Huntyeraws
New Member
I am coming on 3YR warranty anniversary date on my 2008 KK. I had my annual state inspection performed at dealer the other day. I noticed a couple of weeks back when it got cold and damp that my rear window defroster wasn't working. Prior to that I noted 2 element stips were not working but decided to wait until I could get it it for warranty service so I had them look at it while it was getting inspected.
I received a call at work from dealership that they would REPLACE the entire rear window for this element problem under warranty. They would have to order it. After work I showed up and they indicated that they tried to call me back a short while ago but couldn't get a hold of me. The service rep told me that Chrysler was NOT going to warranty the damage afterall as "it had a pattern to the damage and was clearly damaged". I was truly disappointed as my last Jeep GC I owned for 12 years had no issues and this was not my fault. Then he tried to charge me for initially and hour of labor for diagnosis then dropped to 1/2 hour and I told him "WHAT?!" I told you that it didn't work and wanted it repaired under warranty, you said it was and now you are telling me that it wasn't and are charging me?! He promptly dropped the charge. I went to my vehicle - popped the rear glass open and inspected it - sure enough there were "patterns" in the elements but there was evidence of the elements SHORTING as well as DELAMINATING from the glass surface! This to me is suggestive of a manufacturing DEFECT (I perform failure analysis on microelectronic and mechanical devices and am a trained microscopist with over 19 years in failure analysis) I went back and showed him the defects and he agreed with me that these didn't just look like "opens" but were shorts and he had never seen the window elements just delaminate off of the window before. To me, this is a component defect. It appeared like there was either a contaminant on the glass surface when the mask was applied, contaminant in the element metal application or too thin of a metal laydown which couldn't handle the current. The service rep indicated that I would have to call Chrysler and complain to them.
Here are a couple of pics I just took....what do you think?
I will be calling Chrysler in the AM.
Here is where element strip is clearly breaking and delaminating off of the inner window surface - this is suggestive of an adhesion failure - note there is other damage to the one on the upper right
Here is anothe element where there is clear evidence of an electrical short - note the "shotgun blast" and thermal damage from the short around the wire - this clearly is not an "OPEN" that occurred from an abrasion that just scratched the window element! Definitely a SHORT! There is another short in the adjacent adjacent element to the right.
I received a call at work from dealership that they would REPLACE the entire rear window for this element problem under warranty. They would have to order it. After work I showed up and they indicated that they tried to call me back a short while ago but couldn't get a hold of me. The service rep told me that Chrysler was NOT going to warranty the damage afterall as "it had a pattern to the damage and was clearly damaged". I was truly disappointed as my last Jeep GC I owned for 12 years had no issues and this was not my fault. Then he tried to charge me for initially and hour of labor for diagnosis then dropped to 1/2 hour and I told him "WHAT?!" I told you that it didn't work and wanted it repaired under warranty, you said it was and now you are telling me that it wasn't and are charging me?! He promptly dropped the charge. I went to my vehicle - popped the rear glass open and inspected it - sure enough there were "patterns" in the elements but there was evidence of the elements SHORTING as well as DELAMINATING from the glass surface! This to me is suggestive of a manufacturing DEFECT (I perform failure analysis on microelectronic and mechanical devices and am a trained microscopist with over 19 years in failure analysis) I went back and showed him the defects and he agreed with me that these didn't just look like "opens" but were shorts and he had never seen the window elements just delaminate off of the window before. To me, this is a component defect. It appeared like there was either a contaminant on the glass surface when the mask was applied, contaminant in the element metal application or too thin of a metal laydown which couldn't handle the current. The service rep indicated that I would have to call Chrysler and complain to them.
Here are a couple of pics I just took....what do you think?
I will be calling Chrysler in the AM.
Here is where element strip is clearly breaking and delaminating off of the inner window surface - this is suggestive of an adhesion failure - note there is other damage to the one on the upper right
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Here is anothe element where there is clear evidence of an electrical short - note the "shotgun blast" and thermal damage from the short around the wire - this clearly is not an "OPEN" that occurred from an abrasion that just scratched the window element! Definitely a SHORT! There is another short in the adjacent adjacent element to the right.
You must be registered for see images
