Dodge Alert: Dangerous Ball Joints on Durangos & Dakotas - Join Class Action Suit linked in here if you've been affected

dmcowen674

No Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
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It appears all Durangos & Dakotas have been built with a defectively designed Upper Ball Joint.

The part has no way to be greased causing metal to metal wear with pre-mature catastrophic failure. The entire wheel assembly comes off the vehicle when the part fails.

Diamler-Chrysler/Dodge has not owned up to this yet. The Government is conducting an investigation.

Edit: There is a lot of links popping up on the Net on this now

11-3-2003 Chrysler In No Hurry to Fix Durango Ball Joint Problem

8-1-2003 Suit seeks Mandatory recall of Dodge Upper Ball Joints

The complaint alleges that the upper ball joints on the 1998-2003 Dodge Durangos have an unreasonable propensity to fail suddenly and violently, or to wear prematurely. Further, it is alleged that this is a design defect affecting every Dodge Durango, whether the upper ball joint is currently manifesting problems or not. The suit seeks a mandatory recall to install new upper ball joints, and restitution for the diminished value of the Dodge Durangos.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has commenced an investigation into the safety of the Dodge Durango upper ball joints, after 4 motorists reported that their upper ball joints were defective, and the defect caused them to lose control of the Dodge Durangos. The NHTSA also received 81 complaints that the upper ball joints have worn prematurely, and had to be replaced.

To Join the Class Action Lawsuit go to Durango & Dakota Class Action Lawsuit
 

miguel

Senior member
Nov 2, 2001
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Diamler Chrysler / Dodge must have some kind of link with Bush, right? Where's that link?
 

Corn

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 1999
6,389
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91
Is this like how Dodge hasn't owned up to your cars' problems because you expect free repairs after the warranty period expires? Which if I remember correctly, your warranty period is somehow drastically shorter than what Dodge advertised for the model year of your car.

Those greedy bastards......you must have had "sucker" written all over your face when you bought your car with worse warranty terms than every one else who bought the same car.

 
Dec 27, 2001
11,272
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I thought Bush's "Policy Of Secrecy" covered up all these types of things. You know...it's part of the nefarious neo-con plot orsoemthing.
 

KenGr

Senior member
Aug 22, 2002
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Here's the link:

CBS Story

My guess is there will be an extended warranty on the ball joints.

By the way, question for the Original Poster: When is the last time you saw a car with upper ball joints which could be greased? They are all permanently lubed now.

 

dmcowen674

No Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
54,894
47
91
www.alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: KenGr
Here's the link:

CBS Story

My guess is there will be an extended warranty on the ball joints.

By the way, question for the Original Poster: When is the last time you saw a car with upper ball joints which could be greased? They are all permanently lubed now.

Either they are sealed with permanent grease or you can hit them with a grease gun. I'm curious to see the replacement part.

 

Fatdog

Golden Member
Nov 10, 2000
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Dodge is replacing them with the exact same part, when you can get them to replace them under warrenty. They're trying to convince owners there's no problem at all, the noise is normal. Some owners are getting them replaced with quality greasable parts at local repair shops.

My 02 Dakota is starting to make the balljoint knock with 24K on it. Some owners had them go at 10k. It all depends on how you drive I guess.
 

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
19
81
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Originally posted by: KenGr
Here's the link:

CBS Story

My guess is there will be an extended warranty on the ball joints.

By the way, question for the Original Poster: When is the last time you saw a car with upper ball joints which could be greased? They are all permanently lubed now.

Either they are sealed with permanent grease or you can hit them with a grease gun. I'm curious to see the replacement part.

He does'nt know what he's talking about. My 00' superduty ford has greasable ball joints which I just greased Sunday when getting back from Glamis.

 

dmcowen674

No Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
54,894
47
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www.alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: Fatdog
Dodge is replacing them with the exact same part, when you can get them to replace them under warrenty. They're trying to convince owners there's no problem at all, the noise is normal. Some owners are getting them replaced with quality greasable parts at local repair shops.

