This was my first Dodge and last, there have been so many suspension issues from right after I got it in 2007, the car was out of alignment right off the bat, I took it for my first tire rotation/oil change....the front and back end was so out of alignment that my tires were ruined! Then to follow shortly after my ball joints, the passenger side were so bad that they ruined my tire on that side...there is so much road noise with this car you couldn't even hear the noises that need to be heard! I couldn't afford both ball joints at the time so I had to put the drivers side off.

Just recently 2 sensors in the engine went bad that caused my spark plugs to foul out, so at this time I had to replace the sensors do a tune-up and found out that the other ball joint is really bad-unsafe to drive along with the passenger side tie-rod and control arms on both sides! You expect upkeep on a car, but the things that have went wrong on this car along with alot of people with the same make and model are ridiculous and should be recalled and fixed by Dodge but they think not so I also think not as far as EVER purchasing another of their products and will tell as many people as I possibly can about the issues with this car of theirs. By the looks of the Dodge forum online I am far from the only one with the same problems with this piece of crap car!

I own a Dodge Caliber 2007 SXT and I have noticed many complaints online with the front ball joints and tie end rods needing to be fixed. I bought my car in 2009 with 51,000 miles on it and was hoping it would last me till the end of school and trips from Pennsylvania to Illinois since I am now in graduate school with many school loans and living off Ramen noodles and water. Then I come to find out with 56,000 miles on my Caliber during an oil change that it needs to have the front ball end joints replaced and tie end rods replaced for around $850. I know that it is very dangerous to drive on it with this problem, but I have been doing this since October because I cannot afford the repairs at this time. Does anyone know anything I can do for the problem with contacting Dodge and should I take it to a Dodge dealer to have this fixed or is a local mechanic fine? I will never buy Dodge again and I will make sure all my friends and future patients know not to buy Dodge as well.

Unfortunatly I own a 2007 Dodge Caliber that the front ball joints and tie rods have worn out at 32000 miles.Totally unacceptable!! I contacted the dealer where the vehicle was bought and they said sorry can't help you your out of warranty. I contacted Dodge Motor Co. They said we will review your case and get back to you. Of coarse you know what they told me. Go pound sand up my ass, we cant help you. If there hasn't already, people are going to get killed here due to this on going problem with these cars. They took our bail out money hands down and still remain to screw their customers. This is the second time that this company has taken bail out money and still won't make recalls on their defective products that they sell. We should have let them go out of business. Now they have Fiat involved so they can still stay afloat. Time to let them sink. I won't and hope you won't buy Dodge or related products in the future. I'm trading it in on a new Honda. Research shows they take care of their customers. Have a great day.

First my car started to sound like a dryer full of ball bearings the ball bearing The OEM ones in the alternator went out. There is no replacement pulley so the whole alternator had to be replaced $600+ (found out this is a common problem in 2007 dodge calibers glad I caught that before it caught fire)…

then while pulling out of the parking lot my tire fell off due to faulty/worn-out I ball joints and upper and lower control arms.. HAD TO REPLACE BOTH BALL JOINTS AND UPPER AND LOWER CONTROL ARMS ON THE CAR AND PRETTY MUCH THE ENTIRE FRONT END SUSPENTION $1400+! (This is a major complaint with these cars as I have found online. I have read over 200 different complaint statements it makes me sick)not to mention my ABS light was on and they had to change out my speed sensor 100 +..

Now what has been happening is my ck engine light came on 2 weeks after the entire front end suspension was replaced when I drove the car it would shake and acted like it was losing power and would not let me accelerate past 35 mph. I took it in it had several stored codes. one was then intake manifold was stuck and the other was the camshaft.. they cleared it out and only the manifold came back up so they said I had to replace that. we did (another $800 + down the drain) I picked it up and a day later it was doing the same thing now saying mult. Cylinder misfire and camshaft they cleared it and test drove it but it did not come back on so the Dodge tech. has no clue what to do to fix it and no clue on the cost (crazy thing.. this has also been a problem on 2007 Dodge Calibers) This has all happened with in the last 3 months and my car has about 86000 to 87000 mi on it (cant tell you the exact amount as its in the shop)! I’m fed up this car is falling apart and no car with this mi and age should. As I have read Dodge knows of these issues and has done nothing about it I have also called and made my complaint no call back yet..

if you know of any open lawsuits on this let me know as I’m in! I would even be happy if Dodge would reimburse me for these issues as obviously they are well documented known issues.. I have spent way to much on this car in 3 months and @ 7 months pregnant with a 6 year old I need a safe reliable car!

