Chrysler ranks below the industry standard in J.D. Power and Consumer Report quality ratings. So when ChryCo VP for manufacturing Frank Ewasyshyn announced that warranty costs had fallen by 29 percent in the past year, he had a bit of trouble explaining why the improved reliability wasn't showing up on recent external surveys. When asked by MSNBC to explain this conundrum, Ewasyshyn replied, "If I could answer that question, you wouldn't be asking it. We certainly put enough energy and effort into it." He points to all the things Chrysler is doing right: sending teams to investigate recurring vehicle problems, establishing worker input boards, and standardizing production processes. But then Ewasyshyn takes a page from the GM's handbook: "In the meantime the rest of the organization is focused on improving the things that are customer dissatisfiers, or again, perceived quality." To be fair, Chrysler is digging its way out of a giant hole. Before Daimler offloaded Chrysler, it had the highest warranty costs in the nation; improvements haven't been dramatic enough to bring things up to industry standards. Meanwhile, Chrysler is essentially staying the Tom Lasorda-guided course. "We've got a plan. It works. We're gonna stick to it. And it's constantly being reinforced," Ewasyshyn said. "We know the right formula. Sticking to it and just constantly pushing it every day of the week, challenging people to do better, that's how we're going to get this thing done once and for all."
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Most plausible explanation(s)-
1. Possible: Sell fewer cars, same quality – warranty costs co down.
2. Probable: Sell the same number of cars, honor fewer warranty claims – warranty costs go down.
3. Most likely: Sell fewer cars, honor fewer warranty claims – warranty costs go way down.
Or it could be, you know, that Chrysler is simply stonewalling warranty claims and/or screwing dealers out of claim compensation?
That would have been the Mercedes solution to the problem, and it’s likely the path their still on.
I’d go with #3.
I’ve had a few good experiences with Chrysler vehicles. In 1996 I needed an inexpensive vehicle, I settled on a Neon coupe, after 8 solid years of service and 150,000 miles, it never once went in for anything other than scheduled service and one clutch. My wife’s Toyota sourced Prism couldn’t even come close to matching it on reliability.
Very good comment, I wish more people would realize there is nothing wrong with Chryslers products and give them a chance, I have had 7 and still have 5 and none of them have given me any trouble, now the honda we had was a real lemon and will be the last.
psarhjinian
That’s also the VW way of doing things. They had the 100k powertrain warranty WAY before anyone else (around 1993 or so), but did away with it within a decade.
I’ve heard of engine work being denied because the person had aftermarket wheels on the car. YMMV, but there was clearly some tight pressure on the dealerships from higher up.
Frank Ewasyshyn probably doesn’t know the answer and figured he wouldn’t have to know because no one could pronounce his name and therefore ask him the question. So….., when some smart guy (or gal) figured out the pronunciation and asked him the question he was forced to make up some gibberish.
Maybe they upped maintenance schedules to head off problems before they occur. In some of their older vehicles, there’s no scheduled timing belt replacement. Apparently it was considered a lifetime item.
That entire interview gives the perception of Chrysler being beaten like a dead horse.
Just sink the damn ship already.
There is not a significant link between the items in the JD Power survey and warranty (my current project, BTW). How many times do you take your vehicle in for warranty because you can’t reach the tuner dial? Or because you get poor radio reception on one station? You don’t….you just lean farther or change the station.
From an auto supplier point of view, it’s worse. Many items in the JD Power rankings that suppliers are graded on are beyond the supplier’s control. For instance, my company makes multimedia systems for the major OEM’s and we are graded in JD Power on things like knob reach & reception, which the OEM really controls. However, Chrysler is the OEM and can change these types of things readily.
Maybe the man is telling the truth. Maybe the folks at Chrysler really are trying to right the ship. I am with daryn, I have owned several trouble free Chryslers, and currently own one now. Daimler dealt Chrysler a very bad hand and I for one want to see the guys and gals at Chrysler/Cerberus pull this company together and produce great cars and trucks again. Call me naive or just a fool, but I love Chrysler vehicles. Check out the new interiors for the Patriot/Compass. Done in a hurry, on a shoestring budget and VASTLY improved. Givem a chance guys.
Concerning Chrysler timing belts, the 2.2/2.5s of the ’80s said “inspect” @ every 60K.
The cover was a bitch to remove-not bad if the engine had been fore-to-aft and not transverse (early Dakota), but I didn’t own any of those, so I suspect that many just went ahead and replaced the belt then, like I did.