My 02 Dakota is starting to make the balljoint knock with 24K on it. Some owners had them go at 10k. It all depends on how you drive I guess.

It's dangerous and an atrocity if Dodge does not immediately own up to this problem.

With this kind of defect if you do a lot of highway driving you will not have as much wear on the metal to metal part however those that do a lot of in town driving will find the vehicle lose a wheel when turning a corner.



 

dmcowen674

No Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
54,894
47
91
www.alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: Zebo
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Originally posted by: KenGr
Here's the link:

CBS Story

My guess is there will be an extended warranty on the ball joints.

By the way, question for the Original Poster: When is the last time you saw a car with upper ball joints which could be greased? They are all permanently lubed now.

Either they are sealed with permanent grease or you can hit them with a grease gun. I'm curious to see the replacement part.

He does'nt know what he's talking about. My 00' superduty ford has greasable ball joints which I just greased Sunday when getting back from Glamis.

It's been common for OEM parts to come without the grease fittings and replaced with a part that has the Zerk fittings that you can get a grease gun on. However it is not normal for catastrophic falling apart failure of the parts such as what is happening with the Dodge part. Getting loose and noisy yes, disintegrating No.



 

XMan

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
12,513
49
91
Old news. I've got a newspaper clipping from last winter about this problem. To date three cars have had their wheels fall off. When the ball joint goes bad it's hard not to notice. Mine was replaced under extended warranty with no fuss or muss. I think you're tiliting at windmills Dave.
 

dmcowen674

No Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
54,894
47
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www.alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: X-Man
Old news. I've got a newspaper clipping from last winter about this problem. To date three cars have had their wheels fall off. When the ball joint goes bad it's hard not to notice. Mine was replaced under extended warranty with no fuss or muss. I think you're tiliting at windmills Dave.

How many people have to have their wheels fall off especially with all the Soccer Moms with kids in their Durangos before you think it is not pissing in the wind? Are you a Dodge Executive or something?

8-1-2003 Suit seeks Mandatory recall of Dodge Upper Ball Joints

The complaint alleges that the upper ball joints on the 1998-2003 Dodge Durangos have an unreasonable propensity to fail suddenly and violently, or to wear prematurely. Further, it is alleged that this is a design defect affecting every Dodge Durango, whether the upper ball joint is currently manifesting problems or not. The suit seeks a mandatory recall to install new upper ball joints, and restitution for the diminished value of the Dodge Durangos.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has commenced an investigation into the safety of the Dodge Durango upper ball joints, after 4 motorists reported that their upper ball joints were defective, and the defect caused them to lose control of the Dodge Durangos. The NHTSA also received 81 complaints that the upper ball joints have worn prematurely, and had to be replaced.

To Join the Class Action Lawsuit go to Durango & Dakota Class Action Lawsuit
 

smashp

Platinum Member
Aug 30, 2003
2,443
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0
I had a leased Dakota That Had Ball Joints And Sterring System Completly Take a crap about 3 months Before Lease End.


I Chased this Problem for Two months in my Buddies Garage.

I had the Following Choice

2600 for Steering system and Ball joint Repair And Replacement

Or

Get 4500 Salvage Value on a Vehicle that Had a residual Lease Value of 6500.



I choose the Later Of course.


I WILL NEVER , EVER , Purchase a Chysler Product Ever Again



 

kage69

Lifer
Jul 17, 2003
26,967
35,580
136
I've always told people never to waste their money on Chrysler products. They make Fords look like Hondas.
Not surprised by this defect. This company dominates automotive recalls. I'm stunned they're still in business.
 

Fatdog

Golden Member
Nov 10, 2000
1,001
0
76
Before this turns into a DC bash, I would just like to say that aside from the balljoint issue, I'm pretty happy with the rest of the quality of my Dakota. It has never been into the dealer for anything other than service. It finds my needs perfectly and if they don't screw up the design of the next version in 2005, I'll trade this one in for a new one.