I own a 2007 Dodge Caliber R/T that I bought with only 7,000 miles on it. (like new) The first ball joint failed at only 53,500 miles. I took the car to to my local Dodge dealer, and they confirmed that indeed the driver side ball joint was bad. They told me that it would cost me $453.81 to have the ball joint replaced, and that it was not covered under warranty. After much discuss, I contacted Dodge and expressed my disappointment. After doing some "ear bending", one day, a get a call from Dodge, and they said they would cover the cost of the repair minus $50.00. I was really very happy about that. So now, lets move down the road another 25,000 miles. Yes, that's right, the passenger side ball joint failed in the same manner. I contacted Dodge again, and after several phone calls (some never returned) was told that Dodge would not pay for the repair. Knowing that, I went out and bought a complete lower control arm for the passenger side and did the job myself. I did it for about half the cost of the dealer. The bottom line here is, these ball joints (from factory) are nothing but junk!!!! DODGE SHOULD REPLACE OR REIMBURSE EVERYONE THAT HAD TO PAY FOR THIS, WITH LESS THAN 100,000 MILES ON THEIR CARS. Ball joints should not go out with such low millage on them. Also, how about this. At about 77,000 miles, I had to replace the throttle body on this car!! I never in all my years of owning other makes and models did I have to replace a throttle body!! Needles to say, Dodge did not help me with the cost of this either. I WILL NEVER BUY/OWN ANOTHER DODGE PRODUCT AGAIN!!!

Bought this car with 2752 miles on it in 2007 and it presently has 49,151 miles on it. Replaced the front tires in March, 2012. Daughter got flat 6/25/12 on right front and learned from AAA the steel radial was visible on inside. Checked the left front and said same problem and it would go shortly if I didn't get car checked out. In fact, both tires were bald on the top with no tread whatsoever. Took it to back to my Firestone dealer, after passing them by in March for a "cheaper price" and what I'm left with is a very severe ball joint problem which the tire people never bothered to tell me about when they replaced the tires in March. So, the $75 savings is actually costing me not only the money I paid for the tires in March, but the addition of the cost of replacing them three months later, as well as the cost for the repairs, which you can't just replace the ball joints, you need to replace the arm controls and ball joints at once because five shops have told me today that the manufacturer put :$@!! quality ball joints and arm controls on the 2007 Calibers that can not be lubricated, so they dry rot out, needing replacement of both part much before the usual 90 to 100K miles of smooth road travel; but, being fair, if you drive continuously on pot hole filled roads, lots of dips, or speed bumps, that they will wear out sooner. So, I will never make that mistake again, as I am VERY, VERY pleased with Bill Greathead at Firestone in Swedesboro, NJ, as I was when he was in West Collingswood Heights, his move causing me to look closer to home in March which I now realize is worth the 30 minute drive for excellent service and my children's safety.

Chrysler, as you've read, is aware of the problem and will not recall. There is also a new recall out regarding the steering which was allegedly out there in June of 2011, but I have to check into that, where you can lose control of your car is the problem is not addressed. My daughter is lucky she only had a flat tire and, I have been unable to drive my car for over a week because I didn't have the extra $1,000 lying around to make the repairs and replace the tires AGAIN, quite to the contrary actually, and because of the severe damage to the ball joints making it a safety issue to drive.

Again, being fair to Chrysler, I have not had any other problems with my Caliber. It is great on gas, and all the other mechanics, knock on wood, have been flawless. I do get regular oil changes and keep up with scheduled maintenance and traded in my Caravan for it due to the gas mileage and two travel field hockey players.

I am, however, very unhappy Chrysler will not acknowledge this obvious defect in their product, as I have been a diehard Dodge customer since the time I purchased my first car, a Shelby Charger. While, I will stay with the Cherry Hill Dodge dealership, I think I may choose one of its other partners in my next car purchase since Chrysler doesn't seem to care very much about their customers' safety, nor the quality of their product when they're made aware of its severity and the financial hardship it presents on its customers, as well as the potential serious danger for bodily harm not only to the owners of their products, but to other vehicles on the roadway. Someone really should start a class action against them to have us all reimbursed for the manufacturing defect that has left us scrambling financially to address the deficiency, causing great havoc in our lives from the loss of the use of our motor vehciles as well as the stress caused in having to try to finagle transportation not only for work purposes, but for all out children's daily activities. Shame on you Chrysler.

