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.
Was traveling home from work, rush hour traffic heavy but moving close to posted speed limit (65 mph). Traffic slowed in front of me and I also slowed, then traffic came to a sudden stop, so I also increased pressure on the brakes. While doing so, the pedal went right to the floor, I lost brake pressure and started moving to the left to avoid a collision but was not able to. My van hit the car in front of me. I had time and space to stop and not collide if the brakes would not have failed, but when I lost brakes, the distance between my van and the car in front of me closed too quickly for me to avoid the collision. The van was damaged on the front right (passenger) side, but when I got the van back home off of the tow truck, I saw brake fluid on my driveway from the driver's side of the van. A few days later I got the van on jackstands to locate the fluid leak and found the problem to be terribly corroded brake lines running along the driver's side of the vehicle in the area of the driver's door. There is some flexible steel braided line and where it joins the rigid line, there is a so much corrosion that the line is literally rusting away. Searching on the internet I have found this is a very common problem with Chrysler minivans from 1997 to 2000. I feel it is a manufacturing problem. I am 55 years old and have worked on cars all of my adult life and have never seen brake lines corrode like this. As there are many vans like mine on the road, I wonder how many other vans have brake lines that are in similar condition as the ones on this van" it was simply a matter of time before these lines would fail. Now when I drive in traffic and see a Chrysler product van I ask myself "does that driver know anything about the brake line problem"" I think people need to be informed! there are so many potential accidents just waiting to happen! Chrysler needs to do something!
While driving the ABS system activated even though the pavement was dry. The problem is that the ABS system prevented the brakes from functioning at all and I rolled through an intersection even though I was pressing firmly on the brake pedal. The ABS warning indicator eventually illuminates indicating something is wrong with the system however, I don't think it should have failed in such a way as to prevent any braking action from occurring. This problem has only happened once but I was very lucky that no other vehicles were traveling through that intersection at the same time that this problem caused me to roll through it while the stoplight was red for me.
Vehicle metal brake lines rusted to the point of failure. On a 1997 Dodge Caravan, the metal tube brake lines leading from the distribution box to the rear brake wheel cylinders rusted to the point that they failed under use. Vehicle brake lines had to be replaced totally, and the failure occurred without warning.
Vehicle was taken to the dealer for recall 96V215000 concerning master cylinder in July 2002. After the repairs, the brake system caught on fire and melted the tires. Master cylinder was replaced. On 11/18/2003, the brakes failed, causing the vehicle to crash into another vehicle. The driver sustained a damaged disc in the neck and spinal cord.
We have had our vehicle since 1999 and have been disappointed with its performance. This is our third Chrysler/Dodge van and this is the second of the three to have transmission problems. The first had them at 37,000 miles and this one is having them at 71,000 miles. We were smart enough to have an extended warranty for both vehicles, unfortunately, on the current van the warranty ran out last month...besides the poor engineering of the transmissions this van has had several problems with the tie rod and front end noise as well as going through front brakes relatively quickly (we do not drive it roughly and it is mainly used to Transport our kids around our community approximately. 12000 miles or less a year since we have owned it.
Warning lights malfunctioned, causing brake lights to flash intermittently, and air bag sensor to stays on. The brake light flashed, the engine light and air bag light illuminated and the horn was inoperative. The air bag and horn problem may be the result of a clockspring failure.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Prior Lake, MN, USA