All car manufactures have quality issues. It comes from the bean counters forcing cost/loss issues with the engineers.

GM had this exact same issue when they introduced the "all new" C/K series pickup in 88. Plastic sealed for life ball joints. These things were blowing out inside of 10k miles. It ended up costing them a fortune to fix all those trucks.
 

dmcowen674

No Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
54,894
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www.alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: Fatdog
Before this turns into a DC bash, I would just like to say that aside from the balljoint issue, I'm pretty happy with the rest of the quality of my Dakota. It has never been into the dealer for anything other than service. It finds my needs perfectly and if they don't screw up the design of the next version in 2005, I'll trade this one in for a new one.

All car manufactures have quality issues. It comes from the bean counters forcing cost/loss issues with the engineers.

GM had this exact same issue when they introduced the "all new" C/K series pickup in 88. Plastic sealed for life ball joints. These things were blowing out inside of 10k miles. It ended up costing them a fortune to fix all those trucks.

Question is did GM own up to this defect in a reasonable time frame?

Question on the table now is will DC even own up to this at all? So far they have not.

 

IGBT

Lifer
Jul 16, 2001
17,945
122
106
My 92 Dakota upper's have greese fittings and are still tight after 80k and regular maint. I changed the lowers cause of a slight amount of play in the RH lower..also had greese fittings. So I replaced the lowers with MOOG BJ's. And had the frontend aligned as necessary..routine maintance..now tight as new.
 

XMan

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
12,513
49
91
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Originally posted by: X-Man
Old news. I've got a newspaper clipping from last winter about this problem. To date three cars have had their wheels fall off. When the ball joint goes bad it's hard not to notice. Mine was replaced under extended warranty with no fuss or muss. I think you're tiliting at windmills Dave.

How many people have to have their wheels fall off especially with all the Soccer Moms with kids in their Durangos before you think it is not pissing in the wind? Are you a Dodge Executive or something?

8-1-2003 Suit seeks Mandatory recall of Dodge Upper Ball Joints

The complaint alleges that the upper ball joints on the 1998-2003 Dodge Durangos have an unreasonable propensity to fail suddenly and violently, or to wear prematurely. Further, it is alleged that this is a design defect affecting every Dodge Durango, whether the upper ball joint is currently manifesting problems or not. The suit seeks a mandatory recall to install new upper ball joints, and restitution for the diminished value of the Dodge Durangos.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has commenced an investigation into the safety of the Dodge Durango upper ball joints, after 4 motorists reported that their upper ball joints were defective, and the defect caused them to lose control of the Dodge Durangos. The NHTSA also received 81 complaints that the upper ball joints have worn prematurely, and had to be replaced.

To Join the Class Action Lawsuit go to Durango & Dakota Class Action Lawsuit

Yeah, I'm a Dodge executive, Dave. I guess you're a f*ckin' rocket scientist, eh? Wow, four vehicles had problems and 81 reported issues. According to the newspaper clipping I got out of the paper, there are over 450,000 vehicles on the road with this potential defect - so less than 1% have this issue. Is it a safety danger? Sure it is, but so are bald tires. The vibration in my steering wheel was so bad that I knew something was wrong with my car long before the ball joint was worn badly enough to allow the wheel to fall off. If driver's aren't intelligent enough to notice problems with their car, then they frankly don't need to be driving a car.

One of my coworkers had her company car taken away because she didn't change the oil for 20,000 miles and blew the engine up. Are you going to stand up for her lack of common sense as well?
 

DealMonkey

Lifer
Nov 25, 2001
13,136
1
0
Originally posted by: KenGr
Here's the link:

CBS Story

My guess is there will be an extended warranty on the ball joints.

By the way, question for the Original Poster: When is the last time you saw a car with upper ball joints which could be greased? They are all permanently lubed now.

