New truck, rust... Do I stand a chance?

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Why am i not surprised this happened with a dodge? After all this is the same company who decided to design a turn signal inside a headlight and simply shut off the headlight every time someone turns on their signal bahahahahahahaha


BTW op, sorry about your truck. My advice complain till the can't take it any longer and then complain some more.
 
Went in to the dealer today, the person that normally looks after this type of issue is gone until wednesday.

However, I did have someone in the service dept. come out and take a look. I seperated the rubber seal where the ends meet (which is at the bottom and where the rust funneled out from) and it's heavy with rust in the gap... Meaning that underneath and behind it, there is a substantial amount. She took pictures, said that it's not acceptable for it to be happening and that I need to come back Wednesday to have the proper person take a look at it and we will pull the plastic door sill out and have a look...

This is the first time I've had a non-gm product and my first new vehicle... I knew I should have gone GM again.

Ha, and yeah, the headlight turning off thing bothered me, but luckily it's only when it's the DRL that are on that it does so.
 
rmemedic said:
This is the first time I've had a non-gm product and my first new vehicle... I knew I should have gone GM again.
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should've bought a sierra or silvarado!

But Krown's Crew cab pick up...$139.95 - $10 CAA DISCOUNT + TAX = ~$147. That's a worth while yearly investment.......on a 35K-40k truck.
 
Until it rots right thru into a hole, they'll tell you to pound salt.

You want real rust resistance?
Buy a Benz, a VW, or a Volvo.
 
omnivore said:
Until it rots right thru into a hole, they'll tell you to pound salt.

You want real rust resistance?
Buy a Benz, a VW, or a Volvo.
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+1

I've owned Ford, GM, Japanese etc....they all started to rust within 4 years. Not enough to make a claim under the "so called rust proof warranties". Then once the warranty period was up I ended up with actual holes.

Last car was a 9 year old Benz - no rust , even the exhaust was still original after 250,000 kms
New Car VW. Both VW and Mercedes didn't try to up sell any rust proofing and actualy even said they don't recommend it. These cars use Galvanized sheet metal. Unlike the substandard North American garbage.

Whenever you buy a car at a Dealer and then that same dealer asks you if you want rustproofing. That to me is a sign that they know their piece of crap new vehicle will rust sooner than a comparible product.

I'll never buy a north american built or designed vehicle again. If only because they they are too cheap to design something that won't rust within 4 years.
 
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250R-ICE said:
+1

I've owned Ford, GM, Japanese etc....they all started to rust within 4 years. Not enough to make a claim under the "so called rust proof warranties". Then once the warranty period was up I ended up with actual holes.

Last car was a 9 year old Benz - no rust , even the exhaust was still original after 250,000 kms
New Car VW. Both VW and Mercedes didn't try to up sell any rust proofing and actualy even said they don't recommend it. These cars use Galvanized sheet metal. Unlike the substandard North American garbage.

Whenever you buy a car at a Dealer and then that same dealer asks you if you want rustproofing. That to me is a sign that they know their piece of crap new vehicle will rust sooner than a comparible product.

I'll never buy a north american built or designed vehicle again. If only because they they are too cheap to design something that won't rust within 4 years.
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I've had GM vehicles made with galvanized sheet metal, so some NA vehicles are made that way... I guess Ram doesn't do so.
 
I do understand what you are going through though. It would really piss me off to see a new vehicle rust so quickly. Hopefully they treat you right. Like others have said don't let them off until you are 100 % satisfied. Keep all records (copy of the service report) of when you made the dealer aware of the rust (date and mileage).

If it's any consolation. I have family members that own the Ram Truck. Other than the rust issue you are going through. The vehicle is generally a good reliable product.
 
250R-ICE said:
I do understand what you are going through though. It would really piss me off to see a new vehicle rust so quickly. Hopefully they treat you right. Like others have said don't let them off until you are 100 % satisfied. Keep all records (copy of the service report) of when you made the dealer aware of the rust (date and mileage).

If it's any consolation. I have family members that own the Ram Truck. Other than the rust issue you are going through. The vehicle is generally a good reliable product.
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ya just hope your differential doesn't lock up for no apparent reason at 120km/h hahahah!
 
250R-ICE said:
+1

I've owned Ford, GM, Japanese etc....they all started to rust within 4 years. Not enough to make a claim under the "so called rust proof warranties". Then once the warranty period was up I ended up with actual holes.

