Avoid Dodge

TyBoo · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 7:52 pm Post subject: Avoid Dodge

Well, maybe avoiding the truck is a little much, but if you have an '04, '05 or early '06 Dodge truck you might want to consider having them not do the recall work to "fix" the out-of-Park trouble. Like a fool, I let them do mine. Here's the deal - some guy didn't get his shift lever shoved up far enough and his truck took off in reverse when he got out of it without the park brake set. Chrysler must be paying their engineers on a flat-rate scale like they do their mechanics, because their bright idea for a fix was to program the horn to honk if the transmission is in reverse with the door open and the brake is not applied. That's right - the horn. Not the annoying but tolerable little beeper in the cab, but the damn dual horns! How incredibly stupid. You can't even stop it by pushing the park brake down one click - it has to be the hydraulic brake pushed far enough to turn on the brake lights. So now when I am turning my 35' long trailer around in my 40' driveway with my head out the open door, I have to have one foot on the brake the whole stupid time.

I talked to the guys at the shop and they said they cannot undo the change. The manager is going to talk to the Chrysler guy about it. If nothing can be done short of unplugging the horn, I will trade that thing off.

bandit · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 8:00 pm Post subject: i have the same recall

i was afaid they would do something incredible like that. if you bring your ram in for some other work, do they " have to" fix the recall, or is it selective? if they made my horn go off like that, i think i'd unplug it.

CAVU · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 8:24 pm Post subject:

Thank goodness I have the old (2002) noisy smelly model. Tyboo could you find the real horn wire and put a jumper from there to the horn and bypass the rest of that crap?

B~C · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 8:38 pm Post subject:

damn, that makes it kind of tough to sneek out late at night doesn't it? There has to be a way to install a switch to override that bugger, did you check over at the Dodge owners forum?

AstoriaDave · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:05 pm Post subject: Re: Avoid Dodge

Alasgun · Guest

Yep, I've always wondered why you would buy something with the instructions written all over it, saying "Dodge".

gljjr · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:27 pm Post subject:

Go back to the Service department and ask them if you can talk to the mechanic who installed the "Upgrade". See if he will tell you how to over-ride the modification. I would be they would. Another option is to talk with the guys in parts and see if they know what parts are used for the recall and where they are located. Then you can probably "Undo" the recall yourself.

CatyMae n Steve · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:34 pm Post subject:

~~sitting here being quiet.~~~

Da Nag · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:39 pm Post subject:

CatyMae n Steve · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:42 pm Post subject:

TyBoo · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:46 pm Post subject:

B~C - As far as I can tell the TDR forum is for subscribers only, and if they don't undo the screwup I won't be a Dodge owner long enough to make it worth paying for. But talking to a guy at work who is on there, I guess they are up in arms about it and looking for a workaround.

Gary - It is 100% software controlled using existing circuits and switches and was done by flashing the onboard computer. I know they could unflash or deflash or flash it back, but probably not legally. The recall is the result of a lawsuit and is approved by the NTSB.

There is no doubt in my mind that I could wire around it, but there is the little matter of the warranty to consider and the fact that the whole thing is stupid and it makes me hate the truck.

TyBoo · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:50 pm Post subject:

CatyMae n Steve · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:50 pm Post subject:

Only in America! Do you think Toyota would do that? Or Honda?

Mike, did you note we're seriously thinking about spending half our retirement years in Canada...and maybe the other 6 months in Mexico...if they'll let us in and we can get all the paperwork together...they don't let illegals enter, you know!

Don't get me started Xmas Tongue

Sneaks · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:52 pm Post subject:

Oh my. You have to open the door to back a 30' trailer? Doesn't it come stock with adequate mirrors either? Oh well, it's sometimes good to blow your own horn. Mr. Green

Dora~Jean · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 11:00 pm Post subject:

Mike, I 'think' I can feel your pain... hey, just in case you can't get word from the mechanic or Dodge net sites I'd check the following. The circuit uses the door light switch, reverse gear sensor and brake light switch (in OFF position, normally open contacts); all going to the computer to engage the horn(s). Try working backwards from the horns, I'll bet you can locate a relay that engages the horn, then clip or remove the wire that energizes the relay coming from the computer (probably a new wire). This may not work though if the horns are also controlled normally through the computer -- that would be extra dumb putting an electronic point of failure between the horn button and the horns...but I wouldn't put it past them.