i would like to know who in florida is interested in suing chrysler with me over the back windows coming unglued from the convertible tops that have been turned down for replacement.

well, i am finally happy to say after many turn downs, persistance paid off an di now have a brand new top on my car!

 

Just make sure that we get our spelling right on the lawsuit if you do!

I have no issue with mine so share some of what your lawsuit would be contending.

 

I'm in Florida and my window is in good shape, with no current issues.

That said, it would be nice to know the option is available as a recall, if ever needed.

The current limited recall, is kinda strange, if it's broke, fix it, regardless of where the car was bought , or resides.

I'm surprised affected Customers who were turned down, are not up in arms...

 

it's my understanding that Chrysler has alreasy agreed to fix these tops under recall, so no class action suit is warranted or allowed. See previous threads

 

I think that Chrysler will only fix ones that were originally sold to southern states. One of my dealerships tried to have their car fixed and it was turned down. My rear window fell out with the help of a very fat cat about a year before the recall so I was out my money too.

 

From what I read on here a couple of weeks ago they are not going to cover the window that came loose on my Limited that originated in Ohio, and was brought to Kentucky by me. I re-glued it with 3M window weld, which is not going to hold forever.

They will however cover the top on my SRT that originated in Florida, and resided in South Carolina and Virginia before I bought it...or at least they will when the window does comes loose.

They will cover the top that is not loose, but won't cover the one that did come loose. These two discrepancies make no sense, and do make this ripe for a class action suit. I'm sure I will eventually convince them that they will want to cover my Limited, but I don't think I should have to go through the aggravation.

Guess I could just change the tops, but that's as unethical as Chrysler not doing the right thing in the first place.

 

I don't quite understand the logic here. Chrysler didn't have to recall the tops that they did recall. You do realize that a soft top is a wear and tear item. Eventually you will need to replace it.

 

Just for clarification....The State Attorney's Office in Florida in conjunction with other States, via numerous BBB complaints, filed suit against Chrysler on the behalf of Florida Crossfire owners regarding the top/window issue. In fact, the topic was entertained at a meeting at SEMA by members of Georgia, South Carolina, Louisiana and Florida's SAN group in 2005. Only the Southeastern States were considered for replacement because Chrysler deemed the problem "a climate/humidity issue". In addition, Chrysler is only held responsible for "replacing/repairing" a finite number of windows because the Crossfire/Roadster, et al are "limited production" vehicles. That being said, any/all future lawsuits will not be entertained and dismissed as baseless.

 

They have not "recalled" any tops. If they were recalled they wouldn't be able to cherry pick which delivery origination areas of the country they were going to repair.

I realize a top is a wear and tear item, but bonded seams failing in this fashion and number is not wear and tear, its poor construction. My Limited has been garaged it's entire life and other than the top popping loose out of the blue one day the top is in great shape. At some point this is also going to affect the 06 07 08 and 09 models. The faulty bond didn't show up soon enough for the process to be corrected.

The posting above this one is frustrating to me. It sounds like the attorney generals of those states took care of their citizens and the rest of us were left out in the cold.

 

i live In Florida have a 2006 Crossfire Convertible. Always garaged. The back window 8 around the top is unglued & the window fell out. How did you get them to pay for a new top

 

I am interested in lawsuit same year same issue same state

 

Seems to me that to get any lawsuit of the ground would cost each litigant more money up front than a new top. As said previously these are subject to wear and tear, with most vehicles owned now by second, third, fourth owners etc who is to say that the top was ever cared for by all owners.
Just the tension on the canvas is shearing the adhesive joint in the raised position, and that is not what adhesives are good at resisting.

 

Plus this original posting is four years old.

 

I got a letter from Chrysler on both of my 05's. Ten year, 100,000 mile warranty on both.
BUT, it is not over ten years from date of original sale on most 05's I would think.

100/80 is right, it's over, people. Time to stop beating this drum. And I have an 07 that is NOT warranted for ten years or 100,000 miles - so I may be dealing with this someday as well. It's just the way it is.

 

...Just the tension on the canvas is shearing the adhesive joint in the raised position, and that is not what adhesives are good at resisting....
...Old thread Revival...gotta love it....So, back to the convertible top storage question..Top up ? or Top down? If the top tension is partially to blame for adhesive failures, and I don't want my 2 year old top to fail, then I should store it top down? I can do this, if need be, and use my awesome California car cover to keep out the dust in my garage. Central Florida will be hot this summer, the average daily temp in the garage is above 95 and closer to 100F.

 

We had a similar issue with the window in our 2006 VW New Beetle Convertible. Window came unglued. Took car to a very good upholstery shop here locally and the owner told me that on many of the European-source convertibles, the EPA made the manufacturers switch glues on models during this time frame (i.e., 2002 - 2009). Don't remember reason why. The new glue didn't hold up in warm climates. Anyway, that's what I was told and he has always been straight with me. And he does a lot of convertible tops around here.

He recommended a replacement top including window from a California vendor. Told me that that top was of highest quality and came with a 15-yr guarantee for workmanship. Ended up costing me $2100 (top = $1400; install = $700). And the top is superior to the typical VW top installed for those model years.

