Addressing the lifetime of a product issue....I had a '74 Dodge van, and I found out there was a recall issued for a weakness in the mounting of the steering gear, which explained a steering problem I was having. I took it to the local Dodge dealer (I think it was in 1984), and they said they would not do the work; the vehicles life was over. It only had about 100k miles on it. They wouldn't even do the work if I paid for it myself (which they said was about $600.00 when they did do the work). I guess the lifetime of a product is whatever the manufacturer decides is best for them.
BTW, I did get a guy to fix it up for me, and I drove it until 1995 and the guy who bought it drove it for 4 more years.
Maybe this is more appropiate for a Mopar forum
