What is Chrysler thinking?

Whoever owns a Chrysler/Dodge minivan knows there are tons of troubles on
these vehicles.
I am so curious why Chrysler let the same problem continue year after year,
disappointed and turned away hundreds/tens of thousands of customers to
Japanese made?

So many years into making similar type of vehicles like minivan--don't they
learn how to do some basic things right?
For example, the suspension, rack and pinion, sway bar link.....Those are
not super new high tech stuffs and I believe a company specifically making
the same thing for 20 years should at least know what to do and what to
avoid. Radiator, battery, headlight, captain seats, airbag, heater seats,
and transmission, none of the above is brand new idea or invention happened
in the past 10 years.

I am not talking about jet stream windshield wiper, rear view camera ,hybrid
motor or dynamic laser cruise control. If you screw up all of the above, I
will still support you by the excuse helping domestic economy.

DC--you suck, you never learned and you will never get my business after I
was fooled twice in ten years. Same compliment to Ford here.

 

And your ridiculous point is? You have stated commonalities that apply to
every auto manufacturer of every product not just autos. Get a cup of
coffee take a deep breath and enjoy it beats the alternative.

Coasty

 

Your post is idiotic. I have extremely good results with chrysler mini vans
except for 1 and that had the mitsushitti (read japanese high tech V6). So
your rant is on deaf ears.
Larry

 

Maybe you would have better luck with a Kia????!?

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And your ridiculous point is? You have stated commonalities that apply to
every auto manufacturer of every product not just autos. Get a cup of
coffee take a deep breath and enjoy it beats the alternative.

Coasty

 

Your attitude proved the typical stupidity, same as Chrysler.

 

Calling someone idiot in the NG does not make you look smart, it is always
the other way.
Are you one of those "deaf" ?

 

TROLL!
Coasty

 

I guess the Detroit big 3 are so good that they keep on losing market share
everyday unless they make a wacky looking car like the 300 that happens to
catch on.

 

There are tons of satisfied Chrysler minivan owners on the road. But I
agree that Chrysler should improve bread and butter components like
alternators, speed sensors and the like so they last as long as Toyota and
Honda parts. Stupid failures ruin the reputation of otherwise good
vehicles.

 

The original alternator on my 96 Grand Voyager had 178,000 miles on it
when the van was totaled last week. How long do you think one should
last to be considered good? I thought 10 years and 178K was pretty good.


Matt

 

You were lucky. My 300M was stuck in second gear at 45k miles because of a
lousy sensor. Power windows have been fixed countless times. That kind of
crap makes people look at imports.

 

I do, I own two.

But tons of troubles? I don't think so. Both my vans were bought used and
with the exception of the transmission, any "troubles" they had were pretty
clearly caused by the previous owners neglect. And the transmission in the
late 80's early 90's vans that used the electronic 4 speed was a known
common
failure point and I knew that before buying either of them.

Your lumping the transmission in there and that's quite wrong, the
transmission is
ten times more complex than any radiator, battery, headlight, seat, heater,
or
airbag. And as for heated seats, that's a gimmick - wear a coat for God's
sake.
In any case heated seats are pointless unless you have a remote starter in
the
car and you start it 10 minutes before going out of the house to it.

And as for the other stuff, well here is the problem, and it's a problem
that
all the automakers have. Simply put, new car buyers are very price
sensitive
and the automakers are under a lot of pressure to keep their products cheap.
That translates to pressure on the suppliers of these components.

So what happens is for year after year the suppliers don't get a cent more
for whatever assembly they were making the year before, yet their raw
materials
costs go up, so they have to keep cost-cutting. And people are very
inventive
about finding ways of making something cheaper. Sometimes that works OK but
other times it doesen't.

If the average new car purchaser wanted to buy a car that was made the
same way as it was made 20 years ago, with the same parts, (except for
updated versions of parts that had proved out to be bad) then it is likely
that new vehicles could last 500K miles, barring accident. And it is also
likely they would be even cheaper since the automakers could fire an
entire useless 3/4 of the "automotive stylists" and marketing people that
work for them, yet who don't contribute a single thing to the actual
manufacture
of the vehicle, everything they do is contributions to selling the vehicle.

There have been vehicles in the past (like the Volkswagen Beetle) where
this has been the case and the later versions of those vehicles have
developed phenominal reputations for durability.

But, the average new car purchaser today doesen't want this, they want
a car that looks totally different than last year's model so they can drive
over to impress their friends with it. The average new car purchaser
views buying a car as making a personal statement about themselves,
or some other emotional claptrap. That is what sells cars, and because of
that, the automakers have to keep changing things around.

Youll be giving the same compliment to the imports once you have owned a
couple of those for a number of years.

Ted

 

Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:

Actually GM/Delphi and Ford/Visteon force cost reductions on each
supplied part - Ford takes an additional 5% of of the price they pay for
the part - at least that's the way it was when I was in the biz 5 years ago.

....and health care costs, and the customer adds cover-their-butt no
value added so-called quality reporting requirements to the supplier's
line - people have to be hired to implement those, yet the price paid is
reduced.

Yes - generally the only solution (other than going out of business) is
to fake the quality checks (Firestone - Ford), move the production line
to Mexico and not tell Ford (violates all kinds of rules), etc., etc, etc.

Usually not, but - hey - they're "saving money" - at least in the MBA's
projections.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

No, you were just unlucky. I've taken several Chryslers past 100K
without the sort of trouble you mention. My 89 Acclaim to 143K without
any transmission failures, with the original exhaust system, with the
original alternator, etc. My current minivan has 61K with no such failures.


Matt

 

That 5% reduction was each and every year with no basis for the
reduction - up to the supplier to find the "fat" in the process (or
simply increase their loss on the part an additional 5%).

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Or reduce the durability of the part...

For all of Ford's hype about quality, it is obviously they never read
any of Deming's or Crosby's writing.


Matt

 

or hyundia were u have to replace the timing belt at 60 k and it is not a
freewheelin" engine and if the belt breakes is not covered under it's 100k
warranty
i have done 2 in the last 3 weeks

 

Yeah, I never had any trouble with mine either. I'm at that age where I know
a lot of people who own them, and generally they give good service.

I just hauled one off to the crusher with 180,000 miles on it. It belonged
to a neighbor. It was leaking oil, and he let it get low repeatedly, and one
day it finally lost oil pressure long enough to throw a rod. It had that
1989 4-speed automatic in it, with 180,000 miles, and the thing had never
been apart! I was impressed. I hated to junk it, but I sure wasn't going to
bother fixing it, and I didn't think anybody else would either.

So, I think the OP is just full of bunk.

 

I and everyone else who had a second 98 or 99 LH car suffered with bad power
windows. The motors, regulators and weatherstripping all were bad. Many
failed multiple times. I always figure that that is why they went to tiny
windows on the 300.