Chrysler is having repair problems with its 2007 and 2008 Dodge RAM trucks equipped with the 6.7L Cummins turbo diesel engine. Typically, the check engine light comes on causing the owner to take it in to their dealer for warranty repairs. The dealers often find problems with the engine computer controls, the emissions system, the turbo, and the transmissions.
Dodge has issued technical service bulletins on these models dealing with engine control software issues and excessive turbocharger soot accumulation resulting in emissions problems. KABOB attorneys have arranged a number of repurchases of these model trucks on behalf of owners of these trucks.

Buyers often trade in cars with outstanding loans on the the dealer's promise it will pay off the loan. Honest dealers promptly do so, but a small number of dishonest dealers do not pay off the loan. When that happens, the lien-holder finance company usually finds the car and reposses it leaving the consumer out the down payment, payments, and no car. Alternatively, the car is not repossessed, but the buyer cannot get clear title because of the lien.

Dealers engaging in this type of fraud are often about to go out of business. When DMV finds out about the practice, DMV revokes their license to sell cars. The dealers usually disappear.

This law firm has represented a number of clients who have been the victim of these practices.
On January 4, 2009, the New York Times reported on such dealer practices. The article quotes Bryan Kemnitzer of this firm who represents a consumer who bought a car from Vacaville Ford with a lien on it resulting in her inability to register it with DMV.

On January 7, 2009, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on the same practices quoting victim Stephanie Feliciano, Roseville, CA. Feliciano traded in a Camry to a Sacramento dealer who failed to pay off the loan on the Camry. Mark Anderson of this law firm represents her in a pending action against the dealer bond company.

All California car dealers must post a $50,000 bond to protect consumers who are defrauded by car dealers. If the buyer obtained a new loan that was arranged by the selling dealer (on top of the existing loan), the buyer may sue the new lien holder for damages since the new finance company is subject to the same claims the buyer has against the dealer.

Safety advocates are concerned about defective Chinese auto parts such as tires susceptible to tread separation and child restraints that come apart in an impact. Other examples are tire valves that break and let air escape, glass that does not meet standards for tempered glass, and high-intensity discharged headlights that do not meet U.S. federal safety standards.

Clarence Ditlow of the Center for Auto Safety said that so many Chinese parts are coming into the market that U.S. safety officials cannot keep track of them. Ditlow researched recalls ordered by National Highway Safety Administration finding that the agency had ordered recalls on a number of faulty Chinese products.

The importer/distributors are often undercapitalized and may not be familiar with U.S. safety regulations. For example, one recall involved kits to convert headlights to more powerful high-intensity lights that the importer was selling on eBay. The importer kept his inventory in a closet.

A related problem is that some importers may not have the resources to carry out a recall. An importer of Chinese made tires in New Jersey recently struggled to recall 255,000 tires.

Christopher Jensen reported on this story in the New York Times on 12/20/08.

People greatly undervalue what small increments in miles per gallon (MPG) in large vehicles means and at the same time overestimate the value of increases in already fuel efficient vehicles. The right way to think about fuel efficiency is to look at gallons consumed per 100 miles according to an article in the June 20, 2008, issue of Science Magazine written by Richard Larrick of Duke University and a co-author.

Assume a family has a SUV that gets 10 mpg and are thinking of replacing it with a minivan that gets 20 mpg. They also have a sedan that gets 25 mpg and are thinking of replacing it with a hybrid that gets 50 mpg. Which replacement would save the more fuel? The answer is replacing the SUV with the minivan. With the SUV, the family has to buy 10 gallons of gas to go 100 miles while it would take 5 gallons to go the same distance in the 20 mpg minivan. The 25 mpg sedan requires 4 gallons to go 100 miles while the contemplated 50 mpg hybrid takes 2 gallons. So replacing the SUV saves 5 gallons of gas while replacing the sedan saves on 2 gallons of gas.

Larrick explains that the urgent need to save fuel is at the low end. He further explains there is a curvilinear relationship where the steep drops in fuel use occurs among vehicles that get mpg in the teens. The curve flattens out as vehicles become more efficient.

Most drivers have complained that their cars could not get the mileage promised by the EPA fuel economy figures. Starting with 2008 models, the EPA revised its testing procedures to more accurately reflect real driving conditions.

