Woman driving a car with a faulty Dodge Dart transmission.

Faulty Dodge Dart Transmissions

By Sepehr Daghighian

Owners of Dodge Dart have complained for years of shifting issues arising from their vehicles’ defective transmission components. For instance, drivers complain that their gear selectors lock up, they are unable to shift in and out of gear, their vehicles spontaneously drop into neutral, their transmission makes strange grinding noises when shifting, their transmission jerks when shifting, or (in some cases) the transmission completely dies. Frustratingly for many consumers, Dodge has been addressing their customers concerns by oftentimes installing the same defective parts back into the vehicles, thus, effectively kicking the proverbial can down the road.  

CCA’s expert lemon law attorney has advocated for Dodge Dart owners and obtained exceptionally favorable settlements from FCA (Dodge’s parent company) for clients that have suffered through frustrating repeat repairs to their transmissions. California’s strong lemon law, the Song-Beverly Act, provides that manufacturers must repurchase or replace vehicles when they are unable to fix them after a reasonable number of repair attempts. CCA has observed that, oftentimes, customers take in their FCA vehicles for repair of transmission concerns over-and-over again, to no avail. FCA’s dealerships oftentimes apply “band-aid” repairs, which don’t correct the condition or send the customer home because they could not detect a problem. Fortunately for our clients, our lawyers possess the legal and technical acumen to obtain speedy and exceptionally favorable results when the manufacturer is unable to repair their vehicles.  

In April of 2019, FCA announced that it was recalling every automatic transmission Dart in the U.S. to address problems with the transmission shifter cable.  Dodge recalled a total of 298,439 of the 2013-2016 Dodge Darts because of defects in the 6-speed transmission shifter cable. According to documents filed with NHTSA by Dodge, “The shifter cable bushing on the transmission end of the shifter cable could deteriorate and become detached from the transmission which could result in the inability of the driver to actually shift the transmission, even though the driver may move the shifter handle.” Dodge admits that the defect can be dangerous, stating: “If the shifter cable becomes detached from the transmission, the vehicle may not perform the shifts intended by the driver… In addition, if the driver’s door is opened while the transmission is not in PARK, the vehicle not in PARK and door ajar messages will display on the instrument cluster and audible chimes will sound. If these warnings are not heeded, unintended vehicle movement and vehicle crash can occur.”  

Transmission issues are oftentimes the most frustrating of vehicle problems. They are frustrating and dangerous for drivers and, oftentimes, difficult for technicians to repair, resulting in a cycle of warranty presentations without repair. Fortunately, CCA’s attorneys are experts in California’s Lemon Law and can apply our State’s strong consumer protections to resolve our client’s vehicle issues. For a free consultation with a lemon law expert, please call us today: (833) LEMON-FIRM.  

About the Author
Sepehr Daghighian is a partner with CCA that is well-versed in all aspects of lemon-law litigation. A 2005 graduate of Loyola Law School, Mr. Daghighian has been practicing litigation throughout the state of California for over 13-years. In this time, Mr. Daghighian has advocated on behalf of California consumers in hundreds of lemon law cases throughout our great state. Mr. Daghighian has also successfully tried numerous such cases to verdict in both Federal and State Court.