Our 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee got stuck in the sand on its first off-road trail in Utah, because its 4-wheel drive failed. It had to be towed out of the sand, but drove perfectly fine on paved highways. There was no visible or audible damage, so we drove the vehicle 2500 miles back to the selling dealership in Ithaca, NY.

The dealer determined a defect of the warranted transfer case as cause and ordered parts (which took 27 days to arrive). In the meantime I wrote to the manufacturer, asking for a reimbursement of the towing expenses ($600.-, off-road), which are covered under warranty as well.

23 days later (!) DaimlerChrysler not only refused to cover the towing costs but also ordered the Ithaca dealership not to cover the repairs under warranty. The Syracuse Zone district manager claimed that I had abused the vehicle - either by what happened in the desert or by driving back home. Neither of the two alternatives constitute improper use of the vehicle, but the district manager had decided that the problem was my fault, although he wasn't sure what to give as true reason.

I have contacted DaimlerChrysler many times by letter, e-mails and phone messages but the company does not see it necessary to justify any of its decisions or to specify the exact reasons for withdrawing coverage.

I, like many other Jeep customers before had to find out that DaimlerChrysler tries to blame its customers for problems that in reality are caused by poor manufacturing quality.
The usual term for DaimlerChrysler's behavior is customer fraud and I had to get the Attorney General involved.

For those interested in details, here is a history of events and some evidence that DaimlerChrysler does not honor its own warranty promises.