After having hail damage repairs done to the vehicle, this problem developed. The engine hood was replaced, the luggage racks removed and the roof skin removed and replaced. the back lift hatch had to be removed to access the roof skin removal and replaced. Somewhere in between these repairs it appears a short has occured but no one can find it! ! The body shop had me take it to a chrysler shop nearby to have them troubleshoot it and after replaceing instrument cluster, a module near the fuse panels among other things still the problem shows up! !Not all the time but mostly after using the rear lift gate shortly afterward the flashing and dinging of a bell occurs. Very annoying, I'm about to give up.
Wish I could help you! I say MAKE them fix it and them get rid of it while it still has some value. We wish we had never bought our Aspen. Our 2007 Aspen has been a nightmare, it has completely shut off everything on its own including the motor while we were traveling down the highway at 100 km/h. We had no steering, no gagues, no lights and no brakes... nothing and then restarted itself. You cannot imagine how terrifying that is with kids in the back. It was 4 months old with 8000 km on it. The dealer said there were no codes on the computer and could not duplicate the problem after they drove it for over a week. Our Aspen constantly surges on a flat highway with the cruise set at any speed. We even took a GPS to ensure the road was flat and there was no change in elevation. Sure enough flat road and the RPM's are surging by more than 200. The dealer again said they could not duplicate the problem and said it must have been windy when we were driving. The dealer dismissed the problem. If that isn't enough, I was traveling home one day and smelt a funny smell. I stopped immediately and walked around the vehicle; as there were a lot of big semi's going by and I could not smell anything other then diesel fuel I thought the smell must have came from the trucks behind me. I got back in the Aspen and drove the remaining 200 yards to our turn off, when I applied the brakes I could smell the same smell, I stopped again put the auto in park, shut it off and jumped out. Behind my vehicle was a huge cloud of grey smoke. I thought my whole vehicle was going to catch on fire. To make a long story short, after roadside towed my vehicle I went to see the dealer. They said that the rear passenger brake was stuck on. They said that they had replaced the brake pad, router and line as there must have been a faulty valve in the line. My vehicle is 11 months old now and these are only a few of the problems we have had. Our brakes still do not work properly, if I have to apply them in a hurry for a child running across the street my vehicle violently pulls one direction or the other. You never know which way it will dart. I can put my foot right to the floor on the break pedal and my vehicle will slow down just as if I took my foot off the gas. We are terrified that this is going to cause and accident or kill someone. It really to bad my dealer had no concious. We want out and I will definately not buy another one. My guess, your problems are concidential and have nothing to do with your repairs. We have had electrical problems as well, if fact you can't imagine everything that has gone wrong. I suppose I should mention for you to look at your headlights carefully and fog lights. Ours crazed, which is a lot of cicular cracks two months after purchasing. The dealer said they were not too bad and to come back when they were worse and they would change them. I said, no dice man if moisture gets in them or if I get a rock in the mean time you will say that you are not responsible for the defect. I called the manufacturer and they were replaced within the week. Don't go away complain and take it in there everyday until it's fixed. But be careful if your vehicle was fixed at an autobody shop they had a 90 day warranty on their work and then they are off the hook. So go back constantly. If the dealer did the work don't go away and don't give up. I don't know what your investment was for your vehicle was but in Canada I paid over $50,000 with tax. I am not going away, I am currently writing to the manufacturer as the dealer has been dishonest in saying that they opened a case file on my vehicle due to the number of problems this vehicle has had and when I called Chrysler they had not. If the manufacturer does not resolve these issues, or offer me a different vehicle then we have decided that we will go through CAMVAP which is CANADIAN MOTOR VEHICLE ARBITRATION PLAN. This program is where disputes between consumers and vehicle manufacturers about alleged manufacturing defects or implementation of the manufacturers' new vehicle warranty can be put before a neutral third party (arbitrator) for resolution. In many cases they will force the manufacturer to buy the vehicle back with deduction for use, of course.
If you are in the states then you are pretty lucky because you have the lemon laws" that can force car manufacturers to replace vehicles that have been declared lemons.
The definition of lemon varies by state. It usually means that despite several trips to the dealer's service department, a vehicle continues to have a serious problem. It can also be declared a lemon if it's had a series of problems that have left it in the repair shop for 30 days.
Once a vehicle is declared a lemon, the manufacturer has to buy it back. There's nothing stopping the manufacturer from reselling the vehicle. While all 50 states have lemon laws, only 19 require the title of a car declared a lemon to carry a warning. When a dealer sells a lemon out-of-state, the lemon designation is often not carried over.
If you are in Canada then please make sure you know your facts and have maintained excellent records before going through CAMVAP. If you go the CAMVAP route, you must agree to abide by the arbitration panel's decision and not pursue the matter through any other route, including the courts.
Arbitrators can make a variety of rulings:
I wish you all the luck in the world don't quit fighting no matter how frustrating it is. Just do it with class, it will be impossible to having a willing party to help you if your swearing or threating. the best way to get them is patience, knowing your rights and them applying them. We have been fighting to have our vehicle fixed since last September and we still here 10 1/2 months later. If you have read about CAMVAP then you will know what a long process it is. Here's a tip, if your dealer is lying to your face and your in Canada. The law is...it is NOT illegal to record a conversation as long as one party knows that the conversation is being recorded. I am that one party and no court or arbitration board is going to be impressed when they hear a dealer lying to their customers. Find out your rights and fight for them. Don't be a victim to anyone or anything at anytime.
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One item I didn't note above was that the body shop informed me they had to jump start the Aspen as they had left some items on a previous evening and there was not enough charge to crank the engine! ! ! One other item that was removed and replaced was the front windshield. I believe this is all that occured to cause this intermittent problem.
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