J. D. Power surveyed owners of 2008 cars and found that drivers said there were getting 5% better gas mileage than the EPA estimates.

Writing in the NY Times blog, Wheels , Cheryl Jensen reports that before the agency adopted the new method, owners of hybrids were often among the most disappointed that they couldn’t achieve the optimistic estimates on the window sticker. Now, more hybrid owners said they were getting fuel economy closer to what the E.P.A. predicted, or even more.

The Toyota Prius is an example. In the 2007 survey, consumers reported getting only 81 percent of the E.P.A.’s estimates, which were 60 m.p.g. in the city and 51 m.p.g. on the highway. In the 2008 survey, drivers reported getting 94 percent of the new estimates, which are 48 m.p.g. in the city and 45 on the highway.

J. Ronald Trost, a leading expert on bankruptcy law, has a proposal to save GM, Ford and Chrysler. His proposal in the NY Times is a restructuring under the umbrella of a special federal statute. He states ordinary Chapter 11 proceeding won't work for various reasons.

The federal restructuring statute would be the basis for a reorganization covering labor contracts, including retirement and health care obligations, supplier contracts, dealer franchises and pre-existing debt. State law dealer protection statutes would be pre-empted presumably to allow the manufacturers to dump excess dealers.

The federal government would guarantee bank loans with priority over other obligations, there would a guarantee that warranty claims would be paid, and possibly a new entity created to buy car loans.

Dealers and oil changer companies typically recommend changing oil every 3 months or 3,000 miles. On November 6, 2008, GM issued a statement that this recommendation is the biggest myth in the car business. GM has a Oil Life System (OLS) in almost all its models that monitors combustion events, engine temperature and other parameters to gauge oil's life. Using the data, OLS tells drivers exactly when their engine oil should be replaced. Changing oil when OLS indicates it is time to do so, a motorist who drives 15,000 miles a year would make two or three fewer oil changes a year as compared to changing oil every 3 months or 3,000 miles.

If all drivers of GM vehicles equipped with OLS use the system as intended, they would save more than 100 million gallons of motor oil annually compared to the 3,000 mile interval.

There are environmental consequences to too frequent oil changes. The American Petroleum Institute states that 1 billion gallons of motor oil are sold each year of which 185 million gallons are improperly disposed in the trash or down a drain.

The California EPA encourages drivers to follow the manufacturer's recommendations on oil changes. Manufacturers that do not have an OLS system in their cars typically recommend changing oil every 7,500 miles,

Other myths--today's electronically controlled engines do not need "tune-ups" and there is no need for chassis lubrication, annual radiator flushes, or routine wheel alignment.

Car bumpers in most new cars are incredibly weak. The Insurance Institute of America testers bumpers of 17 cars by crashing them into a barrier at a mere 6 mph resulting in an average cost to repair of $4,500! Luxury cars were the worst offenders; an Infiniti G35 had more than $5,200 in front end damage. According to SmartMoney magazine, some car manufacturers cram electronics right behind he bumpers increasing the risk of damage.

Today's bumpers are plastic lined with energy-absorbing foam and metal. The bumpers are aligned to the car's body for the sake of appearance and to be more aerodynamic to save fuel.

In the 1980s, the federal bumper standards were lowered with test speeds dropping to 2.5 mph from 5 mph and bumpers were allowed to sustain damage so long as headlights and other safety related components were protected.

Insurance companies say 3/4 of all collision repairs involve the bumpers. The tab in 2006 for minor collision repair approached $1 billion.

Sixteen years ago, Congress enacted a statute requiring the federal government to
implement the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS), a single
database that would provide public access to vehicle-history information gathered from
states, insurance companies, and junk and salvage yards. Before purchasing a potentially
dangerous used car, a consumer using the database would be able to instantly check the
validity of the vehicle’s title, verify its mileage, and learn whether it had been stolen or
deemed a junk or salvage vehicle. Congress viewed the database as an important solution
to the problems of auto theft, auto fraud, and the dangers associated with unsafe and
unreliable vehicles, and set a deadline of January 31, 1997, for establishment of the system.

After a 16-year wait, in an emphatic victory for consumers, on September 22, 2008, Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of the Northern District of California ordered the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to make this information available to consumers by the end of January 2009.