Oh yeah, I keep my upper ball joints permanently lubed too. The ladies love me for it. :D;)
 

dmcowen674

No Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
54,894
47
91
www.alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: X-Man
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Originally posted by: X-Man
Old news. I've got a newspaper clipping from last winter about this problem. To date three cars have had their wheels fall off. When the ball joint goes bad it's hard not to notice. Mine was replaced under extended warranty with no fuss or muss. I think you're tiliting at windmills Dave.

How many people have to have their wheels fall off especially with all the Soccer Moms with kids in their Durangos before you think it is not pissing in the wind? Are you a Dodge Executive or something?

8-1-2003 Suit seeks Mandatory recall of Dodge Upper Ball Joints

The complaint alleges that the upper ball joints on the 1998-2003 Dodge Durangos have an unreasonable propensity to fail suddenly and violently, or to wear prematurely. Further, it is alleged that this is a design defect affecting every Dodge Durango, whether the upper ball joint is currently manifesting problems or not. The suit seeks a mandatory recall to install new upper ball joints, and restitution for the diminished value of the Dodge Durangos.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has commenced an investigation into the safety of the Dodge Durango upper ball joints, after 4 motorists reported that their upper ball joints were defective, and the defect caused them to lose control of the Dodge Durangos. The NHTSA also received 81 complaints that the upper ball joints have worn prematurely, and had to be replaced.

To Join the Class Action Lawsuit go to Durango & Dakota Class Action Lawsuit

Yeah, I'm a Dodge executive, Dave. I guess you're a f*ckin' rocket scientist, eh? Wow, four vehicles had problems and 81 reported issues. According to the newspaper clipping I got out of the paper, there are over 450,000 vehicles on the road with this potential defect - so less than 1% have this issue. Is it a safety danger? Sure it is, but so are bald tires. The vibration in my steering wheel was so bad that I knew something was wrong with my car long before the ball joint was worn badly enough to allow the wheel to fall off. If driver's aren't intelligent enough to notice problems with their car, then they frankly don't need to be driving a car.

One of my coworkers had her company car taken away because she didn't change the oil for 20,000 miles and blew the engine up. Are you going to stand up for her lack of common sense as well?

Oh that's cute calling the Soccor Mom's idiots because they aren't expert mechanics. Comparing a true idiot in your Co-worker (makes you wonder about the intelligence level where you work) to 450,000 people that should not expect their steering or wheels degrade on an expensive vehicle in such a short period of time is quite typical of many posters in here.
rolleye.gif


 

CADsortaGUY

Lifer
Oct 19, 2001
25,162
1
76
www.ShawCAD.com
Well, lets see.

I can't buy DC cars anymore because of this ball joint thing.
I can't buy Fords because of the pinto, and the Explorer tire deal.
I can't buy GMs because Nader says so.
I can't buy foreign cars because no matter how much of the car is built here, people whine about money going over seas.

Guess I'll just frigging walk everywhere in my bare feet. can't wear Nike or any other brand because they use sweatshops and such. I can't wear natural shoes like moccasins - because PETA will picket me.

/me goes off to find a non-worldly place in this world.

rolleye.gif


CkG
 

Tom

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
13,293
1
76
Without commenting on the merits of the issue, I'd like to point out that filing a lawsuit doesn't mean a claim has merit.
 

DealMonkey

Lifer
Nov 25, 2001
13,136
1
0
Originally posted by: CADkindaGUY
Well, lets see.

I can't buy DC cars anymore because of this ball joint thing.
I can't buy Fords because of the pinto, and the Explorer tire deal.
I can't buy GMs because Nader says so.
I can't buy foreign cars because no matter how much of the car is built here, people whine about money going over seas.

Guess I'll just frigging walk everywhere in my bare feet. can't wear Nike or any other brand because they use sweatshops and such. I can't wear natural shoes like moccasins - because PETA will picket me.

/me goes off to find a non-worldly place in this world.

rolleye.gif


CkG

Come on Cad, stop your whining. What would Jesus drive? Well, a pair of sandals most likely. But when he had to go somewhere fast: donkey cart. See? Problem solved.