Well, add our car to the list. Yesterday afternoon the rear window fell down on the bottom and upper left hand side. I checked the Chrysler recall site and it says my VIN is not covered. They are saying this because of what I feel is a loophole. When we bought our Crossfire from Preston Chrysler in Dallas in late July 2005 (within 10 years), my wife wanted a black convertible with the two-tone vanilla interior. The owner of the dealership, a personal friend, searched for hours and called me back and told me that there were only 2 currently available in the whole country; one in Wisconsin and one in Delaware. My friend worked out a deal with the dealer in Wisconsin and the car was shipped to Dallas in an enclosed van. I purchased it new from the dealer in Dallas. Chrysler says the car was delivered to Wisconsin so it is not included in the extended warranty.


There has been a long a confusing discussion in this thread regarding what constitutes a car that falls under this X31 extended warrantee. The way I see it, my Crossfire is under 10 years old and purchased in Texas. I bought the extended warrantee for 7 years 100,000 miles. The car has 30,000 miles and has always been garage kept (probably why it took almost 10 years to fail). Chrysler has agreed to open a case and I took it to a dealership today. I am determined to get this resolved in my favor. I don't believe it should take that much effort for them to realized that the car was purchased new in Texas and include this VIN in the warrantee. We shall see.

 

Sorry to hear that your Roadster has joined the vast majority. Quite simply, even with Daimler out of the picture, by Sep/2011, Chrysler had an ever growing problem that required SOME action. In order to limit costs; they only informed & offered their new warranty to owners of the Vin numbered cars that were shipped/delivered to the 9 States. (Did not have to be original owner and where the car was located after delivery did not matter & only 2005 model year). So the restriction is stating that ONLY that group was somehow made with defective roof tops, which ALL of the complaints clearly contradicts.
File a complaint on safercar.gov (Mr. John Abbott is the NHTSA Investigator: Tell him your experience @ (202) 366-5221) This is a critical Structural failure of the entire roof top creating a true safety hazard.
Once upon a time; convertible tops were not made with durable long lasting material (ie. plastic windows w/ flimsy vinyl/ fabrics). Tops of the past 10 or 12 years are vastly superior in durable design, especially the imports and some domestic makes. A minimum 10 year lifespan has shown to be the new normal, including window attachment.

 

Would UK models be covered?

 

lovecross,


The Service Manager at the local dealership agrees with me and he has promised to fight with Chrysler to get this fixed under warrantee. They are supposed to call me today with their decision.


I filed a complaint on safecar.gov, attn: John Abbott. As you know in this world everybody hounds us at home with unwanted calls. Being on the "Don Not Disturb" list doesn't mean a thing. Yesterday, I received 2 calls from Washington, D.C. that I ignored because the Caller ID said, "Unavailable". When I saw your response, I realized that it was John or someone else at the NHSTA. I will call them back today.


Damn phone scammers!!! Leave us alone so when the phone rings we can answer it with assurance that it's someone we really want to talk to. OK, I'm off my soapbox. Ha!

 

UPDATE 1!!

I spoke to John Abbott at length. He stated they (NHTSA) have no jurisdiction over this. I told him I just wanted my car to be counted in the numbers.


UPDATE 2!!

I spoke with Chrysler Customer Care and they told me it would be willing fix it for $300 deductible (total cost $1700) only because my car had such low mileage. They still claim that my car is not part of X31 because it was delivered to Milwaukee, WI., not 1 of the 9 states listed. I re-iterated to them, that I can understand why the VIN of my Crossfire was originally left off of the X31 list, but they have knowledge that the car was purchased by Preston Chrysler in Dallas and resold to me as new; therefore adding my VIN is be included is only fair and just. I told them that I am not asking for anything for which I am not entitled. I told them that I don't accept their offer. I also told them that I could save them money by waiving the car rental I am entitled to receive. They said they would look into this further and get back to me by end of business tomorrow.

 

UPDATE 3!!!


Chrysler Customer Care just called me back and they have decided to include my Crossfire in their recall. It will be repaired FREE OF CHARGE.


All I can tell you, if you have to fight this battle, is to be firm, unrelenting and most important of all, courteous. Remember, you want to get the Chrysler rep on your side, not pissed at you. They will work harder for you if they like you, not sorry they ever answered the phone.


Chalk one up for the little guy!!!

