03 Ram 2500 Hemi. Heat fails to switch flow from feet/vent/defrost intermittently and most frequently will not switch to defrost mode at all. Dealer charged $98 to tell me nothing useful since it didn't register any codes and otherwise it would probably cost $700 so they could troubleshoot under the dash... Overall, it's embarrassing that Dodge's CEO allows crappy plastic parts to be put in the vehicles and then not stand behind them when the $10 savings turns into a consumer nightmare. Made in America should mean something... Too often it means corporate greed and pathetic leadership. I've generally been a huge Dodge Fan but this saga is sad.

I thought at first that I may have an electrical fault in the selector setting dial on the HVAC control knob on the dash because there were times that the HVAC would not switch settings from fan, floor to defrost, or back to the other. This was really only obnoxious at first when it was raining and or in the winter if it was below freezing and I really needed to defrost the windshield. Then it got progressively worse where sometimes with the AC running and the vent selector set to face and floor, the cols AC would only blow out the defrost vents and actually freeze the inside of the windshield. I took it to my local 5 star dealership where they predictably tried to get a code out of it and could not. They tried all of the simple things like checking the fuses and looking under the dash to see if anything was loose. they charged me a diagnostic fee for their time and sent me on my way by telling me that they couldn't reproduce the problem. I searched online of course once I got home and found that there was in fact a widespread problem with what Chrysler calls a "Defective Blend-Door" issue. Although the local dealership claimed to have never had any customers come in with the same problem or symptoms, I was able to find several reports of the same problem, with this same vehicle reported online. After several visits to the dealership and several calls to Chrysler Customer Service, Chrysler finally agreed topay the Dealership for parts and labor if I would agree to pay the dealership $250 for their time since the vehicle was out of warranty. Considering they would have to take my entire dash apart as well as fully disassemble the HVAC box, $250 was a pretty good deal to me, so I accepted the offer. The new blend door works but there is one problem. It is still of the same part number and design as the original part, Chrysler acknowledged the problem with the design of the part, but has done NOTHING to issue a redesigned part that is free from the defects that cause it to fail. So I guess if I have the truck for another 100k miles, this will happen all over again. Hopefully I will still have the truck in another 100k miles. If Chrysler could design and assemble a truck as well as Cummins can do for the Diesel engines that go in them, they might have a good thing going. Dodge wouldn't sell as many trucks of course because they would last too long. But their customers would sure be happy.

This is the best truck I've ever owned. I love this truck, but it definitely has a design problem when it comes to the heater door (diverter) hinge. It has now broken three times. Each time while I was snow plowing and using high heat switching from defrost to floor heat. It gets stuck on defrost and believe me, you need heat on the floor here in Minnesota in the winter. It cost me $800 the first two times to fix this (each time) and here I am at round three. This time I'm fixing it myself and custom re-designing the door hinge before putting it back together. Crazy that something so fundamental should cost the vehicle owner any money at all. Heater doors used to outlast the life of the vehicle.

You could turn the fan on, but no air would blow out any of the vents. Found out the problem was that the damper that moves to divert air from the vents to defrost, to the feet, etc. is controlled by vacuum. If the hose goes bad, the damper just closes and you can't get air out from any of the vents. It took a week to fix (the whole dash has to be removed just for them to find the problem, and then order the part.) The day I got it back, I tested it before leaving the dealership. I broke again as I was testing it. Took another week to get another part. Two years later, I can still tell that it doesn't work quite like it should. I am just waiting for it to break again.