There is no quality problem with Chrysler vehicles. In fact, just about every new vehicle sold now is reasonably reliable and durable. The 2008 JD Power Vehicle Durability Study shows that difference between the best nameplate, Lexus, and Chrysler’s worst, Jeep, is 1.33 extra problems per vehicle. Pretty reasonable considering the Lexus costs twice as much. And Jeep has less than one problem difference per vehicle compared to Toyota. To put this in perspective, Jeep in 2008 now scores nearly as well as Lexus did in 2000 (2.5 problems vs 2.2 problems per vehicle). Chrysler-branded cars in 2008 now score better than every brand save Porsche and Lexus did back in 2000. And in 2000, the difference between best brand and worst was vast compared to 2008. It’s all splitting hairs now.
Our 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo has been the most reliable vehicle we’ve ever owned. Granted it isn’t the “nicest” vehicle, but it is comfortable enough and great for hauling all our stuff on vacation and towing the jet skis.
My local mechanic says he doesn’t see too much go wrong with those cars. The weak spots seem to be leaky axle seals and leaky reverse light switches in the transmission housings.
Unfortunately, he says the new GC isn’t quite as reliable. He didn’t go into detail, but he says more things break more frequently on the new ones than on the old ones.
-ted
I don’t think 08 models have enough miles on them to tell.
I could give a damn about initial quality (as a metric for overall quality); I care about quality @ 120,000 miles. IMO that is where real quality is determined.
I was parked at our local hospital just last week, parking beside me was a Chrysler product a Dodge Van , a new one I would think, the front end looked none too good where the Bumper was fitted to the Body, a large gap was there, the inside ie Dash looked really foreign looking, a real load of cheap plastic, not for me but others may like that look?
I thought we at TTAC had determined the JD Powers was not a good judge of vehicle quality or reliability. So why this? Shouldn’t we be looking up stats on our partner, True Delta? And I would like to point out that Kia, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, LandRover, and I think Saab all scored lower on the latest 3 year list. Who’s gonna ask their reps what they are going to do about it? It wasn’t long ago that Nissan scored lower than Chrysler on JD Powers. The real test will be three years from now. That JD Powers survey will include Chryslers made and designed since the divorce from Dumbler. Then we’ll know if what they are doing now has paid off.
Truedelta is a partner? I thought the owner just came over here to advertise in the comments.
At this point the sample sizes of cars are simply to small to derive any real estimate of reliability. I mean that as a statistical fact; to derive meaningful statistics you have to have a sample size quite a bit larger than 20 or 30 or 100 cars, which is pretty commonly the # of models they are deriving reliability data on.
Not to mention the bias in the pool of people providing information, since they are probably car guys. That will skew things too.
I love truedelta, I’m a member, but the reliability and gas mileage numbers are just not there yet. The rest of the site kicks ass though.
To add to toxicroach’s comment, I think that all the quality comparisons (JD Power, Consumer Reports et al) should be required to include an explanation of statistical significance and in the model comparisons clearly state what is ‘significant’ and what is not. Failing to do that can be awfully misleading, especially when results are summarized in tables and histograms.
How do you spell junk? Chrysler Jeep Dodge, it has three spellings.
So maybe the ’08 Chryslers are markedly improved from the ’07s (supposedly). Who would ever know? They’re probably still selling ’07 cars that have been sitting on the lots forever.
I don’t know that Chrysler’s quality problems are all that bad anymore aside from some first-run production glitches (which are in and of themselves unacceptable.) I think their problem is instead the fact that you sit inside a Chrysler vehicle and notice a lot of corners cut and cheap (but durable) nasty plastics.
We owned a 1996 Chrysler Cirrus (lease) and it for its duration it was reliable (though by no means an indication of long term reliability)
Frankly, I think it’s a little too easy to hate on Chrysler. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, they may have some crude assembly, but that’s not an accurate indicator of overall reliability- if it was, VW wouldn’t have its horrid reputation among the autorati. My friend’s Dodge Magnum still feels tightly screwed together after almost 80k.
Funny, my wife’s Jeep Patriot has been far more trouble-free in its first year of ownership than my Mazda MX-5. It even has the extra burden of being driven in Nova Scotia winters.
Heck, my old ’02 Civic SiR had more teething troubles than my wifes Patriot. Of course, its how things look in 5 years that will prove things.
Dodges are always in garages.
Not as often as hondas and toyotas – I have a garage and there are far more imports that come in for major problems. American cars are far better, far easier to fix and the right direction to go when purchasing a new car.
