Recalls

[polaratherapy]

To all the C bodies gurus, mad hatters, got a notice of a recall on my Ford Escape and it got me wondering if and when there were any recalls on Fuselage cars back in the day.
In todays world recalls are the norm, just curious as to when recalls reach back in time, probably a question for William Matar.


Have a nice day,

PT

 

[CBODY67]

You might peruse the Library section of www.hamtramck-historical.com for that information. Back then, "Campaigns" were usually related to emissions compliance or the somewhat rare safety-related item (as a seat belt retractor that was sticky, or similar). In many cases, back then, the "failed part" was usually something which only caused issues with a very small number of the total production of vehicles. IF the customer might have received the Letter from the OEM about the new campaign, had not issues with THEIR car, then the campaign might be dismissed and not done. No reason to do it, in the customer's orientation as they had not had that issue with their car. BUT when the problem might happen, THEN they'd get it performed.

Probably the most wide-spread campaign back then was for the Chevrolet lh motor mounts which separated and could cause the carb linkage to hang (back when carb linkages were solid rods and not cables). On Chryslers, by observation, when that lh mount would separate (age, oil contact, and USE), the front line out of the a/c compressor would contact an inner hood structure brace, usually, if not the hood exterior skin itself.

Enjoy!
CBODY67

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

I would think there should have been a recall for the old 58 - 66 Perfect Circle Autopilot units, as they were known to cause uncontrolled acceleration when not serviced. That's what prompted the move to vacuum controlled cruise units in 67/68 according to a greybeard I spoke to at length about 20 years ago who worked for Perfect Circle.

The thing was, back in the day, they usually tried to sweep this kind of thing under the carpet rather than step up to the liability plate...

 

[Big_John]

The first recall I remember for Chrysler products was for the replacement of '76 Aspen/Volare front fenders. They started rusting as soon as they came off the assembly line. I think they had some seatbelt issue too.

The next recall I recall (pun intended) was the K-Frame in the K kars. More junk... the frame would rot away and leave the front k-frame kinda hanging in space. Their solution was to install some hooks to "katch" the k-frame once it finally let go. No repair, just something to keep you off the guardrail when it did fail. I had a friend that was a zone rep and he explained it... along with a couple of komments about Chrysler really falling down on the job. I junked an otherwise really nice K-kar over that one.

 

[73Coupe]

And then there were the "recall wheels"...although very rare (apparently) so who knows how many owners it affected....

NOT MINE - 1969 PLYMOUTH FURY VIP 383 4 BBL W23 RECALL WHEEL CAR

 

[Big_John]

And then there were the "recall wheels"...although very rare (apparently) so who knows how many owners it affected....

NOT MINE - 1969 PLYMOUTH FURY VIP 383 4 BBL W23 RECALL WHEEL CAR

 

[azblackhemi]

The first recall I remember for Chrysler products was for the replacement of '76 Aspen/Volare front fenders. They started rusting as soon as they came off the assembly line.

Chevrolet had the same issue with the Vega fenders rusting. I was working in a body shop in the early 70's and new OEM Vega fenders came already undercoated on the underside of the tops of the fenders.

 

[polaratherapy]

Where on Earth do you guys dig all this stuff up, let alone keep some of this old time letter head?
Good to know , all trivia now I guess!

 

[CBODY67]

When the Aspen/Volare cars were being designed, Chrysler was already in financial crisis mode, so saving money in "unseen" area of the vehicle could be important. Whereas prior cars had had a "liner" or inner fender between the tires and the front fender underside, IIFC the A/V cars had none. So it was only the basic primer coating on that part of the fenders . . . just like a 1950s GM pickup truck. As that primer got eroded wtih road debris from the tires, certainly bare metal was exposed and "rust" happened. Add winter road saltand things just got worse.

The A/V cars also had more recalls than many other cars, too. Like the 1-bbl carb base gaskets that would fail and cause driveability issues. Poor and inexpensive sourcing most probably led to Chrysler having problems where none had existed previoiusly. With all due respect, assembly line QC and dealer Pre-Delivery Inspection/Service could have been "side issue" problems, too.

To Ross's comment about the AutoPilot issues, considering how low of an installation rate on that option, that it would have been more on Imperials and New Yorkers than Newports or Furys (although it was available on them), and something which most dealer techs had never seen (other than in the larger metro areas) in "Smaller Town USA" back then. It would have been very easy to keep "unintended acceleration" issues very quiet, I suspect.

Notification of that issue was probably in a "Dealer Letter" rather than in a TSB per se? Dealer principals saw it, the service manager saw it, and if they weren't ordering their cars with that option, the letter was "filed". This was also in eras when ONLY dealers got or could get TSBs, too. If a TSB might have been issued, it was filed in the appropriate folder (along with other TSBs that did not apply "to the vehicles we order and sell").

Just some observations,
CBODY67