Suggested Ram changes and a rant!

[Tmartin000]

1. If it were me I would add another 20 minutes to the defroster circuit. I drive about an hour to work everyday. But man, who the heck came up to the timer length on the side mirror/rear window defroster? Half way to work my mirrors fog up and I gotta push the darn button again... Make the darn time like 45min! Quit being so stingy!



2. Why do a countdown on the heated seat time lengths? I understand the hot automatically going to low after a 1/2 hour... but crap, leave the damn thing on!! It eventually shuts itself off... I have a long drive and it's cold up here!!



3. When I leave in am it's dark. So my interior lights are set mid to lower light setting. But in the daytime, can't see crap. Why can't they use a automatic dimmer built into the rear view mirror? It just seems I make too many adjustments. I've never noticed this on any other vehicle.



4. Who the heck changed the glass on the passenger side mirror (on flip out tow models) so the glass is like the drivers side? It seems the field of view is like I am looking through a monocular! Way to tight. Why not use the glass that says "objects in mirror are closer than they appear". I swear, I come so close to running over curbs when I tow my boat... Stupid.



I realize these whiny complaints seem little, but what engineer comes up with these things..... an unpopular nerd I suspect.



Does anyone agree with my assessments?

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

TMartin, I think the seat heaters have a finite lifespan. I am guessing the engineers assume that after a half hour of driving or so the interior temperature is sufficient to keep warm. If the system was designed to stay on indefinitely I don't think it would last and the expectation is the warmers are there to provide comfort until the truck warms up.

Sort of the same deal on the mirrors. Mine are always plenty cleared up before the warmer times out on mine, but the humidity isn't so bad here. If the timeout was longer people would be using them all the time and not turning them off manually and burning them out prematurely.

The instrument light dimmer thing, I'm with ya on that one. The technology for automatic dimming based on ambient lighting has been built into TV sets for over 40 years, let's get with it Dodge!

Vaughn

 

[Heavyweight]

What about the thinnest sheet metal ever to grace a pickup. then the morons at Dumcrap-Chrysler have the ovaries to make a rockem-sockem commercial as though the dodge is tuff? Morons, the lot of them. That is my biggest complaint.

 

[bighammer]

The seats & mirrors don't bug me. (rarely use the mirror heat)

The instrument lighting is an irritation. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

The headlights suck, the sheetmetal is too thin, lubed for life balljoints? I'm just gettin' warmed up here... .

 

[RJOL]

Buy a Ford... Then you will have some real issues to compain about... :-laf :-laf

 

[JHardwick]

4. Who the heck changed the glass on the passenger side mirror (on flip out tow models) so the glass is like the drivers side? It seems the field of view is like I am looking through a monocular! Way to tight. Why not use the glass that says "objects in mirror are closer than they appear". I swear, I come so close to running over curbs when I tow my boat... Stupid.





Does anyone agree with my assessments?

Not really, and especially on this one. I like a real mirror on the off side.

 

[AMink]

It took me a while to get used to that passenger side mirror. The little convex one is ok during the day to find a car in the blind spot, but at night it's just plain useless. And the big one doesn't show the blind spot.



Biggest complaint, and it's not a new one, is the A/C is plain pathetic. #@$%! I guess it's more of a fan thing, but whatever it is, it sucks!



Needs to come standard with wheel well liners. Cheap buggers. Throw 'em on, charge $100 more, and no one would even notice.

 

[SLightfoot]

Needs to come standard with wheel well liners. Cheap buggers. Through 'em on, charge $100 more, and no one would even notice.

Ding-a-ling-a-ling. We've got a winner. Here here.
My 99 came with 'em standard. My 07 didn't. Great, so rocks, mud and crap spun off from the wheel are allowed to be propelled at high speed into the underside of the frame with super thin body panel metal.

Nice one.

I had them put them on before it left the dealer. No way am I driving (esp winter) without those things.

Shawn

 

[FullSack]

I would have liked . . .



back up sensors be available at least as an option like the Ferds.

a locking tailgate

steering wheel controls (cruise control) to be illuminated

 

[Panther1400]

Sounds like the mirrors have to be flat not convex.



Make : DODGE Model : RAM 3500 Year : 2006

Manufacturer : DAIMLERCHRYSLER CORPORATION

NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID Number : 06V380000 Recall Date : OCT 03, 2006

Component: VISIBILITY:REARVIEW MIRRORS/DEVICES

Potential Number Of Units Affected : 309

Summary:

CERTAIN TRUCKS FAIL TO CONFORM TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF FEDERAL MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY STANDARD NO. 111, "REAR VIEW MIRRORS". THE RIGHT OUTSIDE REAR VIEW MIRROR GLASS HAS A CURVED (CONVEX) MIRROR GLASS INSTALLED INSTEAD OF FLAT GLASS. CURVED GLASS CREATES A WIDER VIEW, BUT DISPLAYS IMAGES FURTHER AWAY THAN THEY ACTUALLY ARE.

Consequence:

DRIVERS OF LARGE VEHICLES MAY HAVE DIFFICULTY JUDGING DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS, WHICH COULD CAUSE A CRASH WITHOUT PRIOR WARNING.