Ever since I purchased it at the age of 67 in late April 2007, I have enjoyed my 2007 Dodge Caliber SXT immensely and have had few, if any, problems with it. I have followed the normal maintenance schedule closely, even to the extent of changing engine oil and filter more often than specified (less than every 4,000 miles). I was extremely pleased that the original tires accumulated a little over 41,700 miles before requiring replacement in June 2010; I attributed this long tire life not only to the integrity of the vehicle and its components but also to my relatively smooth style of driving.

Recently, after taking the Caliber in for periodic engine oil and filter with 56,654 miles indicated on the odometer, I was informed that the front end ball joints and rocker arms were in bad shape and needed to be replaced. The mechanic picked up on the problem by first noticing unusual tire wear on the inside of all four tires, which was worse on the tires currently on the front of the vehicle than those currently on the rear (the wheels were last rotated at about 52,400 miles). Much to my chagrin, all four tires also had to be replaced after accumulating less than 16,000 miles since new.

Prior to this occurrence, I had never heard of ball joints/rocker arms having to be replaced with less than 80,000 miles on a vehicle. My subsequent research on the internet seems to indicate that this has not been totally unusual in the 2007 Dodge Caliber. In my case, the total bill for replacing the ball joints, rocker arms, and four tires (including mounting, balancing, disposal, and front end alignment) was $1,295.90.

I complained to Dodge Customer Assistance about my having incur this undue expense for premature replacement of the ball joints, rocker arms, and relatively low mileage tires. I received a reply that was both timely and empathetic; however, it fell far short of easing my pain, especially in view of its bottom line: "your request for consideration in this matter must be declined, because the vehicle in question has exceeded the time or mileage limitations of the manufacturer's warranty at the time the expense was incurred."

I was extremely disappointed that Dodge/Chrysler would not do more as an act of good faith to defray some of the pain caused by apparent poor design and/or poor workmanship of the front end suspension of the 2007 Dodge Caliber. In addition, my subsequent learning that the premature "failure" of front end ball joints and rocker arms has been a well documented deficiency of the 2007 Dodge Caliber left me with a "lemony" taste in my mouth. I have asked Dodge Customer Assistance to direct me or my input to a level within the company that will not only own up to this problem but also stand behind the Dodge Caliber product. I last heard from them on April 12, 2012.

I see this is a common problem with the 2007 Calibers. I first purchased the car in July of 2011, the car was driving great! I fell right in love with it. When I purchased the vehicle it had about 59,000 miles on it. Ever since I have owned the car it has always made an odd creaking noise when i would sit in it or turn corners but I just thought it was normal for the model. Only 5 short months later, with a whopping 63,000 miles on it I started noticing when I would hit a bump my wheel would jerk a little. Being a 20 year old girl I don't know anything about cars, it didn't really seem like big of a problem. It was a big problem, one day I was driving down the road and suddenly I lost control of my car, and smashed my car to pieces. My ball joint had broken while I was driving and caused thousands of dollars worth of damage. I was incredibly lucky that there was no one coming and the person behind me was paying attention. With this being such a common problem is Dodge really not going to send out a recall? The vehicle is so unsafe! Every time I jump into my car I feel like I'm going to get into an accident, I'm so nervous to drive it I am without a doubt considering trading it in and never purchasing dodge product again. When Dodge presents issues like this to the consumer and doesn't provide anyway of fixing it business will be lost, vehicles are too damned expensive to spend this kind of money on and have problems this serious occurring in a number of calibers.

I had to replace the entire driver side control arm and paid dealership prices because after four years since they made the car they STILL haven't released the parts to auto part stores. I also had to replace the 2 out of 3 bushings on the passengers side and the dealership wanted me to buy another control arm because they hadn't even released the bushings but we figured out that the cavalier has the same bushings as the caliber so we were able to fix that cheaper but now three months later my ball joint is bad on the passenger side and i have to get that fixed next.