CarComplaints.com Notes: What the heck happened here? A year after getting our "seal of pretty good" for the 2004, Chrysler turns around and delivers this crapwagon.
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.
My headlights go on and off all the time they even flicker sometimes by turning headlight switch on and off they come back on doesn't happen all the time sometimes I'll be driving and headlights will just go off by flipping switch off and on a few times they come back
Headlights. Dont work when they need 2. have big problems a they go on and off when I wants 2. when car is turned on dont work parked moving. I need help
While driving on rural road at night, shortly after turning right and disabling windsheild wipers: The headlights and entire instrumental panel completely shut off working without warning. Pulling back on the blinker lever and holding it back activated the brights and those worked. After toggling headlight switch off and back on, instrument panel and headlights reactivated. This failure mode doesn't exactly match EA11010, which claims that the instrument panel remains in operation while only the headlights fail. However I am unclear on whether my van's problem could still be at least partly caused by the headlight switch, so I will replace it at my own cost. My Chrysler dealership tells me they will only replace the switch under warranty if they can reproduce the problem, and otherwise they will charge a $150 diagnostic fee... more than the cost of the switch! I'm not falling for that trick! I am very disappointed with the decision to not resolve EA11010 with a recall. Headlights failing without warning at any time is a real safety issue, and it is too intermittent to diagnose on demand. Thus a recall is the only appropriate response to ensure safety. Instead, in order to proactively protect my family, I am forced to spend my own money for replacement. I thought the NHTSA was here to help?
Backed out of the driveway, headlights flickered, would not stay on, high beam worked, low beams came on, went off several times, would not stay on. This is for the date today 9/16/15, the date field above doesn't accept numerals.
- Edina, MN, USA
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During the driving, headlights went out at 55 mph and I made several attempts to toggle the switch and headlights came on. After a long period with this issue, it gets worse, it takes me at least 2-3 minutes toggling the swtich to turn it on. It is not safe to drive with this issue. Headlight switch is recalled by Chrysler but it doesn't apply on my vehicle.
Since about March of this year, our van headlamps will not turn on with the switch. It takes playing with the switch several times before they go on. Recently the headlights randomly go off as we are driving, we have to pull over and play with the switch to get the lights to go on. Also as we park and turn the car off, sometimes the headlights or the dash lights will go on by themselves. Currently we are having to jump the car often as if there is a drain on the battery. We took the battery to the location where it was bought and they tested the system, and battery and charging system passed all test. In other incidents which may or not be related our power sliding doors are not working properly. The left side does not function at all, and the right side closes and opens when the button is depressed. It takes two tries before it locks properly. When we take the van to the local dealer they know nothing of these issues, and have been quoted $300-600 to repair each incidents. We appreciate any and all assistance regarding these issues.
2005 Chrysler town county minvan the instrument panel and the heat and A/C and all gauge go black went you are driving VIN number is [xxx]. information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
I was driving G South on interstate 35 as I was entering the intersection where interstate 35, 80, 235 meet a semi hauling what looked like gravel was merging onto 235 at the same time I was. All of a sudden all my vehicle lighting went dark and the truck driver saw me.. I was frantically trying to get them on and I did not see him and just when he merged he saw me and slammed on his brakes. Resulting in my vehicle being pelted with sand and rock. My wind shield had numerous dings in it and since it was totally dark I didn't notice them till it was to late to stop him. My lights go off and on and until it's fixed I can't drive after dark. I went to the local Chrysler dealer only to find out it was not covered under any warranty and since I am a disabled veteran I do not have the money at this time to get the lights fixed and now the windshield is cracked.
While driving to work my headlights went out. I had to turn the headlight switch off and on a few times to get the lights back. Good thing that I was just leaving town and not on the freeway yet.
Turned the lights on as it was getting dark while driving and even on high beams it was if headlights were barely on. Also the left front blinker failed although the back blinker did work but flashed extremely fast. Replaced both headlights and still have to use headlights on bright to see as if the lights are on dim. The left front blinker and side light failed within a month of replacement. When replaced again, there was no change. The blinker/side light failed to operate.
