Chrysler, phooey! I need a part for my Jeep, but they won't sell it to me. It's a whopping $4 piece of stamped steel bracket. But it's a "recall part", so they won't sell it to me. They only install them under the recall. But my year/model isn't covered by the recall. Despite the fact that mine currently has the exact problem that the recall is about, it doesn't matter. So safety issue be damned. No parts for you!

That's not exactly true. They did seem to be willing to, sort of unofficially, let me pay them to install it, you know and pay the obscene dealer labor rate to do it. Sorry no, not gonna happen.

The part does show up used on Ebay now and then. Usually for about $40.00 It's literally a $4 part. Grumble grumble grumble.

What a crock of shit... just sell the damn part.
I'd be pissed!

Amazon?

What exactly is the part?

You can find the part online and order it, that's how I know it's $4. But they won't send it to you. They cancel your order, and tell you need to go to your dealer, which is how I got where I am.

The bracket/tab that holds the parking brake to the tub tears off. It then moves around causing a couple other issues. They made a larger, longer retrofit bracket that makes contact in a couple places. I could fabricate one, but your talking a couple hours work to make something that have piles of.

Because it's moving around and has bene for so long now, it's starting to have other issues. I'm thinking of just doing a floor mounted hand brake conversion. Again lots of time and money Vs $4 part.

Wow, what a hassle.

I've never tried to an auto salvage yard. Might they have what you need?

Know anyone at a body shop that might be able to order one for you?

You've probably already checked, but does NAPA or another large parts store have an aftermarket part?

What's the part number?

I would try going to their regional factory rep and find out why you can't buy the repair part or pay to have it replaced at the dealer. Seems the would have some liability if they won't supply the part for a safety issue, recall vehicle or not.
Try a different dealer?

quote:

Originally posted by simmy952:
What's the part number?

Kind of curious about this too.

It'll be a race to see which of your inlaid imaginary friends here can get it you first.

quote:

Originally posted by McGregor:
I would try going to their regional factory rep and find out why you can't buy the repair part or pay to have it replaced at the dealer. Seems the would have some liability if they won't supply the part for a safety issue, recall vehicle or not.
Try a different dealer?

Im sure they, the dealer, will repair the part for you at their parts and labor costs.
The issue from what I'm understanding is that they won't just sell you the part to do it yourself, and since his car isn't under their recall notice, they won't do it for free either.

I made a $20, then $25 offer on Ebay the other day for the $40 one, both declined. The price has since been lowered. lol It's now $30
It's not the extra $26, it's the idea.

The last one I made an offer for, they raised the price! Then tried to entice me for weeks by lowering the price back to the original number like it was some sort of sale. lmao

After doing a little more checking on my parking brake, it's in better condition than I thought. So it might be worth saving with the bracket, I may grab the $30 one. Grrr... Still, I had the brand new $4 one in my hand! lol Maybe I should have slapped a $5 bill on the counter and broke for the door. (don't know why I didn't think of that at the time)


Okay when I said it was $4 I was exaggerating.
https://www.wholesalemopar.com...rking-brake-ccuzb031

This message has been edited. Last edited by: cas,

Ok, don't beat up the local dealer, there is a legitimate reason he or she cannot sell you the part.

As some of you know I used to be in dealership parts departments albeit GM. But the same situation applies here. I called a friend in a Chrysler Dodge Jeep dealer just now to verify what I assumed was the case here.

Those parts are VIN restricted, the only way they can be ordered is by supplying the VIN of the affected vehicle at the time the part is ordered. No way around that as if they "hookey poo" and order one using a VIN that is involved, if at a later time they try to order one actually to be used on that vehicle a bunch of red flags are going to pop up. And attempting to order one using your VIN, the factory will reject that order as not applicable to vehicle.

Generally the only way that a subsequent order would get filled is that a factory rep would have to get involved and all sorts of questions would come up of how, why and where did the first one go. The factory will probably not delve into it too deepley, dealer could say that they "lost" it somewhere, not a lot of stink over a two and a half dollar dealer cost part but if there is a pattern of unusual problems at the dealership it could be just another nail in the lid to get more scrutiny from the zone and higher ups which nobody really wants in today's dealership climate.

A lot of reasons for VIN restrictions, sometimes exact fit as some models may use a different campaign part, rollouts in phases like the Takata airbag fiasco due to perceived danger in the older bags, The older they were the more chance of fragmentation that lessened as they were newer but still a danger, lack of manufacturing ability with all the backorders in today's dealership world, wanting to track exactly how many vehicles were actually done, maybe to imply to the vehicle owner how important it is to actually get the campaign done, just for some.

The amount of vehicles that never get campaigns done is staggering. When a vehicle is sold from a dealership whether new or used it has to have all campaigns preformed before it is sold, not so for private purchase vehicles. I had that happen to me, I bought a '82 Harley in late '98, third owner. Probably about 2000-2001 I ran the VIN and found out that there was an open safety campaign from late 82 for transmission failures. We performed the campaign later, the factory service manager said that was the oldest open campaign he had to sign off on.

It is possible that at a later time they may include your vehicle in that campaign, in phases like the aforementioned Takata airbag recall, doing the older vehicles first.

My contact in the Chrysler dealer said there was nothing he could do to help you out.

Hey, I gave it a try anyways!

Funny how things work though in the modern world of lawyers. Chrysler is letting me operate a knowingly unsafe vehicle over a $2.34 part.

quote:

Originally posted by shovelhead:
It is possible that at a later time they may include your vehicle in that campaign..

I suppose, the longer they wait the fewer $2.34 parts they'll have to shell out for.
It's 33 years old, I hope they don't wait much longer.

I had the same happen with a less than $95 part for a Land Rover. At the time I lived in NC and needed a resistor for one of the climate fans. It’s a big resistor about the size of a cigar and was located under the hood panel cowl on that model.

That Christmas I was in Glen Cove NY, reputed to be one of the most expensive Land Rover dealers in the US.
We were visiting family there and I figured, hey- I’m right here by a Land Rover dealer and will just pick up the part while I’m there. I have the page from the parts manual in my hand with the Rover OEM # and picture.

I hand the paper to the parts guy and ask if they have it in stock.
He says “yes”, and hands back the paper. He’s just looking at me. I say, well, could I get it?
He says, “Sir, we would be happy if you would bring your vehicle in to install it for $600+”…
I say- well, the Rover is in NC. I can install it, I just need the part.

Eventually he admitted that they would NOT sell me the part without them installing it. I thanked them and left.
Later I ordered it from Atlantic British and had it on in fifteen minutes.

Saab dealers did the same to us regular GM dealers once their parts were made available to all of us. The reasoning from one of the Saab stores was "You are just trying to take our business". Actually we only did it when we could not get a Saab owner to take it to one of those dealerships.

Happiest day that came to us in regular GM dealerships was when Saab was removed from our parts system. Then we could legitimately tell them to go to their nearest dealer as those dealerships would not work with us and we could not order parts through the GM system.

cas,

Vehicle age might factor into the VIN restriction thing also. Seriously no sense in making available say 50k of that part if only half or less are on the road at present.

That argument works better for letting me have a part than not letting me have it, considering they have them. Like I said, I had it in my hand. The funny thing is I figured this was something they were going to have to dig deep to find, hiding away in in a corner of the attic because they never use them. I expected a long wait while they went and found one. But the counter guy was literally gone less than 10 seconds and was back at the counter with one in brand new packaging. The only way it could have been faster would have been if he’d reached under the counter for it. lol


Anyway... My $25 offer was accepted on Ebay. $27+ after taxes.