8.4" INFOPAINMENT SYSTEM by Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, RAM

I purchased my RAM 1500 sport on the last business day of 2014. The dealership is 100 miles from my home. On the first trip with my new truck, the wipers turned on at 85 miles and would not turn off until I shut the truck down. The dealership thought I might not know how the automatic rain sensing wiper worked. As a matter of fact, I did. ...and it wasn't raining...and it wasn't snowing.

For the past 20 months I've had the truck in to the dealership 15 times. I've lost use of the vehicle a total of 7 weeks, which is about 10% of the time I have owned it.

I've had the multi-function switch replaced, the cable in the steering column replaced twice, the radio replaced twice, the hub with USB and microSD ports replaced, buttons on steering wheel replaced, radio bezel replaced, and several other parts replaced once or twice. They've flashed the software 4 times. On the 4th time, the dealer and an engineer from Chrysler turned my Infotainment system in to a brick. It took 6 weeks to get a new one, while I drove the dealerships Jeep Patriot around...really?...a 6 week trade of a $53K truck at MSRP for a Patriot?

You may not know this, but the replacement radios are not new...they are refurbished. The latest radio I have had for 2 weeks now is a new one. I thought the delay in getting the radio was that they were probably testing it...nope!

The first week after I got the truck back, I was out of town, so only drove it to the local airport where it sat for a week. I put some miles on it last week and had all sorts of issues. Not every one listed below, but many.

So problems? Following is the list of combined issues I've had with the 3 radios in my RAM;

Wipers going on their own Radio freeze ups Radio screen going black with sound Radio screen black without sound Changes radio stations and input randomly Volume quits working Volume goes to full blast and quits working Soft buttons disappear from screen Flash page with a warning that the trucks cell phone does not work, contact the dealer Red light on rear view mirror indicating the same issue as the flash page USB or microSD playing music, screen working, but no artwork displayed, song listed or any soft buttons Satellite presets lost soft buttons missing

I lost a ton of time with the dealer trying to prove out the problems. ...that is until I video taped a few of them, then they took it seriously. The dealer delayed getting Chrysler involved for over 2 months, after I begged them to. I'm not saying they did this on purpose, but I can't say that it wasn't either. I am now in the hands of the "Advanced Customer Care Team" at Chrysler. That has done nothing but aggravate me further! I only had to request that they elevate this for buyback review 3 times before they did it. I have had no feedback and was "promised" a call with status update yesterday 8/5/16. I wasn't surprised when I did not get a call. So...all of this and countless hours lost just going back and forth to the dealer.

I have 32,500 miles on this beast and am really worried about what the future holds. I am sure that all of the issues I have had are related and this would apply to Wisconsin's lemon law, however the dealer is insisting that several of my service trips in the first year were not in fact inter-related.

At this point, Chrysler has offered to make a payment for me. Wow! What am I going to do with that $234 burning a hole in my pocket?

They've asked if I would be interested in a free warranty extension. I think with issues like these that we wouldn't have to go in to extended warranties, they would simply take care of it...and what about the deductibles associated with warranty extensions...it could still be expensive keeping music going in my truck.

I've consistently asked them if they would be interested in buying this mess back, and I consistently get no answer.

In 2005, I purchased my first Chrysler product...a Town and Country Mini Van. Since then, I have purchased two more T&C's, a caravan, leased a 5/7L Charger, purchased a Challenger RT, a Challenger SRT and this truck.

That's about a third of a million dollars worth of vehicle sin 10 years...you would think they would like to keep customers who like to own new cars, wouldn't you?

If anyone has any idea what I should do, let me know...I'm burned out and frankly don't know what else I can do.

Update from Feb 19, 2019: I just wanted to update that after hiring a lawyer in Milwaukee, Chrysler settled out of court for $16K. I promptly traded the truck in for a Honda. I lived in a town with a Chrysler Engine plant. I had not other tie to Chrysler, other than they gave me good deals and I wanted to support my local community. That said, I owned 3 Town and Countries, 1 Caravan, 2 challengers...an RT and an SRT, and a RAM1500 truck. I now own a Hyundai Tuscon, a Honda Pilot and a Subaru Outback. Unfortunately Chrysler has not only pushed me away from Chrysler vehicles, they've pretty much turned me off of all American Cars. The last foreign car I owned was a '74 240Z...and that was in '86!