Court Case- Paint Delamination
 

Hey guys-

I went to a small claims case today with a fellow ram owner. He was suing dodge over the paint blisters on his 99 ram. He lost however Dodge is giving him half for a repaint. The judge basically said he would have won if he would have brought expert testimony by a body tech. stating that his truck has experianced paint delamination and an explanation on what paint delamination is and how chrysler knew it internally that it was a problem and still used the paint...

I'm going to be going through the same process, im not the original owner on my 96 and the paint is flaking off (white color) with 170k miles. I need some good hard evidence that DC was negligent. Does anyone have copies of internal DC letters proving faulty paint and their negligence in still using it. All the stuff from the infomanic website doesnt really show what the judges in the class action suit against found, i need that if anyone has it...

Erik

how about taking in pics of every dodge ram ever made. i've owned 3 and my brother and sister both owned 1. and they have all been rusted and bubbling on the bottom of the door.

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Flats/6183/main.html Check here for some great info. Goodluck,,,Rick

That page was last update 7-9-2001 is there any newer info? Will all Dodge trucks eventualy be affected? My paint looks great and no sign of rust, I'm pretty sure it's the factory paint too, I believe the previous owner took good care of it though

Go here and download where it says Supporting Documentation especially Explanation of the cause of delamination
http://www.theinfomaniac.net/infoman...ml#smallclaims

DC paid 100% to repaint my two trucks, I never had to show the judge anything as no rep from DC showed up, I automatically won. Helped that the DC state rep is a six hour drive away.
DC corrected the paint problem in '97, trucks made afterwards don't apply.

My 96 will wash but won't polish. The paint on the fenders is gone, on the top of the truck from the center out has turned white as has the hood. On a black truck that really ain't pretty. New, the paint job was not that good but over the years has really turned bad.

Those folks on the top don't care bout us little buyers. It's all a game and we lose.

..Preston..

How do you like this? It seems the Driftwood color is the worst for peeling. I waited until the cab started peeling before pursuing a new paint job so they wouldn't try for a partial paint job. By that time the hood was missing two thirds of it's paint...

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...C-092X-med.JPG

Question: how many years can Dodge really be expected to warrant paint? '96 is nearly 9 years old. Have to be realistic about this IMHO. Everincreasing environmental demands has constantly affected the make-up of paint. Not everything can be a win/win.

That said...my '85Z still has good paint except for the salt effects from it's midwest days and road debris chips.

It's what is called a known defect, the problem occurred the instant the truck was painted with a proven inferior primer. Even though it took years to show up the initial problem occurred during the warranty period.

My '96 do the same thing on the roof & hood, guy's truck at work doing the same as mine:mad:

So do you file a case against DC or is there another way to go about it?

Re: Court Case- Paint Delamination
 

Come on you bought it used , 9 years old and 170,000 miles and you expect a judge to rule in your favor. i hate to be the one to tell you but your wasting your time and money filing the case plus it most likely will get laughed right out the door.

Re: Re: Court Case- Paint Delamination
 

Not true at all.
The warranty is not really an issue. Although it may fall outside your warranty period, it has been documented in several court cases and class action suits that Chrysler was aware of the problem and continued to sell the vehicle, and that basically means it is a lifetime warranty. Additionally, since the problem typically takes slightly longer than the warranty period to manifest itself and the fact that the defect was created during the manufacturing process, the defect did occur during the warranty period. DC even admits they screwed up but doesn't want to make good until you jump though the hoops. DC paid over $10,000 to have my two trucks repainted, one last summer when it was eight years old. It cost me $40 court filing fee and about two hours of my time.
All of the big three automakers had the same paint problem, only Chrysler chose to ignore it and continued using inferior paint for six years. Ford and GM repainted the affected vehicles with no question, DC makes you take them to court.
All this to save an average of $6 per vehicle on paint.

Just follow the instructions here , you might get DC to pay half but if you want 100% take them to small claims court.
http://www.theinfomaniac.net/infoman...tepByStep.html

infidel,

Thanks! I give it a shot

Ok I was adjusting the rear brakes on my truck (reversing and hittin the brakes) when I noticed some blowing off the roof of the cab while I was reversing. So I get out and look, sure enough its the clearcoat. Looks like I have some work to do. I looked at the steps involved in trying to get DC to fix their mistake and my question is why even bother with them? Why not just take it directly to small claims court?

Infidel,
did you have a lawyer present when you went to court or were you prepared to present your case on your own?

No lawyers, both times DC's Registered Agent failed to appear so I won automatically.
It could be that my closest Registered Agent is 400 miles away though, don't assume you will have the same luck as I did. What I found funny is when I first contacted the Registered Agent they asked if it was about peeling paint before I said anything, they know the story well. Last time I read about it over 150,000 people had taken DC to court. TV's 60 Minutes even did a special on how DC was trying to cheat people on it.

The website I linked to provides all the proof needed that you can print out to take to court including DC's admission that they used inferior paint knowingly. Most times the judge won't even have to look at the proof as there have been so many of the these cases filed that they are already familiar.

DC knows they are in the wrong but will do everything possible to discourage you, but you still have to follow the course of action outlined in the website to prove that you tried to deal with DC directly rather than going straight to court.
Every contact you make with DC they will lie to you that you are no longer covered under warranty when in fact you are even if you are the third owner of a ten year old truck. The paint was "broken" the minute they put it on which equals a lifetime warranty due to a known defect.
It doesn't matter what DC says, all that matters is that you made an honest effort for them to fix the problem on their own without the courts. DC is banking on the fact that most people will get discouraged and not follow though all the way, it saves them billions of dollars.

I bet it does save them alot of money by discouraging consumers. I think this is the wave of the future. I am going through something similiar with my health insurance company not wanting to pay for medicine prescribed by my physician....they have made it so difficult that my physician has essentially given up....now I need to find another doctor. DC wont get off so easy there is no middle man its between me and them. [guitar]

If you are going after them for the paint, might as well go after them for the lift pump as well (that is unless you are undervalved).

The problem with going after the lift pump is that they work fine when the truck leaves the factory and they will replace them under warranty.
Like I said, the paint was broken the minute they sprayed it on, just takes longer to show up.

Bad Paint
 

Have'nt done much research but I've got a 2002 with 94000 miles (Silver) that has been repainted. Don't know what owner I am, or the history of the vehicle. Could I have the same problem.

Supposedly the paint delamination problem was corrected in 1997.

Infidel, thanks for the info. I was about to spend the $5000 to paint my delaminating truck. Now I am in the process of going to the dealer and getting this fixed. They want to take pictures and send them in. Intersesting I phoned the 1 800 number and they are not aware of any paint issues. Of course they are trying to discourage me. But like you I will take this to small claims and have it made right. Once again thanks Bill
Clayten