This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
On my 2001 Chrysler Sebring one of the ball joints on the passenger side front wheel separated in a parking lot, causing the wheel to become detached. The mechanic determined it was rusted out which was surprising since the car only had 37K miles. The vehicle was in Michigan and Ohio for 5 years and California for 2 years. The mechanic was surprised and he said it normally takes over 100K miles for this type of problem. There were no injuries and the car was repaired (with replacement of all ball joints and the control arms) and I have the parts.
While driving in rush hour traffic on a busy interstate, the right front ball joint failed catastrophically and the front end began to shake violently. Fortunately I was able to stop quickly and pull into the median. I had the car at the dealership only 2 months prior with "popping" noises in the front suspension. The service department performed an inspection and said "all front end components tight and sound /no failures detected". less than 2,000 miles later, the ball joint failed! what is even more concerning is that the same exact symptoms were experienced 2 years ago and many components of the front suspension (including both ball joints) were replaced. The first occurrence of this problem was at 37,000 miles and cost me $598.66 (since the warranty only covered to 36,000 miles - ironic, huh?). the most recent failure occurred at 63,000 miles and cost me $693.06. Upon driving the car into the garage after being towed, the service manager said that the ball joint popped completely out of it's joint and showed me that the tire was only barely hanging on. He also said I was "lucky" that I hadn't went 20 more feet on the freeway because the tire would have fallen off and there would have been much more damage and possibly injury. The dealership made the repairs but would not cover any of the expenses. The dealership also would not accept responsibility or refund the cost for the faulty inspection that was performed 2 months prior to the catastrophic failure of the ball joint.
Front top ball joint snapped when pulling out of a parking spot. No warning, had to be towed for repair. Found damaged control arms on both sides when replacing both front top and bottom ball joints. Only 53,000 miles on the car! intend to write to Chrysler.
Caller said the wheel fell off in driveway without warning. The top upper ball joint gave way, leaving the bottom ball joint to hold the tire. Dealer said this was normal. Manufacturer has not been contacted yet. Caller has not had it fixed.
While driving 25 mph consumer heard a sound coming from the rear. Consumer pulled to the side, and noticed that the vehicle was leaning to the left. Vehicle was taken to the mechanic for inspection, and mechanic determined that the ball joints needed to be replaced.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- San Jose, CA, USA