I got my 200S on July 31st. The car worked great for about 5 days, but then I started having an issue where if I left the car parked in the sun, it wouldn't start. Sometimes it'd start up after a minute or two, but other times it'd take a while. At it's worst it took a few hours before i could get it to start. When the car won't start it pops up messages that say "service trans stop safely shut off engine to engage park" and "service park brake" sometimes when this happens it'll also pop up messages that say "AWD unavailable" "service AWD" "performance shifting unavailable". After getting the car to finally start after a non start, the check engine light will stay on for a couple of drive cycles... usually enough for me to drive to and from work, but then will turn itself off. Those are just the consistent problems...
Once after getting all those messages, I finally got it started, got about a mile down the road and started to get an awful shudder under acceleration... almost like the feeling when anti lock brakes are doing their thing, but only when I pressed the gas. The check engine light also flashed at this point. I pulled over turned the car off and then back on and other than the check engine light staying on, the problem was gone. Another time after a non start, I finally got it to start and was pulling out of the parking lot to realize that the car wouldn't shift out of first gear... tried paddle shifters and got the "performance shifting unavailable" and the "service AWD" and "AWD unavailable" messages. Pulled over, turned the car off and back on, and once again, other than the check engine light staying on, everything was back to "normal". Once when getting ready to leave for work in the morning, it was cool out and the car actually started, but popped up messages saying "Service airbag system" "service antilock brake system" "electronic brakes offline" and "performance shifting unavailable" in this instance the ABS warning light also came on, and the rotary shifter locked and wouldn't let me take the car out of park for about 5 minutes. As before I turned the car off and back on again (this time it took a couple of tries) and eventually the car was fine and the check engine light turned off after the normal couple of drive cycles.
I originally took the car back to the dealership on August 8th, they kept it for a few days but at the time couldn't find anything wrong with it and got it back to me on the 12th. I had a non start shortly after but then the car ran flawlessly for about 2 weeks, we'd had some mild weather here in VA and I guess the car was in a good mood. I started having issues again when it got hot outside towards the end of August and took it back into the dealership on August 26th. I explained that most of the issues had been when it was hot out and this time they experienced some of the issues i'd been having. They kept the car for 10 days and through process of elimination had thought that they'd narrowed the problem down to a faulty ABS module, which they replaced. They explained that when the car won't start, it's completely dead. They can't interface with the car's computer systems at all. Once the car finally starts they are able to start pulling codes from the computer, and said that it spit out about 8 pages of error codes. I got the car back September 5th on my way to work and immediately parked it in the sun, just to make sure it was actually fixed... this was unfortunately not the case. Same issues "service trans stop safely shut off engine to engage park" and "service park brake". At this point I took the car back to the dealership, and was told by the service manager that he was going to need the car for a month this time because it was such an intermittent problem, that he was going to need time to make sure it got fixed. My salesman at the dealership is a long time friend and had recommended that i call Chrysler directly and file a customer service claim with them before I left the car for a month. So I headed back home with my car, from this point on the problems with the car got worse. Instead of only getting non starts when it was hot out, I was consistently getting them every night after work, after it had cooled down for the day. It seemed to be just as bad if not worse when it was cool out. I found that if I popped the hood on the car and took off the engine dress up cover, after letting it sit for about 10 minutes I could generally get it to start. At this point I was beyond frustrated, This being a $30,000 NEW car I did not want to go through another lengthy repair process, I was ready for Chrysler to step up and replace this massively defective car. When I called Chrysler's customer service they assigned me a case manager, who for all intents and purposes, i'm sure, was doing his job as he'd been instructed to do it. But I felt like he was reading off of a card and saying the things he's supposed to say, like "we're sorry for all the trouble you're having" etc... but really had no intention of replacing this car. He instructed me to take the car back to the dealership for another round of repairs, which I immediately did, however reluctantly. I dropped the car off September 16th and spent another 10 days in a rental car.... as of writing this I've owned this car for 58 days and have spent 23 of those days in a rental car. I got the call that they had traced the problem to some connector pins that connected to the transmission control module not making good contact and basically tricking the computer into thinking the car wasn't in park, thus leading to a non start. They fixed that and I went to pick up the car today (september 26th)... As before, wanting to make sure it was actually fixed this time, I parked the car in the sun for about 2 hours, hoping that this was about to all be behind me and I could finally start enjoying my new car. "service trans stop safely shut off engine to engage park" and "service park brake" NO start. I popped the hood, took off the engine dress up cover, let it sit for 15 minutes, finally got it started, and drove it right back to the dealership for what is my 4th time leaving it with their service department. I have driven more rental cars in the two months that i've owned this car, than the car I actually purchased.