Remedy:

DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE RIGHT OUTSIDE CONVEX MIRROR GLASS WITH A FLAT MIRROR GLASS FREE OF CHARGE. THE RECALL IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN ON OR BEFORE OCTOBER 9, 2006. OWNERS MAY CONTACT DAIMLERCHRYSLER AT 1-800-853-1403.

Notes:

DAIMLERCHRYSLER RECALL NO. F46. CUSTOMERS CAN ALSO CONTACT THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION’S VEHICLE SAFETY HOTLINE AT 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), OR GO TO HTTP://www.SAFERCAR.GOV.

 

[mberry]

1. No comment. Once my mirrors are clear, they stay clear. Low humidity here.



2. Mine do not shut off or go to low unless I change it. Go figure.



3. It doesn't bother me to have the dash lights bright all the time. What bothers me is having to adjust them brighter in inclement weather so I can see my NAV unit.



4. I'm so glad for this! I hated those other mirrors. I always had trouble with the distances with them. Objects ARE closer than they appear.

 

[MillerR]

I have a request for a new option... A rear window that rolls down into the rear wall. Not a small slider in the middle, the whole window rolls down...

 

[CRuth]

Heated seats? Heated mirrors? Oh the luxuries you guys complain about. I bet you even have electric doors and windows



Get that ac looked at. Mine works fine.



Yeah, not having a tailgate lock was cheap but you can buy a "poplock" that looks like stock for a few bucks.

 

[GFritsch]

Buy a Ford... Then you will have some real issues to compain about... :-laf :-laf

That was just what I was thinking! :{

 

[Prairie Dog]

As far as thin sheet metal goes, I had one of those paintless dent removal guys come out to fix a dent that was caused when I side swiped a tree in the dark when backing our TT into a tight camp site. He pushed it out and told me the metal was very heavy and hard, similar to that found on high end cars. He further explained that if he pushed this hard on something like a honda, his tool would leave an outward dent.

 

[JasonCzerak]

I think the metal is fine. . it's the freaking paint that chips if you look at it wrong (or maybe it's my looks?).



Swirl marks are just disgusting. Not to mention the dirt that always seems to take 30 seconds to accumulate all over the side seconds after you deem the truck "clean".



That freaking retarded rear view mirror that defaults to "auto dim" when you start the truck every time. Once it's warm out, I'll trace the wires and cut the correct ones to make it "off" until I flip a switch.



Headlights could be brighter.

 

[AKaiser]

Who is going to pay for all this . I have the towing mirrors, and I keep them in the towing configuration, as I prefer the small convex mirror to be "low and outside" to use baseball terminology, as opposed to "high and outside" as it is when it's in the flipped down position. Besides, unless I've got a blocked rearview mirror, I run my side mirrors wide to eliminate blindspots*. I feel with the mirrors "up" I can see vehicles further behind me, and I don't have to adjust the mirror to back up into a parking spot, as I use the convex portion to find the yellow lines and curbs. The only problem with this setup is drivethru restaurants, banks and a narrow toll plaza in Houston that left a scrape on my pax side mirror. Besides, prior to the 1994 model year, didn't all full-size Dodge PUs had vertical mirrors?



*Blindspot elimination technique (not for towing, obviously, or if your rearview mirror is obstructed. )

http://www.wikihow.com/Set-Rearview-Mirrors-to-Eliminate-Blind-Spots

 

[ACamilli]

Amen on the autodim mirror... i turn off every morning in my garage. It's dark in my long garage and I can't see backing up.

Amen on the NAV screen brightness... . it blinds you at night unless you dim your dash lights... . ever hear of auto dim for the NAV screen?

Amen to the total BS Dodge commercial. If you ever hit a Ram that hard all the plastic will fall..... you'll be looking at a radiator! My 06 3500 drw Lariat... I assumed the lower chrome was... chrome? Try plastic.

 

[Big P]

I fully agree with the back-up sensors. I have a Weatherguard tool box on my truck, which is 28 inches wide, and it sits on top of the rails for my Trac-Rac. I can't see s*#t behind me when backing into a parking spot.



I also agree with the need for better headlights.

 

[dpuckett]

I grew up in the "between" generation- some trucks we had came with flat and some with convex passenger side mirrors. I prefer the convex mirrors, due to the fact they have a larger blind spot area. Am I the only one who uses the relationship from the end of my bed/ dually fender to the "other" object to judge when I am too close? Heck, even when looking out my driver's side mirror, I use the relationship instead of "absolute" distances in the mirror. A flat mirror 7ft away from me is just plain useless unless I happen to be angled just right and can see stuff backing up. I cant use them without the 5" spot mirror to see those short little cars in traffic.



As for the rest of it, I'd prefer not to have it- more quality DC stuff to cr@p out on me in 5-7 years. If I pay $40K+ for a pickup, I am going to keep it a long time. Power windows are nice til the AC craps out along with the window in the up position. I guess that's better than stuck in the down position in a thunderstorm.



Daniel