Public Citizen, Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, and Consumer Action brought the lawsuit against the DOJ saying that the agency’s unlawful delay in implementing the database was putting consumers at risk.

In a press release, Public Citizen said that when Congress passed a law in 1992 calling for the database, no one expected it to take this long to deliver such critical information to consumers. During that time, countless people have unwittingly purchased rebuilt or stolen vehicles.

High-tech digital odometers are making it easy to chat unsuspecting used car buyers according to a USA Today article. Unscrupulous sellers can obtain the software or services from the Internet to reset the odometers. Old style mechanical odometers could be reset, but it was fairly easy to detect that the tampering had taken place.

A NHTSA study six years ago estimated that tampered odometers could found on 450,000 cars a year costing consumers $1 billion annually. State and federal prosecutors continue to bring charges against car wholesalers and dealers for odometer fraud.

Savvy car buyers know that they may save money by buying an extended warranty (service contract) backed by a manufacturer from any authorized dealer. A NY Times article published August 2, 2008, on the subject of extended warranties features a Rhode Island Honda dealer, Saccucci Auto Group, that has made a business of selling discounted Honda Care service contracts over the Internet (www.myhondawarranty.com). According to Saccucci Auto Group, Honda formerly encouraged its dealers to sell the contracts over the Internet. However, in February 2008, Honda announced a new policy banning Internet sales to protect its dealers' profit margins.

Saccucci Auto Group sued Honda in a state court and a judge temporarily enjoined Honda from enforcing the new policy. Honda then removed the case to the federal district court. In October 2008, the case was tried in a federal court, but no decision has been announced.

Automotive News reports that BMW's Mini brand sales were up 52.8% in May 2008 from a year ago, but that J.D. Power reports that Mini owners reported 163 defects per 100 vehicles in the first 90 days of ownership. That figure was only topped only by the Jeep brand with 167 defects in the first 90 days.

An ABC news report reveals that aged tires--some as old as 12 years--are being sold as new at leading retailersl After about 6 years of sitting on the shelf, tires dry out and lose their elasticity. The tread will peel off these tires when put in use causing the car to swerve out of control and crash. These tire failures are killing people yet the Rubber Manufacturers' Association and their member tire manufacturers oppose a ban on the sale of tires more than 6 years old, which auto makers and others are recommending. The federal safety agency, NHTSA just this month issued a vague general guideline to "err on the side of caution if you suspect your tires are over six years old."

The tire's date of manufacture is stated on the tire, but in a code consumers cannot readily decipher. The 3 or 4 digit code, which is at the end of a long string of characters,represents the week of the year it was manufactured and the year. For example, 414, means the tire was manufactured the 41st week of 2004. 4202 means the tire was manufactured the 42d week of 2002. Until recently, the code was on the inside of the tire where no one can see it when the tire is on the car!

ABC investigators, some from Channel 7 in San Francisco, shopped tire retailers such as Sears and found tires 4 years, 6 years, and even older available for sale. What is needed is a ban on the sale of tires old tires.

California law allows cars dealers to add a so-called document fee of $55 to each auto purchase contract. There is no good reason the law should allow dealers to add this fee because document preparation is just part of the cost of doing business. Not satisfied with the $55 fee, this year, the car dealers sponsored a bill in the California Legislature to raise the fees to $65, which we estimate would cost California car buyers an additional $40 million per year.

The Assembly passed the bill, but this week the author of the bill withdrew the bill in the face of opposition from key senators, including Senator Ellen Corbett, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. Opposition to the bill was led by Rosemary Shahan, who is head of the consumer advocacy group, Cars for Auto Reliability & Safety. Consumers have Rosemary to thank for saving them $40 million!

Bay Area Checkbook has published a survey of 495 auto repair shops in the San Francisco Bay Area. It found plenty of good and bad shops--195 shops were rated superior for overall performance by 90% or more of their customers while 54 shops were rated inferior, the lowest rating, by at least 1/4 of their customers. The leading complaint was work not performed properly (39% of complaints) followed by poor customer service, high costs, performed unnecessary work, and slow turnaround.

Checkbook subscriptions are only $34 per year. Checkbook is a non-profit well worth our support. Checkbook uses survey techniques to rate vendors and service providers of many descriptions.