's manuals instruct owners to use wheel chocks? Are all other FCA vehicles inherently more stable when on a jack than the Charger is?

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
And a link to the official FCA announcement:

http://media.fcanorthamerica.com/newsrelease.do;jsessionid=704DB9D8BA8A60E2EB1CBE76317E7A21?&id=17301&mid=1

Which is the same as I posted above and mentions absolutely nothing about anything deforming.


Thank you for a factual response. Too often the Net is simply parroted and the bad info gets a life of its own.

In my many years of automotive enjoyment I have yet to see a factory supplied jack worth a hoot. Most of the time I upgrade them myself. In the case of the LX with no spare I have a road trip kit to take with me on long hauls.

This is a proactive recall and says nothing bad about the cars or Chrysler's engineering. But all the anti Mopar types can have a field day with it...

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
I should think that *something* has to be different with THIS particular Charger model. Chrysler's official statement is that the chocks are for use to stabilize the vehicle, as instructed in the owners manual. But, also, "The recall is limited to 2011-2016 Dodge Chargers."

Hmm.

No other FCA owner's manuals instruct owners to use wheel chocks? Are all other FCA vehicles inherently more stable when on a jack than the Charger is?


I can't think of any significant differences underneath between our '06 and '14, but when the '14 comes out of hibernation I can take another look if you remind me.

 

[Hokiefyd]

I guess another way to phrase it...if Chrysler's intent is to provide wheel chocks for safety (a good intent!), then I wonder why they're providing them only to owners of 2011-2016 Chargers. I'm guessing it's got to be something particular to either the jack itself or the way the car sits on the jack.

http://www.autoblog.com/2016/02/03/dodge-charger-tire-jack-recall/

According to that, the FCA spokesperson said that "the body structure of this vehicle is unique", and that the vehicle could slip off the jack if chocks are not used.

 

[supton]

I wonder if it's a matter of, three people made complaints, and only about that vehicle model. Thousands of cars could slip off the jack every year; but if none of those persons complained, no reason for the OEM to do anything different.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
And a link to the official FCA announcement:

http://media.fcanorthamerica.com/newsrelease.do;jsessionid=704DB9D8BA8A60E2EB1CBE76317E7A21?&id=17301&mid=1

Which is the same as I posted above and mentions absolutely nothing about anything deforming.


Thank you for a factual response. Too often the Net is simply parroted and the bad info gets a life of its own.

In my many years of automotive enjoyment I have yet to see a factory supplied jack worth a hoot. Most of the time I upgrade them myself. In the case of the LX with no spare I have a road trip kit to take with me on long hauls.

This is a proactive recall and says nothing bad about the cars or Chrysler's engineering. But all the anti Mopar types can have a field day with it...

For small cars the factory jack is fine, I used to run the whole side of the Neon up and down on the factory jack with my cordless impact driver for changing tires for autocross. It lasted for around 200 cycles of this before the threads got a little sticky to run it up and down with my fingers.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan

For small cars the factory jack is fine, I used to run the whole side of the Neon up and down on the factory jack with my cordless impact driver for changing tires for autocross. It lasted for around 200 cycles of this before the threads got a little sticky to run it up and down with my fingers.


Good point. A newer LX sedan like the Charger can easily weigh 4400+ pounds. That's a lot of meat for a 5 dollar piece o junk jack!

 

[CBR.worm]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
And a link to the official FCA announcement:

http://media.fcanorthamerica.com/newsrelease.do;jsessionid=704DB9D8BA8A60E2EB1CBE76317E7A21?&id=17301&mid=1

Which is the same as I posted above and mentions absolutely nothing about anything deforming.


Thank you for a factual response. Too often the Net is simply parroted and the bad info gets a life of its own.

In my many years of automotive enjoyment I have yet to see a factory supplied jack worth a hoot. Most of the time I upgrade them myself. In the case of the LX with no spare I have a road trip kit to take with me on long hauls.

This is a proactive recall and says nothing bad about the cars or Chrysler's engineering. But all the anti Mopar types can have a field day with it...

For small cars the factory jack is fine, I used to run the whole side of the Neon up and down on the factory jack with my cordless impact driver for changing tires for autocross. It lasted for around 200 cycles of this before the threads got a little sticky to run it up and down with my fingers.


I have done this for years with no issues prior to getting a good floor jack.

BMW has interesting jacks, it is half of a scissor jack that plugs into a rectangular slot at the jack point - they also include chocks. The first time I had to use it on the side of the road was a [censored] moment, but it actually works pretty well.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
I should think that *something* has to be different with THIS particular Charger model. Chrysler's official statement is that the chocks are for use to stabilize the vehicle, as instructed in the owners manual. But, also, "The recall is limited to 2011-2016 Dodge Chargers."

Hmm.

No other FCA owner's manuals instruct owners to use wheel chocks? Are all other FCA vehicles inherently more stable when on a jack than the Charger is?


[Cynical mode]
Or does something happen with regard to liability 5 model years after manufacture?
[/Cynical mode]

IIRC, LX/LC cars have jacks that grip the pinch-weld (my SRT doesn't come with a spare or jack, though I added both as a kit from a 3rd-party vendor). Maybe there is something that makes it harder to properly catch the weld in the jack's groove with the newer Charger body.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
[Cynical mode]
Or does something happen with regard to liability 5 model years after manufacture?
[/Cynical mode]

I was thinking more along the lines of, why aren't they giving wheel chocks to owners of Darts and Avengers and Grand Caravans, too? Do the owner's manuals of those vehicles not also instruct to use wheel chocks?

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
[Cynical mode]
Or does something happen with regard to liability 5 model years after manufacture?
[/Cynical mode]

I was thinking more along the lines of, why aren't they giving wheel chocks to owners of Darts and Avengers and Grand Caravans, too? Do the owner's manuals of those vehicles not also instruct to use wheel chocks?


Those are far lighter/smaller vehicles so I can see them being more stable on an under-sized scissor jack. The mystery to me is why only the most recent Charger iteration got called out and not all of them as well as the 300 and Challenger. Structurally there have been very few changes other than tweaks to the suspension since he LX platform first came out.

 

[JennyHemi]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
[Cynical mode]
Or does something happen with regard to liability 5 model years after manufacture?
[/Cynical mode]

I was thinking more along the lines of, why aren't they giving wheel chocks to owners of Darts and Avengers and Grand Caravans, too? Do the owner's manuals of those vehicles not also instruct to use wheel chocks?


Those are far lighter/smaller vehicles so I can see them being more stable on an under-sized scissor jack. The mystery to me is why only the most recent Charger iteration got called out and not all of them as well as the 300 and Challenger. Structurally there have been very few changes other than tweaks to the suspension since he LX platform first came out.


I'm just waiting for this to get to the Challengers... they like to roll out the warnings/recalls piecemeal (Takata, anyone?) so it doesn't seems like such a giant clusterfark all happening at once.