I don't here any of the newer convertible Beetle owners complaining about windows coming loose. VW must have figured out a gluing solution and/or made a design change to this area.

 

I dunno. Let me put it this way. I would definitely take part in a class action suit over the rear window coming loose if someone could successfully get it started.

Do I see it happening at this point? Not really.... The fact is, as much as I like my Crossfire and as much as I know other enthusiasts on this forum do -- it's just realistic admitting that the interior is of sub-par quality in many respects.

Look at all the people who have problems with that goofy cup-holder, and all the ashtray/coin trays that won't stay shut or get stuck closed. Look at all the driver side interior door pulls that just break right off when someone goes to shut the door. The "sticky ignition key" that eventually jams and won't turn comes to mind too. And lately, I'm hearing of a lot of issues with cracks developing in the plastic rear panel behind the seats. I can tell you, that too, is a design flaw, caused by them not stopping the power seats from sliding or tilting far enough back so they start pushing on it. (I always have to caution passengers not to push their seat all the way back until it stops.) IMO, the issues with the seat heaters failing is another design flaw. (People who get in the car and kneel on the seat wind up cracking the seat heater wires. They should have been better protected.) The rear glass falling out due to poor adhesive is just another one of these "screw ups" that rears its head with time.

I spent the $2100 or so to have a really good quality replacement top installed by a local auto top and upholstery shop and the rear window is clearly of much better design. It's actually sewn into a pocket all the way around, instead of being glued in place. I'm angry my rear glass fell out and it cost me so much to address the issue .... but I also realize I got what I paid for, considering what it was replaced with and the labor involved to do that job properly.

I still only have 64,000 miles or so on my 2005 SRT-6 roadster, but that doesn't change the fact it's an 11 year old vehicle now. Many places will tell you 10+ years of service isn't that bad for a convertible top anyway. So it's going to be an uphill battle getting Chrysler to do any more than they have with this issue, IMO. They basically dislike the Crossfire anyway as a mistake they wish they never agreed to partner with Mercedes and build.

 

This is an interesting viewpoint & probably not far from the truth within Chrysler (a.k.a., FCA). The Crossfire actually filled a void left by the end of the Plymouth Prowler, which was also a limited production run sports car (can't believe I said that!). But the Prowler was truly an example of a modern-day, "Detroit iron" hot rod but with an underpowered drivetrain. And the Prowler is just now becoming somewhat a collectors marque, especially if it's a low mileage version.

The Crossfire enabled Chrysler to bring to market quickly a truly performance-oriented sports car to challenge the likes of the BMW and Porsche versions. And remember, the SRT-6, while only sold here for essentially 1 year, could compete head-to-head with the best from either BMW or Porsche back then. But the Crossfire had nearly 80% of its components shared with the Mercedes-Benz R170 platform. And when your Chrysler Service Departments are used to working on "Detroit iron", having to "tool-up" for essentially a metric designed vehicle was unthinkable. And when your mechanics provide their own tools, most didn't have a full compliment of metric tools within their boxes. These cars were a PITA to work on!

It is also interesting to me that M-B Service Departments look down on a Crossfire as a cheap version of the SLK320. And yet, it is well known that during this same time span, M-B's quality (outside of their powertrain) was also considered extremely poor. M-B was losing market share to the BMWs & Audis of the world and even transferred the head of Daimler-Chrysler back to Germany to head M-B to get things straightened out & restore their market image. So the M-B's of the world back then weren't any better overall, just more expensive!

It's going to be interesting to watch the FCA handling of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep brands within USA. There are more models coming out that have origins from Fiat-sourced designs and the same "perceptions" could happen again (history does tend to repeat itself). Just look at the Jeep Renegade which has close kinship to the Fiat 500 underpinnings. It's also the first Jeep-branded vehicle assembled outside CONUS. And I don't see many running around the streets in Upstate SC. Jeep owners are akin to Harley owners when it comes to branding. Oh, I've got a Jeep - better look in a mirror! Hah! It's truly a real man's 4x4! Twenty years old & keeps on running. Like driving a Timex! There - I've dated myself!

My $0.02.

 

How have you worked on your cars? North American cars have used a mixture of inch and metric threads for a long time, on the same car you can find metric and inch threaded screws and bolts. My toolbox has had tools for both systems in it for years, so metric is not new to North America.
The use of metric bolts is more and more prevalent, globalization is the reason for this trend.

 

Likewise, my toolbox is fully outfitted with both SAE & Metric tools. I've owned cars manufactured outside CONUS and if you wanted to perform any DIY work, you had to have Metric tools. But back 10+ years ago, when the Crossfire showed up in Chrysler service departments for work, most services mechanics didn't have the tools required to work on them. That's all I'm stating. In fact, when one thinks about it, the Crossfire may have been the only vehicle in the Chrysler lineup that was predominately metric or even had metric hardware. I now first-hand that the Chrysler dealership on my end of town back then had a specific toolbox fully loaded with metric tools so they could work on the Crossfire. Came up during a discussion with the Service Manager back then when I was pursuing something about the Crossfire.

And I agree with you that metric hardware is definitely more prevalent on current models, especially since the automotive market is more global today than say 10-15 years ago.