Chrysler Needs More Than a Warranty

Re: “Chrysler to Offer 7-Year, 70,000-Mile Warranty,” July 8.

I wish them luck.

I have a ’99 Chrysler Town & Country with about 22,000 miles on it--my third Chrysler minivan since 1985. A couple of months ago, the transmission started acting up and I took it in to the dealer.

They ended up having to replace most of the innards of the transmission. The 3/36 warranty had expired about a month earlier. Fortunately, I had purchased a service contract and I was out only the $100 deductible. When I wrote to Chrysler about the situation, they sent a form letter back saying how sorry they were that I was unhappy with the car and they’d forward my letter to somewhere within the bowels of the corporation.

My previous car was a ’92 Dodge Caravan with a 7/70 warranty. At about 74,000 miles the transmission went out during a trip. Fortunately, I was able to leave the car with a Dodge dealer and rent a car for the rest of the trip.

When I wrote to Chrysler, they refunded about one-half of the cost of the replacement transmission, since I had evidence of earlier problems.

I do hope that Chrysler will be able to actually improve its reliability, but I doubt whether I’ll be buying another Chrysler product.

Richard Kinz

Atascadero, Calif.