Avoid Dodge

TyBoo

TyBoo

Administrator
Staff member
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.
 
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.
 
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?
 
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?
 
TyBoo":sp9rbn33 said:
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.
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Mike, I've got a 2005 Dakota, also purchased locally. I assume Lum's did the recall work, and that they instigated it. Thanks for the heads up. No way am I allowing them to do this one! :roll:
 
Yep, I've always wondered why you would buy something with the instructions written all over it, saying "Dodge".
 
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":fzmmdntj said:
~~sitting here being quiet.~~~
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I can relate. It's so tempting.

I'd suggest he go searching the Dodge forums for an answer, but I'm sure those guys are all too busy trying to figure out how to make things go forward correctly.

Oops - did I say that out loud?
 
Da Nag":3h3ras2z said:
CatyMae n Steve":3h3ras2z said:
~~sitting here being quiet.~~~
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I can relate. It's so tempting.

I'd suggest he go searching the Dodge forums for an answer, but I'm sure those guys are all too busy trying to figure out how to make things go forward correctly.

Oops - did I say that out loud?
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pssssst Bill...would someone we know and love be as quiet as we are?
 
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.
 
pssssst Bill...would someone we know and love be as quiet as we are?
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You're damn right he would. It's not the truck, it's the lawyers and the politicians that let them get away with such crap.
 
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 :xtongue
 
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. :mrgreen:

CatyMae n Steve":1iq2z2wx said:
Do you think Toyota would do that? Or Honda?
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Or Chevy or Ford?



Don
(biting tongue in So Cal)
 
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.
 
Mike,

that truly sucks! It won't be long before someone hacks it out of there though. Afterall, it is a computer! And hacking that would be pretty simple I bet. No different than hacking it to provide you with extra boost for your turbo!
 
TyBoo":2lzbmp17 said:
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.
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Man...between you and Byrdman, I'm getting an appetite for cheese.

Quit yer' whinin' already...just lift the hood, pull the plugs from the horn, then install a set of these:

LeslieS5T.jpg


After you've installed the compressor to drive them, go test them out every day in the dealer's parking lot.

After they've heard this a few times, they'll reflash you.
 
Mike – if your door light is not important, disconnect it if that is part of the function of the recall update. I do not have my door light come on when my door is opened. I have to turn it manually.

Now the controversial part.
I can’t blame you one bit for being pissed with Dodge, but they are not the only company, person or professional that has tried to protect themselves from stupid law suites with stupid warnings or regulations. We have too many bottom feeding lawyers (see below) that are willing to sue for the dumbest reason. They clog up the court system. They argue that a person with common sense would not assume hot coffee can burn you. If a very small percentage of the people are too dumb to use common sense in their daily lives and hurt themselves because of it, why should the rest of us suffer the consequences? If that small percentage cannot learn from trial and error, maybe society would be better off without them. It is obvious that if they are too dumb to know hot coffee can burn, they are too dumb to understand the written warning label on that cup of coffee and maybe they shouldn’t be perpetuating the problem by breeding.

We cannot and should not try and protect every one from all dangers of living.

I know we have some attorneys on this site and this is not meant to disparage them. We need good attorneys, some of my good friends are attorneys and I have great respect for the good and honest ones. Pat included. :star
 
a temporary fix till you figure it out .... "DuckTape" ... my old chevy doesn't count but on the ford focus the lite switch or push switch is on the door post right in the lock catch .. if you duck tape that closed than the lite..alarm should not come on ... would think you could than open the door without the horn blaring away ... mines a little plastic button right in the lock catch (hard to notice) almost have to push to realize its a switch ... i suspect Dodge will have the same their should be a switch some where ... not that you want ducktape on a new Dodge ... lol.. :mrgreen: [/u][/url]
 
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