We purchased a 2014 RAM 5500 diesel 4x4 automatic dump truck brand new in April of 2015. Soon after purchase there was problems and it was in a service center for a month. The warranty covered the problems but still I purchased this new in good faith so that I could use it for work without problems like this. On May 30 2017 there was a FIRE under the hood that orginated with the alternator and caused over $6,000 in damages for melted parts. Chrysler FCA Ram had recently recalled hundreds of thousands of their vehicles due to safety fire hazard of their Denso International Alternators. The same alternators they continue to use and that started the fire in my truck. My truck should be added to a recall and the damages covered since IT STARTED ON FIRE. No one at Chrysler FCA Ram has helped. FCA said that it was turned over, as all fires are, to a 'special investigator' and the executive office said that is part of their legal dept. Then we received a letter from a Mr. Kon, special investigator for FCA, that said our warranty is up and that's it. He called us when we complained and was awful - he was saracastic, antagonistic, insulting, and beligerent. It was insult to injury. When asked if his department, special investigations, was part of the legal department he said no. When challenged he screamed "I'm not a lawyer!" We said that isn't what we asked. The entire conversation was like that. We have written to the CEO Sergio.Marchionne@chrysler.com asking for help and heard nothing. Finally last week a woman named Fayone Nevils did all and said she would see if she could help. But never followed through and we heard nothing more from her except a notification she's on vacation. This vehicle should be part of a recall. There were 381,000 recalls on it that I am aware of and another site said 900,000. I've reported the fire to the NHTSA.dot.gov site. I've reported it to the BBB and to Consumer Reports and I am at a loss as to what to do next. Our insurance company says that since the fire orginated in the alternator that will not cover that nor it's repair as Chrysler FCA Ram should have known it was a defective part and a fire hazard will the previous recalls on Denso International recalls in their vehicles that they've had. Buyer Beware. I heard that the CEO retires in 2019 and only gets his multi-million dollar bonus if the company is in the black then. He has been trying to merge with another car company without results and now they are looking into splitting off RAM and JEEP divisions of Chrysler to up his profit margin on the books. I don't care about any of that but if a company wants its value to go up, they need to care about its customers, the consumers who purchase these vehicles in good faith that they will not start on fire due to defective parts!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
We purchased a 2014 RAM 5500 diesel 4x4 automatic dump truck brand new in April of 2015. Soon after purchase there was problems and it was in a service center for a month. The warranty covered the problems but still I purchased this new in good faith so that I could use it for work without problems like this. On May 30 2017 there was a FIRE under the hood that orginated with the alternator and caused over $6,000 in damages for melted parts. Chrysler FCA Ram had recently recalled hundreds of thousands of their vehicles due to safety fire hazard of their Denso International Alternators. The same alternators they continue to use and that started the fire in my truck. My truck should be added to a recall and the damages covered since IT STARTED ON FIRE. No one at Chrysler FCA Ram has helped. FCA said that it was turned over, as all fires are, to a 'special investigator' and the executive office said that is part of their legal dept. Then we received a letter from a Mr. Kon, special investigator for FCA, that said our warranty is up and that's it. He called us when we complained and was awful - he was saracastic, antagonistic, insulting, and beligerent. It was insult to injury. When asked if his department, special investigations, was part of the legal department he said no. When challenged he screamed "I'm not a lawyer!" We said that isn't what we asked. The entire conversation was like that. We have written to the CEO Sergio.Marchionne@chrysler.com asking for help and heard nothing. Finally last week a woman named Fayone Nevils did all and said she would see if she could help. But never followed through and we heard nothing more from her except a notification she's on vacation. This vehicle should be part of a recall. There were 381,000 recalls on it that I am aware of and another site said 900,000. I've reported the fire to the NHTSA.dot.gov site. I've reported it to the BBB and to Consumer Reports and I am at a loss as to what to do next. Our insurance company says that since the fire orginated in the alternator that will not cover that nor it's repair as Chrysler FCA Ram should have known it was a defective part and a fire hazard will the previous recalls on Denso International recalls in their vehicles that they've had. Buyer Beware. I heard that the CEO retires in 2019 and only gets his multi-million dollar bonus if the company is in the black then. He has been trying to merge with another car company without results and now they are looking into splitting off RAM and JEEP divisions of Chrysler to up his profit margin on the books. I don't care about any of that but if a company wants its value to go up, they need to care about its customers, the consumers who purchase these vehicles in good faith that they will not start on fire due to defective parts!
- Kathleen M., Piffard, NY, US