I miss my 1972 Plymouth Duster with its bench seat, three-on-the-tree and a mighty 225 slant-six pounding away under the hood.
In the era of the “double-nickle” I got 30 mpg on flat land with no head wind.
I looked so neat upon the seat of my Duster built for four.
Decent trunk room, also.
Should have hung onto it.
Concerning Chrysler timing belts, the 2.2/2.5s of the ’80s said “inspect” @ every 60K.
…
They also broke at about 80K, but at least the 2.2/2.5 engine was a non interference design. Changing these belts was an absolute piece of cake in transverse car (don’t know about the Dakota) applications. I did several on the way to 253K miles…
…a mighty 225 slant-six pounding away under the hood.
That was an awesome engine, pity about the total crap that was wrapped around it towards the end.
My father’s last domestic car, before returning to Ford in the form of the 2003 Focus, was a Dodge Aspen wagon. After years of solid performance from some decent, if mundane, Chryslers, this car drove him straight into the waiting arms of Toyota. Nothing says “quality” like rust from the factory and some lineworker’s lunch stiched into the carpeting.
But that engine, wow, it kept running long after every other component went to hell.
I don’t usually post here but I must point out that a Honda Toyota buyer is way more critical of his car than someone who is able to leave the lot with a Chrysler, so ratings from consumer surveys will be way more generous for Chrysler than Toyota. The Toyota guy didn’t even consider a Chrysler.
That is proably because the guy who bought the toyota didn’t have enough education to realize that toyota doesn’t make any better cars then Chrysler. Perhaps the guy who bought the toyota wants to pass on due to toyotas defective products which have cost almost 100 people their lives in the US and the accelration problem is still happening after the recalls.
Think again for talking about the imports quality, as it doesn`t exist anymore.
Keep in mind that outside of initial quality, we’re just starting to see results from the 2005-2006 MY’s in reliability. I believe that’s what JD Power just got done evaluating.
Which means we are still really looking at the quality and reliability of DaimlerChrysler, not Chrysler LLC.
In my family we’ve had a slew of recent Chrysler products, a Horizon (can’t remember the MY), two Voyagers (92 and 99), a Breeze (98), and now a Town and Country (06). Besides some rust issues with the 99 Voyager (I’m in Wisconsin, kind of to be expected) all of the vehicles have held up very well except for, get this, the DCX-era 06 T&C.
It’s nothing major, just some quirky brake and alignment issues, but it happened very early in the life of the vehicle. Problems with the other vehicles didn’t start coming until much later in their lives, and they were mostly normal wear and tear.
The Breeze is my daily driver (117k miles, probably 80% being city), and the Town and Country is my mother’s (38k miles now I think?).
CommanderFish – how’s the Chryslers going? Got to 150K miles yet? Just genuinely curious.
Honda Toyota buyer is way more critical of his car than someone who is able to leave the lot with a Chrysler, so ratings from consumer surveys will be way more generous for Chrysler than Toyota. The Toyota guy didn’t even consider a Chrysler.…
In my experience, the most critical person is a Toyota/Honda owner looking at almost anything else, especially a domestic product. Things they ignore or don’t notice on their cars become fodder for a thesis on quality when it is seen on a Dodge.
Meet two neighbors, Joe Import and Jack Domestic. They both buy cars at about the same time. Joe gets a Toyota and Jack buys a Dodge. Joe pays $28k and Jack pays $25k. Jack’s car has more passenger and trunk room and gets an EPA rated 1 mpg less than Joe’s car. Other than that both cars are nearly identical in specs and driving dynamics.
At 60k mile Joe takes his car to his friendly Toyota dealer for scheduled maintenance. The dealer tells him he needs to have his timing belt changed, fluids changed, and there is a Toyota service campaign (*cough* recall *cough*) to replace his sofarkis, it’s fine, but it might go bad. Joe signs his work order happy and content that his Toyota is running so fine and he has such a nice dealer to take care of it for him. Total cost for his “maintenance” – $600. Joe is happy and content.
Jack also takes his car to his local Dodge dealer for it’s 60k mile scheduled maintenance. The car needs fluids changed and a tune up. No mention is made of a timing belt or any doodads like a sofarkis. Total cost for his “maintenance” – $125. Jack is happy and content.
At 90k miles Jack’s Dodge throws a timing belt. He has to be towed to the dealer. The dealer is apologetic and says the will fix Jack’s car right away. Total cost for the repair – $350. Jack is NOT happy or content.
