Court won't hear Chrysler appeal

Good.....chrysler products are defective heaps so somebody ought to get something back for buying their crappy products!!!!!

Chrysler makes good cars,and is probably the the most socially responsible corporation out there. So those comments are unfair. Many of the innovations we enjoy in today's cars were developed by Chrysler. It is unlikely our nation would have won the Second World War without Chrysler's efforts. We had no tanks until Chrysler started to build them. The B-29 and Atomic Bomb would have been impossible without Chrysler. Quality ratings show Chrysler cars are as good or better than anything else on the market. No worse than Toyota (look at the recalls on Avalons)

In my opinion and personal experience Chrysler cars are not well made. And since when are they one of the most "socially responsible" corps out there? What info do you have to back that up? The comments about not winning WWI w/o them are a little extreme also, don't you think? Its great if you like the company, but saying our country wouldn't have won an entire war without them is a little uncalled for.

Yes, I do like the company. I think the numerous cars and trucks still on the road after many years and thousands of miles show, better than I can, that they make good cars.

If you look at their history it shows they've been a responsible company. They've led in safety--putting four wheel hydraulic brakes on their cars 15 yrs before Ford would. The first padded dash (1949). And the first four wheel disk brakes (1950 Imperial) and four wheel antilock brakes (1971 Imperial). First to make air bag standard on all cars, first to put airbag in minivan, SUV or pickup truck.

Chrysler never turned away a project during WWII. Everything they did was ahead of schedule and below cost--and those savings were returned to the government. Chairman KT Keller was very patriotic, and did not believe in profiting from the war effort. Contrast to Ford (it built material for Hitler, then sued US for damaging its German factories).

Chrysler is a leader in trying to lessen American dependency on foreign oil. Comments to the press about the oil industry's shortsightedness have been courageous (don't see Toyota or Honda doing that). Tom LaSorda has pointed out how much more GM, Ford, Chrysler contribute to the US economy than do Toyota, Nissan, Honda--he's spoken out on behalf of jobs here in this country. That is a responsible thing to do. Chrysler is not gutting its workers' pensions like GM is.

GM, Ford, Honda and others have hired a so-called expert to testify in civil cases that injured drivers were not wearing seatbelts, when that was false. Chrysler has not done anything like that.

All these things show Chrysler has been a responsible corporation.

I stand behind the comments about WWII. I'll just state some facts and leave it up to whoever reads this.

The US had not one combat ready tank as late as the summer of 1941. I am going from memory, but I believe that date is right. We had neither the tanks, nor a factory, nor a suitable engine to power them. Chrysler built a new factory, and developed an engine, and got the tanks rolling off the line. It was a huge effort. I don't think anyone else had the engineering capacity to do it. We would have had a serious problem if we entered the war without tanks.

Chrysler's efforts were vital and the stakes were huge. Today we take the outcome for granted, but it was close at the time. When the US entered the war, Germany had conqured all of Europe and much of North Africa and the Soviet Union
was on the verge of collapse. Japan had taken over China and much of the Pacific and landed troops on US soil (Alaska).

WWII was a total war. In that kind of war, production is vital. We saw that in the first total war, which was fought on our soil. The South, arguably, had better military leaders, and no shortage of ingenuity, but could not hope to compete with Northern industrial capacity. They lost the war. No matter how good their soldiers or sailors were, if they didn't have adequate weapons, supplies, etc, it was lost.

It was the same for WW2. The smartest minds on the enemy side, men like Yamamoto and Rommel recognized this. They knew once we got going, they would be in a world of hurt.

Chrysler's engineers ensured we could reach that level of production. No one thought tanks can be mass prodcued like cars, but Chrysler did it. Few remember the massive turn around that was required to switch over to military production in the US. All cvilian car production was stopped, everything was rationed. Chrysler's engineers were behind many things that were vital to the war effort.
For example, they ensured we were able to mass produce mobile, workable radars and get them in the field (very effective for tracking and shooting down V-1's over London).

Often, when others failed, Chrysler was called in to fix a problem. Chrysler arguably had the best engineers before the war, and that talent pool was put to use for our country. One example was the B-29--a long range bomber vital to the Pacific war effort (with the huge distances that had to be flown). The B-29's engines would just not work. Chrysler fixed them and turned the B-29 around from being an expensive failure, and into a weapon that helped bring Japan to surrender.

