All,
I'm hoping someone can help me work through a problem with an upgrade project. I have a 2010 Charger SXT, and while I love the car, I miss having steering wheel mounted controls. I found these threads which talked about how to add the controls:
www.chargerforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116963
www.chargerforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140662
www.challengertalk.com/forums/f5/adding-evic-controls-20575/
I followed the directions, ordered the proper steering wheel controls and wiring harness, then installed them with a friend who is a mechanic (I'm a novice!).
According to the instructions and comments in these threads, the only thing I should have had to do was take my car to a Dodge dealership, and have them enable the steering wheel controls by adding the sales code "RDZ". I did, they tried, it didn't work!
The dealership I went to looked at the printout provided on:
www.chargerforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116963&page=4
They hadn't done this before, but said it shouldn't take too long. I was there for over 4 hours (with my young, impatient kid)!
The guy I was working with was the assistant manager (of a large dealership) and he said the problem was that when they linked my car up, the code RDZ was not showing up for them to turn on. They tried the couple other codes people mentioned in those threads and they manually looked at every code that did show up to see if any would make the change I wanted. Then they called other dealerships to see if any of them had done this before and knew how to enable the controls. They called Chrysler for a workaround too. When all that failed, they even looked at the forum threads with me for any further suggestions.
A couple posts in the threads mentioned their dealer having similar problems enabling the feature (but didn't explain further), while a few people said their dealer enabled it with no problem (on the same year and model as mine), but only one person detailed how they dealt with a problem. That guy was adding the steering wheel (with controls) from a totaled car of a higher trim level. When he had a problem getting the feature enabled they “flashed” the VIN from the “donor car” (as he called it) that he got the steering wheel from. I discussed that possibility with the manager who said he wouldn’t suggest doing that since my car is still under an extended warranty and that would void it.
They didn't charge me anything and the asst manager gave me his card and said if I found out how to get this done, or learned of a dealership that had successfully done it to get their contact info, call him, he'll front-load me and get it knocked out for me. While I wasted 4 hours there, I do feel like they made their best effort.
Does anyone know how to get this feature enabled? If there's something that should work, let me know and I'll go back to the dealer.
If no one has any suggestions, the only option it seems I might have left is one person suggested Afterhours Mopar Performance in Florida, as a shop that could reprogram the TIPM to enable that feature, even when a dealer can’t. Is that possible? If so, has anyone else done that with AMP or any other shop?
My Charger is my every day vehicle and I live in northern Virginia. I have no idea how to remove a TIPM to start with, but even if I get help removing it, I'd have to express mail it down to AMP, ask them to complete the work right away, then ship it back as soon as possible, so I could re-install it and pray it works without any problems. Plus I'd need to get a rental car for that time my car was undriveable. All that would turn what was supposed to be a simple couple hundred dollar upgrade, into a very expensive project.
Does anyone know of any shops in VA, DC or MD that might be able to do this work for me? I’d prefer to drive my car to them, let them do the work and be able to test it to make sure they were able to enable the feature, before I drove away. That would be much better than mailing the TIPM to Florida and having all that down time!
This has been very frustrating, so any help anyone can give me would be very much appreciated. Thank you everyone!
I'm hoping someone can help me work through a problem with an upgrade project. I have a 2010 Charger SXT, and while I love the car, I miss having steering wheel mounted controls. I found these threads which talked about how to add the controls:
www.chargerforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116963
www.chargerforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140662
www.challengertalk.com/forums/f5/adding-evic-controls-20575/
I followed the directions, ordered the proper steering wheel controls and wiring harness, then installed them with a friend who is a mechanic (I'm a novice!).
According to the instructions and comments in these threads, the only thing I should have had to do was take my car to a Dodge dealership, and have them enable the steering wheel controls by adding the sales code "RDZ". I did, they tried, it didn't work!
The dealership I went to looked at the printout provided on:
www.chargerforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116963&page=4
They hadn't done this before, but said it shouldn't take too long. I was there for over 4 hours (with my young, impatient kid)!
The guy I was working with was the assistant manager (of a large dealership) and he said the problem was that when they linked my car up, the code RDZ was not showing up for them to turn on. They tried the couple other codes people mentioned in those threads and they manually looked at every code that did show up to see if any would make the change I wanted. Then they called other dealerships to see if any of them had done this before and knew how to enable the controls. They called Chrysler for a workaround too. When all that failed, they even looked at the forum threads with me for any further suggestions.
A couple posts in the threads mentioned their dealer having similar problems enabling the feature (but didn't explain further), while a few people said their dealer enabled it with no problem (on the same year and model as mine), but only one person detailed how they dealt with a problem. That guy was adding the steering wheel (with controls) from a totaled car of a higher trim level. When he had a problem getting the feature enabled they “flashed” the VIN from the “donor car” (as he called it) that he got the steering wheel from. I discussed that possibility with the manager who said he wouldn’t suggest doing that since my car is still under an extended warranty and that would void it.
They didn't charge me anything and the asst manager gave me his card and said if I found out how to get this done, or learned of a dealership that had successfully done it to get their contact info, call him, he'll front-load me and get it knocked out for me. While I wasted 4 hours there, I do feel like they made their best effort.
Does anyone know how to get this feature enabled? If there's something that should work, let me know and I'll go back to the dealer.
If no one has any suggestions, the only option it seems I might have left is one person suggested Afterhours Mopar Performance in Florida, as a shop that could reprogram the TIPM to enable that feature, even when a dealer can’t. Is that possible? If so, has anyone else done that with AMP or any other shop?
My Charger is my every day vehicle and I live in northern Virginia. I have no idea how to remove a TIPM to start with, but even if I get help removing it, I'd have to express mail it down to AMP, ask them to complete the work right away, then ship it back as soon as possible, so I could re-install it and pray it works without any problems. Plus I'd need to get a rental car for that time my car was undriveable. All that would turn what was supposed to be a simple couple hundred dollar upgrade, into a very expensive project.
Does anyone know of any shops in VA, DC or MD that might be able to do this work for me? I’d prefer to drive my car to them, let them do the work and be able to test it to make sure they were able to enable the feature, before I drove away. That would be much better than mailing the TIPM to Florida and having all that down time!
This has been very frustrating, so any help anyone can give me would be very much appreciated. Thank you everyone!