 

Congrats!! Chrysler Customer Care(?) is doing right for you! THEY wrote the 2011 warranty, THEY should have offered it to all original purchasers and perhaps with a reasonable deductible for subsequent owners. Instead, they chose a foolish route to limit costs at the expense of losing customer loyalty for so many, even us original, first time Chrysler owners.
We asked for help, ALWAYS polite, and they offered only $900 assistance/credit; "Take it or leave it, No we won't put that in writing and offer expires in 30 days".
We wrote to Corp. (US Mail) asking for more info, 2 months later NO response. We are a little guy too, their offer was Not fair.
The worst part; even if Chrysler was not breaking any law(?), we decided that small claims court could/should rule based upon fairness & justice. 6 weeks later, still no response from Corp (we left door open for negotiation), TWO REPS show up @ court (1 with fat "lawyer" briefcase who never spoke; inside or out). Co. Rep. made very vague statement about climate in the 9 chosen States. Not well prepared; I did not point out that the new warranty was Vin # Specific, and not related to where the car may be located after sale! And that they were All made with the same part which was failing everywhere!
I had failed to file ALL evidence (Chrysler "letter" etc) intending to present those in court. Then Co. Rep. realized this & stated: original warranty & Factory extension we purchased was expired; true But IRRELEVANT! I failed to point this out (being nervous didn't help!). Judge then refused to review my documents and ended hearing. In the mailed result; we lost.
Outside, Co. Rep. said SURE they want our business?!? We would have happily accepted perhaps a $500 co-pay. Instead they spent unknown $$ to WIN?!?
What a Slap in our Face from the new American Chrysler, whom we taxpayers guaranteed through bankruptcy. Our GAHH top was $2,400 installed.
We have continued to fight for what is right for others, even with Chrysler's total disrespect for us.
Chrysler: Who has WON WHAT???

 

DITTO: the soapbox!

 

lovecross,


I hear ya! 15 years ago I sued Shell Oil Company of Houston, TX in a Chicago area small claims court because I took my 2000 Intrepid R/T to a company owned car wash and it came out with a roof scratch from the front rubber on the windshield to the rear windshield rubber. They denied liability because soft sponges can't scratch a roof, even after the F-350 ahead of me complained that the car wash ripped the antenna off of his truck. They had 3 lawyers show up and that was their defense, "sponges don't scratch". They even had a piece of sponge to prove it! Simpletons. I told the judge that I conceded that point, showed photos, a signed affidavit from the F-350 owner. That's all the judge needed. $900 and $250 court fees. So how much did Shell lose after lawyers fees, who knows. What I do know is, I have never purchased another gallon of Shell gas! Sometimes large corporations just don't use "common sense".


Thanks for your support; supposed to pick the car up this afternoon.

 

Thanks for your input. One might think that a small claims Judge would allow the inexperienced layperson plaintiff vs. professional Co. Reps., to present supporting documentary evidence to the court. Especially when my arguments were nervous and incomplete. I learned a lesson, but I also lost faith in the "system". Hopefully I'll never have to repeat that experience.
The NHTSA will render it's conclusion and we can only hope that Chrysler will step up and offer $ help to others who did not receive it, even if we are left out due to our court loss. To us they, Chrysler, is the real loser in the big picture.

 

Just got back from picking my roadster up at the local dealership after forcing Chrysler to reluctantly repair the rear window, completely under warranty. Yeah!!

 

COOL! We will own my wife's roadster for life, Lord Willing.

 

I've opened another case with Chrysler this morning. No guaranties, but keeping my fingers crossed. They say I have to take it by a dealership to get an estimate on the cost. Anyone else have to jump through that hoop?

 

I had to take mine to the dealer to have it inspected, and for an estimate of the cost. I suspect that the real reason for the estimate is that there I some sort of agreement between Chrysler and the dealers that allows the dealer to charge for installation. I live in Florida, but my car was originally sold in Maryland, so I supposedly didn't qualify for the free replacement. My dealer charged a $500 "co-payment," and I was happy to pay it.


By the way, if someone tries to tell you that the labor cost to install a top is some outrageous number, they're lying to you. Mine was installed in 50 minutes.

 

Itsky,

I had to take mine to the dealership too. I thought it was so the dealership could confirm that the problem really was part of X31 replacement.

 

Itsky;


In June/2013 our '05 window attachment failed. (We had hoped we had dodged that bullet after following this Forum for several years, after our "sticky" ignition switch problem in July/2010). Called Chrysler (Corp) asking for advice/help & first step: have dealer inspect window simply to verify. We received a couple of e-mails over a short time, & they made their verbal offer of $900 total assistance. They refused to put it in writing, e-mail or print, & offer was good for 30 days, take it or leave it. At that time, they made no mention of their 9 State (VIN # identified) group of original delivery restriction to qualify for their warranty of 2011. Our "co-pay" would have been about $1,500; which meant that they were not really offering to pay any amount over approx. wholesale costs. What a shi**y offer to original purchasers! $500 co-pay would have been acceptable.
CHRYSLER: the lights appear to be on, yet NO ONE is home?!?

 

Has anyone posted the TSB bulletin number for the recall or how to get TSB
Massgold

 

On page one it says near the bottom that it is not a TSB but rather an extended warranty.
I do not follow this problem but the first page does give answers seemingly, just like most first pages on a topic. Often the next pages are just fluff and confusion.

 

It is Service Bulletin #23-035-11 REV A. It is a Warranty offer made to a specific group of 2005 year VIN #'s only. As yet, there has been no recall. There are copies posted here including the "offer" letter that only that group of owners received. There is also info on safercar.gov 2005 Chrysler Crossfire Roadster complaints.

 

Does Anybody know what the specific vin numbers are?