The Manhattan Project was a monumental undertaking. With a lot of problems that had to be solved, and there were alot of challenges in producing a workable weapon. Chrysler was there throughout, solving problems. Without the bomb, the war would have been much longer, with more lives lost on both sides.

I don't mean to devalue the contributions of other companies, or those who served in uniform, but I think Chrysler's contribution should be recognized.

Can you be a little more specific?

Exactly what did Chrysler do for the Manhattan Project?
What exactly did Chrysler's engineers do to the B-29 to turn it from a "failure" into a flying aircraft that General Hap Arnold (and the replacement of the problematic Wright engine) didn't?
What did Chrysler have to do with the Bell Labs radar project?

I'm very happy with my 1994 Concorde, and it's served us amazingly well over the last 240,000 miles, but damn, man...you should get a job as a Press Secretary for Bush. I hear he's hiring anybody who'll proclaim he "won" the war in Iraq, too.

The Wright engine was not replaced, it was redesigned by Chrysler.

This forum would not let me post links to specific pages, but if you go to www.allpar.com and www.imperialclub.com there is a lot of detailed info about Chrysler's wartime efforts (including Manhattan project, radar, B-29). Let the reader decide for him/herself.

My point in all of this has been that the comments made about Chrysler losing the lawsuit were unfair, especially given--in my opinion--Chrysler's very positive role in this country. Here is more about the lawsuit for anyone that is interested:

Hamby v. Daimler/Chrysler
Roberto Martinez was washing Lori Hamby's used 1991 Dodge Caravan while Hamby's two-year-old daughter, Mary Madison Hamby Garcia, was playing inside of the vehicle by herself. The van was parked on top of a long driveway and the emergency brakes off. The key in the ignition in the "on" position so he could play the radio; the doors were open so he could vacuum the vehicle. Martinez was retrieving Windex fifteen feet away when Hamby apparently dislodged the automatic transmission from park. With the ignition key-lock the disabled, the vehicle hurtled down the driveway, killing Hamby when it struck a tree, jarring her from the vehicle, and pinning her beneath the tire, where she died of asphyxiation compression.

This is, an Atlanta jury held, 51% Chrysler's fault. The theory on which the jury ruled in favor of the plaintiff is on the theory that Chrysler failed to adequately warn of the risk of leaving children unattended in vehicles with the key in the ignition—even though Hamby's mother, Lori Hamby, only "glanced" through the owner's manual, which did warn against it. Madison Hamby, who was dead on the scene, was awarded $2.25 million for pain and suffering on top of the $2.25 million for wrongful death. The jury ruled for Chrysler on the funeral expenses, however. Chrysler is appealing.(Greg Land, "DaimlerChrysler to Appeal $3.4M Awarded in Minivan Accident", Fulton County Daily Report, Mar. 6 (via Prince); DeeAnn Durbin, "DaimlerChrysler ordered to pay family in minivan lawsuit", AP/Detroit News, Mar. 3; Hamby v. DaimlerChrysler, No. 1:03CV:0937-CAP (N.D. Ga.)).

I posted the wrong article. I will try to find the correct one. My apologies.

Here is a link to a very good article about Chrysler's role in the Manhattan Project.

http://www.allpar.com/history/military/a-bomb...

I'm with you Jeremy. I've have many different brands of cars but have had best results with ChryCo products. Ya, there's been a couple that could have been better but they still ran great. Also, have you noticed that when there's recalls with Japanese cars how it's not blasted all over the air waves like American cars are?? Why is that......

You are so right....

Toyota and Honda can get away with anything. Here's another recall:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13314718

Maybe DxC pulled their wheight during wartime[s]; but since I have owned my 2002 Sebring convertible I am now on my 3rd engine. I was accused of not doing oil changes frequently enough-the longest time period between changes was "allowable" according to the manual AND, I continually had it at dealership-Fitzgeralds for brake problems during that stint. Of couse the later engine[s] I did changes religiously at 3,000 miles. I now have the bumper sticker www.dontbuyone.org on my car. I DO NOT FEEL SAFE IN THIS CAR, as I never know when the engine light will come on.e.g., 2 weeks ago and the mechanic cannot find the cause. As a female, I bought this car for the 7 year, 70,000 warranty and DxC would not honor it.