I will say that the service department at Koons Chrysler in Tyson's Corner, is top notch. These guys have been banging their heads against the wall with this car and have been absolutely superb to deal with through this whole ordeal. My service advisor Justin, and the tech Jim who have been working on my car from the start are great dudes, and have been trying sooo hard to make this right. Much respect and thanks to those guys. I am however beyond frustrated with chrysler at this point. They can spend as much time as they need to to fix this car, but it shouldn't be MY time. It's time for chrysler to step up and replace this car, the ball's in your court guys, make this right.
Once after getting all those messages, I finally got it started, got about a mile down the road and started to get an awful shudder under acceleration... almost like the feeling when anti lock brakes are doing their thing, but only when I pressed the gas. The check engine light also flashed at this point. I pulled over turned the car off and then back on and other than the check engine light staying on, the problem was gone. Another time after a non start, I finally got it to start and was pulling out of the parking lot to realize that the car wouldn't shift out of first gear... tried paddle shifters and got the "performance shifting unavailable" and the "service AWD" and "AWD unavailable" messages. Pulled over, turned the car off and back on, and once again, other than the check engine light staying on, everything was back to "normal". Once when getting ready to leave for work in the morning, it was cool out and the car actually started, but popped up messages saying "Service airbag system" "service antilock brake system" "electronic brakes offline" and "performance shifting unavailable" in this instance the ABS warning light also came on, and the rotary shifter locked and wouldn't let me take the car out of park for about 5 minutes. As before I turned the car off and back on again (this time it took a couple of tries) and eventually the car was fine and the check engine light turned off after the normal couple of drive cycles.
I originally took the car back to the dealership on August 8th, they kept it for a few days but at the time couldn't find anything wrong with it and got it back to me on the 12th. I had a non start shortly after but then the car ran flawlessly for about 2 weeks, we'd had some mild weather here in VA and I guess the car was in a good mood. I started having issues again when it got hot outside towards the end of August and took it back into the dealership on August 26th. I explained that most of the issues had been when it was hot out and this time they experienced some of the issues i'd been having. They kept the car for 10 days and through process of elimination had thought that they'd narrowed the problem down to a faulty ABS module, which they replaced. They explained that when the car won't start, it's completely dead. They can't interface with the car's computer systems at all. Once the car finally starts they are able to start pulling codes from the computer, and said that it spit out about 8 pages of error codes. I got the car back September 5th on my way to work and immediately parked it in the sun, just to make sure it was actually fixed... this was unfortunately not the case. Same issues "service trans stop safely shut off engine to engage park" and "service park brake". At this point I took the car back to the dealership, and was told by the service manager that he was going to need the car for a month this time because it was such an intermittent problem, that he was going to need time to make sure it got fixed. My salesman at the dealership is a long time friend and had recommended that i call Chrysler directly and file a customer service claim with them before I left the car for a month. So I headed back home with my car, from this point on the problems with the car got worse. Instead of only getting non starts when it was hot out, I was consistently getting them every night after work, after it had cooled down for the day. It seemed to be just as bad if not worse when it was cool out. I found that if I popped the hood on the car and took off the engine dress up cover, after letting it sit for about 10 minutes I could generally get it to start. At this point I was beyond frustrated, This being a $30,000 NEW car I did not want to go through another lengthy repair process, I was ready for Chrysler to step up and replace this massively defective car. When I called Chrysler's customer service they assigned me a case manager, who for all intents and purposes, i'm sure, was doing his job as he'd been instructed to do it. But I felt like he was reading off of a card and saying the things he's supposed to say, like "we're sorry for all the trouble you're having" etc... but really had no intention of replacing this car. He instructed me to take the car back to the dealership for another round of repairs, which I immediately did, however reluctantly. I dropped the car off September 16th and spent another 10 days in a rental car.... as of writing this I've owned this car for 58 days and have spent 23 of those days in a rental car. I got the call that they had traced the problem to some connector pins that connected to the transmission control module not making good contact and basically tricking the computer into thinking the car wasn't in park, thus leading to a non start. They fixed that and I went to pick up the car today (september 26th)... As before, wanting to make sure it was actually fixed this time, I parked the car in the sun for about 2 hours, hoping that this was about to all be behind me and I could finally start enjoying my new car. "service trans stop safely shut off engine to engage park" and "service park brake" NO start. I popped the hood, took off the engine dress up cover, let it sit for 15 minutes, finally got it started, and drove it right back to the dealership for what is my 4th time leaving it with their service department. I have driven more rental cars in the two months that i've owned this car, than the car I actually purchased.
I will say that the service department at Koons Chrysler in Tyson's Corner, is top notch. These guys have been banging their heads against the wall with this car and have been absolutely superb to deal with through this whole ordeal. My service advisor Justin, and the tech Jim who have been working on my car from the start are great dudes, and have been trying sooo hard to make this right. Much respect and thanks to those guys. I am however beyond frustrated with chrysler at this point. They can spend as much time as they need to to fix this car, but it shouldn't be MY time. It's time for chrysler to step up and replace this car, the ball's in your court guys, make this right.