I can see that most of you are not sympathetic with Rich's situation. Yes, it makes sense that his foot should have been on the brake, but I would imagine that it was quite startling. I have copied the original post I read from this forum and you will see that this poster was also shaken by the **** and boot assembly flying up into his hand. Perhaps in addition to separating from the car, it might be possible that it engaged accidentally. We do not know this and he was so shaken that he assumed he must have taken his foot off the brake. The car has only 300 miles on it and I must stick up for Rich. This car should have been carefully checked prior to delivery. Nobody wants to have a 2-week old car and have to take it to the paint shop AND pay for the paint when something as serious as this occurs to your new car. Anyway, here's the post I saw: ....Bert


2 days ago, in a parking lot, I started to put my 6-speed in reverse. To my surprise, as I pulled upwards, the entire gearshift **** and boot assembly flew off! The **** and boot hit the headliner and I nearly had an accident. It was like opening the can of peanut brittle and the snake pops out. Man.

Mind you I've never done steroids and was never bitten by a radioactive spider, this was not a matter of brute strength overcoming an otherwise solid piece.

I recalled seeing something about this on this board having to do with retaining clips (but haven't been able to re-locate it, only mightyjlr's post about Service Action #03-013). After staring dumfounded at the bare stick (and the shifter innards underneath) for a few, I was able to get the **** on good enough to operate.

Yesterday my tech confirmed he was able to "duplicate the problem." Trouble is, they performed the Service Action #03-013
supplemental deal, according to their records, while this was on the floor. So, having done what Chrysler recommends, they are mystified.

Anyone else having this problem? Any suggestions that don't involve duct tape or JB Weld?

It seems only to happen in reverse so it's not too frequent -- and it hasn't happened since, but mainly because I now approach Reverse like I am about to de-activate a land mine. The danger is that when it happens it is shocking, and in a tight situation where a driver is not thinking about this, say parallel-parking downtown, or backing into a space, it will happen again and the slight delay in reaction time will make one bang into a car behind, or a light post or something.