I belive you about the heeps of junk, my 2000 dodge ram slipped out of park into reverse causing the death of my grandmother. This was settled out of court for 500,000.00. I think it happens more then people know about becuase of non-disclouser.

well i think im not the only one with problems with chrysler products i have so many that i sold my junk car for two hundred dollars believe it or not and they do me a favor buying it i bougth a 2000 minivan at 1500 miles the gas pump failed and had to be replaced after a week of waiting for the part the transmision was not working properly i took it to the shop and was never repaired properly the gas pedal was so hard to push that i have to use my rigth foot and then change to the left just to relax a little i have a 96 before that one but i dont know much about cars but let me tell you that minivan was a nigth mare before it hit the 90.000 miles the transmision had to be replaced was leaking oil i fixed it 900.00 dollars after that the gas pump run out had to be replaced and next the timing belt fixed workd for about a year and failed again i dont even remember howmany times i took that minivan to the shop that it spend more time in the shop than on the road im really sorry for anyone that owns dodge chrysler productthat really sucks

Hey, WW2 was a long time ago, Chrysler can't stand on it's 60 year old wartime record (no matter HOW GOOD it is) as a defense against defective products that IT KNOWS are defective and won't acknowledge. Ford was building defective fuel
tanks and pumping systems (IE B-24, commonly seen
in flames in numerous photos from 44-45) but I don't see you defending their pickup trucks exploding or the (god forbid we ever see one again)
the Ford Pinto, which killed more people than Al
Capone's and Machinegun Kelly's whole gangs com- bined. I have a 2004 Intrepid with a blown engine,
the oil was cahnged every 2000 - 4000 mile (rcpts to prove) but when I called Chrysler they said they would not provide assistance and that they were not aware of any reported problems with Intrepid engines (to double check that I invite you
to type in "Dodge intrepid engine problems" on your browser and see how many hits pop up all the way back to 1995 - YES 1995.

I really think that chryslers new lineup for 2007 and newer will be much more reliable than the chryslers of the late 90's and through the early 2000's. I do know many people who have had crazy electrical problems with these years. Then again, I know 2 people with new chrysler products-one with a 2006 ram, and one with a 2006 pacifica, and neither of them ever mentioned any problems with them.

Everyone has been burned by a car manufacturer. Do you deny that they are in business to make money? If they don't defend against lawsuits in this "sue happy" country, there would be no corporations.

Type the name of any car and "engine problems" and you will get tons of hits (assuming it is a large production car).

For example, Camry's have a solid reputation. My mother's has had 3 engines in it's first 3 years. Toyota refuses to help pay, even though they acknowledge that there is a design flaw in the engine. On the other hand, my Dodge is 15 years old and has 320,000 miles and still going on the original turbo motor and trans.

I'm not saying that Chrysler is better or worse than any other company. My point is, every company puts out cars that have issues. That's just a fact of life. Some will fall apart, others will go 300,000 miles. All cars break, just buy one you can afford to fix.

Also remember, there is a lot to maintenance other than oil changes. The type of oil plays a large part as does the quality of fuel and routine maintenance of wear items.

"For example, Camry's have a solid reputation. My mother's has had 3 engines in it's first 3 years. Toyota refuses to help pay, even though they acknowledge that there is a design flaw in the engine."

Out of curiosity, why wasnt it covered under warranty? Whats causing it to fail?

I would not by chrysler or dodge or mercedes benz. I mean they do make cars. That is all I can say. But as for chyrslers help in WWI I'm am sure the engineer that put chrysler on the map isn't still designing cars, unless he does that thing that guy did in Ghost. Bottomline all car companies have an achilles heal, Chrysler just happens to be the whole company. Why else would they need a revamp from a german company. Mercedes are Autobahn tested if you put an intrepid on the autobahn especially after some of the recalls/TSBs(that should be recalls) they are prone to it would get its doors blown off if they haven't already came off.

I have a 96 t&c and Im not a big fan of chrystler. Thats great that they have helped out in the war and made tanks and big trucks and anythinbg else that did the world so good, but were not back then we are here and that doesnt change the fact that my 96 t&c was a lemon and my tranny and gas problems and the air conditioner and my timing belt and rubber seal around the passanger door,
i have had this van for 2 and half years and i can say that $2,300 on top of the $5,000 we bought it for, and the time loss from towing it and in and out of the shop and the mental pain and fustration and the worn down knuckels it has coused me is not worth it to me. I probably will not buy another one in fact i will convice my friends and famlie and any one else i know not to bother with a chrystler.