Two months later, Jack gets a recall notice to have his Dodge’s sofarkis replaced, it’s fine, but it might go bad. Jack takes his car to the dealer, who does the work for free, but Jack is irrate that he had to take time from his busy schedule to get this done.
Later that week Joe and Jack are talking, and the conversation turns to cars. Jack tells Joe about his recent repair with his Dodge and the later recall. Joe tells him he has never had a problem with his timing belt or any recalls on his Toyota. He tells him it runs great and doesn’t hit him with unexpected repair bills. It also gets “great mileage” because “it’s Japanese”. “You might spend more initially for a Toyota, but you will save more in the end with lower repair bills”, says Joe. Jack listens intently, and decides that the next time he’s in the market for a car, he will go down to the Toyota dealership and see what they’ve got.
Later, Joe and Jack get a survey mailed to them from JD Powers. Joe gives his Totyota nothing but high ratings. Jack gives his Dodge less than stellar ratings.
In the final analysis, Joe is a much more content customer than Jack, even though Joe paid $3000 more to purchase his car and paid $125 more for it’s upkeep than Jack. Jack is disatisfied with his car, even though it cost him less money overall and has more room and trunk space. And Jack thinks that Joe’s car saves much more on gas.
I have two Jeeps right now the only issue was with the ’04 Liberty which had a ball joint recall. But it was not that they were bad, just that they were out of specifications for off-road use (when few Liberty’s actually go off-road in all truth). The Liberty otherwise has been 100% problem free and we’ve had no regrets. Plus my Wrangler has also been well built with few issues.
Warranty claims are subjective sometimes. Dealers may cover more things then they probably should when there is a history with the customer (I can admit to that… wink wink).
Plus, I actually had more issues with a ’98 Civic then either of these Jeeps (but then the Civic was built in Canada… LOL).
I’ll also add that I’ve had better service from my Jeep dealer then from the Honda dealer (in related to the earlier post).
golden2husky: In my experience, the most critical person is a Toyota/Honda owner looking at almost anything else, especially a domestic product. Things they ignore or don’t notice on their cars become fodder for a thesis on quality when it is seen on a Dodge.
What I’ve noticed is that domestic owners will claim complete satisfaction with their cars, but, when pressed, will list a litany of serious repairs that would have a Toyota/Honda owner screaming bloody murder.
If anything, most Honda and Toyota owners bought into the hype about their cars being perfect, and go ballistic when serious problems occur.
And if the only difference between the domestics and the best of the imports is a more rigorous service schedule and dealers replacing defective parts on the sly, one wonders why the domestics don’t simply do this, too, instead of spending billions to revamp their vehicle development, testing and production processes. That alone tells me there is more to it than that.
I know two people who had Chrysler dealers deny two warranty claims on engines seized because of oil pickup problems related to sludge, even though the cars (Durangos) were under warranty and the owners had oil change receipts.
A little Googling shows that no one fights warranty claims like the Auburn Hills boys.
Myself, I had a 93 Caravan that I fortunately chose the 7/70 warranty on, and when the tranny exploded, they took care of it (less the deductible, of course). But back then, a Chrysler tranny exploding was like an oil change – you were going to do it at least once.
The big difference in quality between Honda/Toyota and the domestics is how the cars age.
A 10 year old Honda or Toyota with 100k on it is ready for its second or third owner to put another 100k plus on it and it still looks decent with just some stains on the interior and maybe some slight paint fading. It runs smoothly and quietly. That’s why people pay $5,000 for cars like that
A ten year old Dodge has bare aluminum trim where the paint/chrome faded, rust on the horizontal surfaces, spring marks in the bald velour seats, a droopy headliner, and strange buzzes and rattles coming from the engine compartment. They go for $600.
kken71,
How many 10 year old Dodges have you owned?
How many 10 year old Toyotas have you owned?
How many 10 year old Hondas have you owned?
I never owned a 10 year old Dodge. I did however own a 14 year old Chrysler. Other than wear on the upper side of the drivers seat and small dents and few marks on the interior it looked pretty good. I used to get compliments about it.
My relatives had a 1990 Caravan that managed to eat 5 transmissions, a head gasket, annual (like clockwork) CV boots and engine mounts, and frequent gas lines in the 13 years they owned it. Never mind the abundant peeling clear coat, back hatch rust, etc.
Calling a vehicle like this “garbage” is being a bit generous, IMHO – especially when the problems have been corroborated by other owners. The thing might as well have been built by the Soviets.