Absolutely love my Chrysler 300, I'm a bit of a Mopar fan boy because I've owned a 300M and a Sebring before this. Lots of good memories. Anyways, last week I was driving home from Walmart and the battery save mode warning came on. Wasn't sure what it was at first but I had left my lights on all afternoon the day before so I thought it may have drained the battery. I pull into my driveway and the traction control/ABS warning lights pop on. Then my climate control shuts off and my lights start to dim. I park my car... I'm thinking its still the battery so I figure it just needs to sit and charge. I grab my stuff from the store and go inside. Waited about 10 mins and went outside to check on it. It had shut itself off and I noticed the distinct smell of burning wire insulation when I opened the door. I open the hood and smoke starts rolling out... Looks like the alternator had burned itself out pretty good. So I disconnect the battery to be safe and go inside. Start looking around and find that there is a recall. I call the dealership the next day, go figure my car isn't covered. Only the 160 AMP alternators are covered and I have the 180. Dealership wants to troubleshoot it... I already know what it is so I start looking online... $400 for an alternator!? Yeah no, so I find a used one for $50 2 hours away. Its off of a Challenger and looks a little different but it fits and only took about 20 mins to replace. 3 mount bolts, lead wire and an electrical connector. Stupid easy, can't imagine anyone not being able to do this themselves with basic tools. Fixed my problems and drove it to work today. Not that big of a deal but a pain in my ass. Chrysler doesn't make the alternators, they should probably find a new distributor or use a higher AMP from the factory. Looks like I'm not the only one with this issue. Should be addressed, its dangerous and scary to think that I could lose control of my car with little to no warning... let alone have it catch on fire and burn to the ground.

When starting the car to go shopping there was an unusual noise coming from the engine. When I put the vehicle into drive, the battery save mode came on and all systems shut down. No power, no lights. The dealer charged the battery and said it was a good battery. Installed battery and started up the car. It went right into battery save mode and all systems shut down. No power, no lights. Had it towed to the dealer and was informed that the alternator was bad and the battery has been fried.

If this had occurred on the highway during the day or at night a major traffic accident could have happen as there would be no power steering or power brakes. This is a bad design as there was no warning that the alternator was not functioning. I am now afraid to drive this vehicle because if the new alternator fails without warning a major accident could happen. This vehicle is not listed in the Chrysler 300 recall for bad alternator.

Wanted to send a letter to the President of Chrysler about the safety issue but there is no fax number.

This car is a 2012 and I have had electrical problems in the past with this car. The quality of parts use to put this money trap together are very bad. I bought my car to drive it not to have it towed from dealership to dealership in hopes that it would get fixed.

If Chrysler continues to use sub par material to build their cars then they need to extend the warranties. 10 years, 100,000 miles sound very good to me. Paying $700.00 for something that should taking care of by the manufacturer is not good for business.

I will not be purchasing another Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep vehicle. I will stick with Toyota from now on. I have had had a Toyota for 6 years and didn't have to replace an alternator on it!!!