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.
I have a 2000 Dodge Durango R/T. I only have 31,000 miles on my Durango and the transmission is pouring fluid out. Apparently there is a standard defect in all Durangos regarding seals for the transmission. All the rings have to be replaced which requires pulling out the whole transmission. I rarely drive my vehicle, maybe a few times a week. To the store etc. Seems to me that since Dodge is aware of this problem with the transmission then they should be doing something to help fix them. This should not be happening after 31,000 miles. Being an R/T I paid almost $28,000 for it when it was almost 2 years used with 18,000 miles on it. Something needs to be done! I read complaints at Consumer Affairs and saw that I am not alone. My 6 person family lives on one small income. We purchased this vehicle for safety and reliability. I take very good care of it and drive it very little. We can not afford this expense. I do not have any idea how we can come up with the money to fix this. And the fact that Dodge knows about this common problem makes it even worse!
Transmission has failed two weeks after purchase date. The vehicles transmission went in reverse while the gear was in drive. The vehicle was towed to the dealer. The dealer refused to repair the vehicle free of charge because of the vehicles mileage, 37828. The consumer was under the assumption that the warranty was valid. The warranty was effective from 2002 (3 years/36K miles). The vehicle experienced multiple electrical problem. The indicator lights stopped working, hazard lights stopped working, the right rear passenger door lock failed and the left passenger window motor failed. The vehicle also experienced steering problems.
While driving at an undetermined speed engine light came on and smoke started coming from underneath the vehicle. This resulted in vehicle bursting into flames. Prior to this occurrence dealership replaced transmission sensor 3 times. Cause of the fire was undetermined.
Transmission has irregular shifts between gears. It seems to fluctuate between 1st and 2nd gear, or like it can't pick which gear it wants to be in. Transmission clunks between drive and reverse. Larson Dodge in puyallup told me it was normal and that I should pay for a transmission fluid change even though it was still under factory warranty. Said it needs synthetic tranny fluid. Only 30K miles on it.
Had to replace the transmission at 41,000 miles on our 2000 Dodge Durango. Around 30,000 miles the SUV's RPM's would fluctuate and stall at stops. It would do it spuratically, yet basically daily. The place where we had it serviced said they would have to duplicate the problem before they could fix it. Since this didn't happen all of the time the service department could not duplicate it. On one occassion the SUV stalled and we immediately drove it to the service department they did tell us there was a service bulletin issued about the computer needing reprogrammed because of high RPM's while idling. So they reprogrammed the computer. That lasted for a couple of days and we were calling the service department again. This time they said they could reprogram the computer again but would have to charge us $60 do it. Feeling that we should not have to pay for this we did not have it done. It was shortly after that my husband was driving the Durango and it quit working the transmission light came on and the engine light. The vehicle was towed to the service department and we were notified that the transmission was bad and they had tried to rebuild it but that did not work so they were putting a brand new transmission in the 2000 Durango with 41,000 miles. Luckily we had purchased an extended warrentee and only had to pay $50 to replace the transmission. We had contacted damlier Chrysler and told them about the situation and I am very disappointed in their company they acted as if they did not care. We have had numerous other problems with this vehicle, drivers side shoulder seatbelt bolt just fell out, we had the rear A/C motor replaced, the A/C unit itself does not get cold which the service department still has not been able to fix it, the vehicle shifts into gear hard sometimes you have to floor it to get the vehicle to go into reverse, and there are other things. If we had done our research before purchasing this vehicle we would not have bought it.
Consumer's 3 years old son engaged the vehicle from park to drive and damaged the front of the vehicle. Consumer inquired as to how it was possible for the child to engage the shifter with ut compressing the brake pedal. Dealer not notified yet.
Transmission went out of over drive while driving down the freeway, would not go back into over drive, "check engine" light came on 5 different times, dealer first told me I may not have replaced gas cap properly after filling with gas, dealer worked on Durango each time under warranty, dealer finally changed transmission fluid and seals and re-booted or re-programmed computer and check engine light is finally off. I lost 3 days on an out of town trip (central Oregon)waiting for a dealer to open on Monday to check it, he told me to continue on trip, he could find nothing wrong. (to get me far from his dealership?) I lost about two weeks usage out of the Durango and have lost any faith in the car being reliable as it has several problems.
Durango fails to up shift at redline from first gear to second, when gear selector is in drive. Engine hits rev limiter repeatedly. Took to Suburban Chrysler (saint paul), where I was told this is normal operation. I agree the engine should have a rev limiter if the transmission doesn't shift (my complaint). Not only did Suburban Chrysler (saint paul) waste a whole day of having my Durango, they used a half a tank a gas and put over a hundred miles on it just to tell me "there is no problem." Every car I have ever owned had automatic transmission (and I have worked on a few myself), and have never failed to shift at redline (those cars had 100 times the mileage, that my Durango has). When I picked up my Durango not only was I pissed they used it all day and couldn't find anything wrong with it, they didn't even shut the hood all the way when they were done. I had to pull over on the freeway to close the hood properly (it was bouncing on the safety catch). I complained to Chrysler who told me to visit another dealer. This is certainly 5 out of 10 star service.
Occasionally transmission will not engage when attempting to accelerate from a stop. Transmission is in drive but acts as if in park or neutral. This has happened several times when attempting to pull away after stopping for a traffic light.
Auto transmission does not engage when in drive, acts like in neutral or park. Oil changes and transmission fluid has been serviced. Dealer wants over $3000 for a rebuilt transmission. This is a safty issuse Dodge needs to look into.
The battery was replaced by the dealer on three different occasions, the transmission was replaced last year, and there was a problem with the door lock system.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Spokane, WA, USA