I brought this car in July 2002. In December of 2002 with a little over 21,000 miles on the car, (6 months later) I have to replace the rotors and pads for more than $400. Here it is March 2009 and I'm already into my eight-ninth-tenth set of rotors and pads and the cost is still coming out of my pocket.

Chrysler-Dodge was well aware of these problems before selling such lemons to the customers, but is unwilling to change their practices including the cost of buying these contraptions. We need to bombard the President of this company, as well as the PRESIDENT of USA if we want Chrysler to make the required repairs to our vehicles and/or reimbursements for repairs. If Chrysler does not agree, then let them suffer the consequences of seeing their company go down in despair if they do not make proper amends to their customers.

At 20,020 miles, my wife reported that the van was making a grinding noise at stops. She said that this was the first day that she heard it. I asked if she had ever heard a squeal, or a metal rubbing sound from the brakes prior to that and she said no.

Two days later, I took it to a brake and tire shop and had the front pads and rotors pulled. The pad material had crumbled on the inside pads resulting in metal to metal in some spots and the outside pads were less than 1/2 mm to metal to metal contact. The rotors were very grooved and looked quite thin.

The mechanic said that they were too thin and too grooved to resurface. The factory rotors are soft and thin. I purchased a set of aftermarket rotors and pads that were heavier duty than the OEM ones and the brakes look good for over 20K miles later. The van stops just as well as it did the day we bought it.

Again, this van is used by my wife to drive the kids around. It is mainly city driving, but she is a conservative driver, rarely hitting the speed limit and routinely coasting to stops.