DaimlerChrysler tries to blame customers for problems that in reality are caused by poor manufacturing quality. Here is some evidence from my case
	The first picture was taken in the evening of August 6 before we walked to the main road. It clearly shows the tire tracks of a vehicle that drove on this trail about an hour before. This vehicle was a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee (6cyl, 4.0l engine) that passed us during a photo stop at the beginning of the trail. It proves that the trail was easily passable for a 4WD vehicle.
	Picture 2 was taken about noon on the next day. It shows signs of another vehicle passing by us in the morning of August 7. This was a Toyota 4Runner whose path was blocked by our Jeep when it showed up at about 6:30pm on August 6. The driver had to leave the marked 4WD trail and drive through the deep sand to get by us. Again, this shows that an operational 4WD could manage even more difficult terrain than the trail we got stuck in. Taken together these pictures clearly prove that our 4WD did not work.
	The towing company clearly stated on its bill that the 4WD of our Jeep did not work. To be more precise: the front driveline did not turn at all. When we tried to engage the low range 4WD there was only a grinding sound from the transfer case and none of the tires turned. On the other hand, the vehicle drove perfectly fine without any unusual noises after it had been towed out of the sand hill. There was no visible damage to it - even the skid plates that protect the transfer case were (and still are) without scratches. Together with the pictures proves that the vehicle got stuck in the sand solely because of a mechanical failure of the 4-wheel drive. It would have gotten out easily if the 4-wheel drive had worked.
DaimlerChrysler claims that I must have damaged the transfer case by using the vehicle beyond specifications
	It is quite obvious that the transfer case had a defect even before I took the vehicle on the 4WD trail. Otherwise it couldn't have failed after driving only 3 miles in low range. Consequently its repair must be covered completely by the manufacturer's warranty, which explicitly says that all parts are covered under the warranty and that the customer has to pay nothing for repairs. The warranty lasts for 36 months or 36,000 miles. My vehicle was only 15 months old and had a mileage of 23,626. If DaimlerChrysler wants to claim abuse fact it has to prove that the damage to the transfer case was caused solely by what happened after the vehicle was towed out of the sand. In particular it must explain convincingly how a transfer case could have been without defect if the 4WD failed completely. If it cannot do so, everything what happened after the incident is irrelevant, because the damage was already there.
DaimlerChrysler states that driving the vehicle home after discovering a defect in the 4WD is abuse.
There was absolutely no indicator that driving in 2WD (high range) would in any way affect the 4WD. To operate in low range, one has to shift mechanically to an entirely different position and shifting into that position was the only problem the vehicle had. It was even probable that during manufacturing process a wrong part (too small or too short, these things have been found when taking a new failing SUV apart) had been put into our transfer case, since the 4WD had never worked in the first place. The Jeep behaved identical before and after the incident and the problem would not even have been noticed if I hadn't taken the vehicle on a 4WD trail. There are no reasons to assume that a drivetrain noise was a cause for concern. I asked about the whining sound at 70mph and up at the Jeep dealership in Santa Fe and was told that this was normal for all 99 Grand Cherokees. (The noise level even increased after the transfer case was replaced.)
	I had no reason to drive to the next Jeep dealership to have the problem fixed immediately. On the other hand, there were plenty of reasons not to do so: Everyone - the Jeep dealership in Santa Fe, the towing company in Moab, and even DaimlerChrysler's warranty booklet - recommend to take the vehicle to the selling dealership for major repairs. Finding the true cause for the problem would have required the transfer case to be taken apart. Since parts would have to be ordered, a repair would have taken several days, if not weeks. As a consequence we would have to to fly home to get back to work in time and to fly back later to pick up the car and drive it back. This would have cost us $1,500.- and more. The fact that it took 27 days from the day I brought the vehicle to the Jeep dealership in Ithaca until all the necessary parts had arrived proves that I was right in assuming that a repair would take a very long time.
DaimlerChrysler claims it doesn't have to pay for the towing expenses:
	The ranger who drove us home at night on August 6, recommended to call one of the local towing companies in Moab, because they had the most expertise for off-road towing and were familiar with the specific terrain. It did not make much sense to call a towing company from further away because that would only increase the costs. The costs for towing the vehicle from the 4WD trail in Arches NP to Moab (20 miles) were $600.- due to the difficulty of off-road towing. According to DaimlerChrysler's warranty booklet the costs of towing the vehicle to the nearest DaimlerChrysler dealer are covered under warranty if the vehicle can't be driven because a covered part had failed. This exactly describes the situation: the Jeep could not be driven out of the 4WD trail because its warranted transfer case had failed. The costs for towing the vehicle 20 miles to Moab are certainly less than towing it to the nearest DaimlerChrysler dealer in Grand Junction, 120 miles away from Moab (or 140 miles away from the trail in Arches NP). Thus the costs for towing have to be covered by DaimlerChrysler.