The headlights do not illuminate when the headlight switch assembly is turned on. Turning the headlights off/on sometimes restore headlight illumination. This has been getting worse and worse as the time goes on. We called the local Chrysler dealer in NJ and were told there were no recalls or issues with our VIN.
Numerous times in the last four weeks while driving at night the headlights shut off. All but two times they came back on. The last two they did not come on until shutting the switch off and turning back on. All were at highway speeds which is very dangerous. Chrysler dealers have not heard of this however it is all over the internet. This is a major safety issue that needs addressed prior to someone getting killed. I am unable to drive this at night for fear of causing an accident.
Instrument cluster lights all go on, then the gauges stop working, the trip computer stops fails, the lights flicker high to low or low to high beam and can't be changed sometimesthe engine stops running while traveling down the road at 25-75 mph! the first indicator seems that the air bag light comes on as being "off". sometimes the lights & gauges go back to normal. A guaranteed short-term fix is to remove the battery to reset the battery button under the battery, or take the positive terminal off & ground it against an exposed bolt. Many seem to have been fooled into buying a new battery, only to have the same problem re-arise, inadvertently "fixed" when the a new battery, but just lifting the old battery a little would have done the same short-term trick. The sequence of failure seems to be (rain influenced?): air bag light comes on, lights flicker, all gauges & gear position indicators light up, speedo & tach pulse then fail, then you can just drive with all warning lights lit -no tach or speedo...then every thing resets in 10 seconds to 10 minutes, or, dash lights go out then the engine quits, leaving you driving a powerless rolling brick in traffic, fighting the steering wheel without power steering, having only inertia (if you are smart enough to have thrown the van into neutral) to coast off the road, through an intersection, etc. Our dealership's diagnosis was a "bad instrument cluster" - hardly, as I don't see how disconnecting the battery will instantly "fix" the instrument cluster for a while, or how the cluster will affect switching between high & low beams, or kill the engine after a sequence of events. This is a well know progressively dangerous problem, of failure leading to sudden loss of power. There are many, many electrical complaints relating to electrical failures regarding loss of functionality and engine power.
We recently purchased van with 66000 miles on it, do not feel safe driving now because of its problem. Stalls at traffic lights, all lights do a pulse/ surge, and effect driving vehicle. We have done some research on this problem and see that we are not the only one dealing with this problem.
The contact owns a 2005 Chrysler Town & Country. The contact stated that whenever the right turn signal was engaged, the left turn signal would activate instead. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The technician was unable to diagnose the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 100,000 and the current mileage was 111,000.
Just recently had an issue with the headlights, received notice that the switch was under recall. The other night my husband was following me home and noticed that the brakelights were not working, after testing things out we thought we figured the problem and changed the brake light switch. Today when I went for the headlamp switch recall the tech came out and said oh and by the way you have no break lights. Not sure what else to check and from what I have read it seems like there have been computer issues.
Driving at 65 mph on interstate, the warning "ding" went off as if a door was open, then the gauges started to sweep erratically, at the same time several dashboard lights flashed on and off. The odometer and prdnl lights flicker, as well as the head lights. It continued to happen going down the road at any given moment. I have noticed that it is more frequent when raining and when I accelerate, pulling on the engine. The headlights, odometer, and prndl flicker at an idle. If it begins the happen, I can stop the van, shut it off, then restart it and this usually solves the problem. I have checked the battery connections, replaced the battery, none of these has resolved this problem. As I have researched this on the internet, I see this as a common problem for 2005 Dodge/Chrysler vans. Some report stalling, which can be a very serious problem. Mine has not done that yet.
Since this past summer our van has demonstrated on multiple occasions flickering of light, cluster gauges, and the radio turns on and off; dangerous as speedometer and fuel gauge become unreadable; researched online and many people having same issue; seems like everyone paying a lot of money to have fixed but problems still persist; this is an issue Chrysler should recall like the headlight switch.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Sheridan, IN, USA