Last car was a 9 year old Benz - no rust , even the exhaust was still original after 250,000 kms
New Car VW. Both VW and Mercedes didn't try to up sell any rust proofing and actualy even said they don't recommend it. These cars use Galvanized sheet metal. Unlike the substandard North American garbage.

Whenever you buy a car at a Dealer and then that same dealer asks you if you want rustproofing. That to me is a sign that they know their piece of crap new vehicle will rust sooner than a comparible product.

I'll never buy a north american built or designed vehicle again. If only because they they are too cheap to design something that won't rust within 4 years.
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So my Ranger and Edge that have lived past 4 years without a speck of rust are statistical outliers?
 
omnivore said:
Until it rots right thru into a hole, they'll tell you to pound salt.

You want real rust resistance?
Buy a Benz, a VW, or a Volvo.
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LOL at VW. Ever seen a MKIV that's been winter driven? Volvo and Benz sure.
 
Scuba Steve said:
That would make my Canyon and Silverado outliers as well.
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All I can say is I hope you guys have better luck than I did. Whenever someone asks me about my experiences with Ford and GM products, I tell them exactly what I went through.
 
Paul1000RR said:
ya just hope your differential doesn't lock up for no apparent reason at 120km/h hahahah!
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Yep... I made sure my truck wasn't in that list... I've had a transmission lock up on a pickup before, doing 120ish on the 115 on Christmas eve... Fun ride!

Scuba Steve said:
That would make my Canyon and Silverado outliers as well.
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I think my Canyon and Sonoma spoiled me. The Canyon finally had a bit of rust starting to show in 2011 and it was a 2004 and never rust proofed.
The Sonoma was 14 years old before I got rid of it and the body was still in pretty good shape... And never rust proofed.
If the Ram continues the way it's going, it will have rot worse than the Sonoma did within just a couple years.
 
Hate to say it but I'm glad I didn't just buy a dodge. My 05 gmc 1500 was rust free as far as the body panels go, I didn't have it till 09 so it wasn't rust checked till then. My 2011 chev already has some rust on the frame rails even though it has the electric box thing creating a forcefield that will never let it rust lol. I undercoat every vehicle every fall, my 02 wrx has no rust on it (undercoated since new) and I'm sure it's because of rust check/krown. It sounds like they're going to do somthing for you atleast, good luck.
 
rbjeepthing said:
LOL at VW. Ever seen a MKIV that's been winter driven? Volvo and Benz sure.
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My 92 jetta had 435,000 kms on it....car was driven tons, year round. We washed it once or twice a yr. First month I owned it it saw more than 9500 kms of highway driving.....when the g/f totalled it by rolling it end over end by hitting black ice at mach 5 on a sweeper, I saw the underside facing the sky for the foirst time....The underbody was just as red as the roof. Not a spec of rust....and car still had OEM non greaseable ball joints and tie rod ends on it still, and they were as tight as new. maybe the Mark IV stuff used ******** steel?
 
VW had a specific issue with front fenders on Mk4 TDI cars. There's a piece of foam insulation between the fender and the fender liner that was only installed on the TDI models. Bad, bad idea. It trapped moisture, and no amount of corrosion protection will protect against that. Keep in mind that Mk4's are now nearing 14 years old.

omnivore's non-rusting '92 was an outlier, because that pre-dated VW using fully galvanized construction. Lots of Mk2's (and Mk3's) rusted out their floorboards. The main part of the bodyshell on later model VW's is fully galvanized but I'm not sure if some of the bolt-on parts (hood, trunk lid, fenders) were galvanized. Most, if not all, late model German cars now use fully galvanized construction. The latest development is for the main structure of the vehicle to be powder-coated rather than painted. I know that BMW and Mercedes are doing this on at least some models. Electrostatically applied powder-coating will get into places that a paint gun never could.

I won't name names but I will say that in the auto assembly plant that I've been in most recently (not a European brand) it ain't done that way ...
 
rmemedic said:
I think my Canyon and Sonoma spoiled me. The Canyon finally had a bit of rust starting to show in 2011 and it was a 2004 and never rust proofed.
.
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My 04 Canyon was the same as yours...just a wee bit of rust in 2012 and no rust proofing.
I did finally buy a 11 GMC Sierra ...with 39000k's in Jan. Still like the looks of the Ram.
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