CarComplaints.com Notes: The second generation Durango was introduced in 2004 and instantly came under fire for, well, catching on fire.
From 2004-2006 electrical overloading in the driver's side instrument panel caused numerous reports of interior fires. The interior infernos became so commonplace that Chrysler eventually issued a recall.
The problems didn't stop there, however. Owners of the recalled vehicles complained about being treated unfairly and given take-it-or-leave-it low ball settlement offers. "They offered me $2000 under NADA retail as a settlement," said one owner, "and have been rude and hostile to deal with." Nothing says awesome service like treating your customers rudely after their cars have caught on fire.
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.
The contact owns a 2004 Dodge Durango. The contact stated that the instrument panel lights illuminated on the dashboard since November 2004. The vehicle stalled while driving. Was pulled over, and then restarted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer ten times concerning the dashboard lights. The vehicle was towed twice because it failed to start. The contact received recall notice # 07V092000 concerning electrical system: Instrument panel. The current mileage is 53,706, and failure mileage was 9,982.
2004 Dodge Durango customer states that the car caught on fire in driveway after they arrived home at 12:00 in the afternoon customer believes the instrument panel was the problem* consumer states that vehicle is a total loss and would like to be reimbursed the payoff amount due on the vehicle. Consumer states went online and saw a recall for this vehicle.
The contact owns a 2004 Dodge Durango. The contact stated that the accelerator pedal went all the way to the floorboard when depressed. In addition, the radiator constantly overheated and the speedometer was registering hot. The dealer replaced the radiator, and stated that it was clogged and no longer under warranty. Another dealer stated that there was a hole punctured in the radiator. When the contact returned to the original dealer, they stated that they also noticed the hole. The instrument panel indicator light illuminated, and the passenger's side windshield wiper constantly became unscrewed. This was the contact's second Dodge Durango, and was having the same failures. She stated that she never received any recall notices for any of the ones that existed. The dealer did not record the VIN to research if the vehicle had any defects. The vehicle was brought to dealer for service for all of the failures except the instrument panel light and windshield light. The current mileage is 68,000, and failure mileage was 30,000.
On the morning of April 14, 2007, I was driving home when the instrumental panel on my Dodge Durango 2004 began to smoke. It was a matter of seconds before the smoke turned black and thick. I immediately pulled to the side of the road and called 911. It was a matter of seconds before flames came blasting out of the electrical panel of my vehicle. The fire spread very quickly through the plastic on the dashboard breaking the windshield. Thankfully, a gentleman that happened to live near by, brought out a fire extinguisher managing to put out the flames as the police got there, followed by the fire department. The police then disconnected the battery and the fire department proceeded to hose down the entire car as a precaution since the car still was extremely hot to the touch. I immediately reported the incident to the insurance company. After some research, I found a recent recall for the same year and model of my vehicle. However, until today, April 22, 2007 I still haven't got a letter of notification from daimler Chrysler. Even worse, they haven't even had the courtesy to return my numerous phone calls. I initially filed the complain with them on April 16, 2007. Its been over a week and I still haven't heard a word. According to the insurance adjuster, my car is a total loss, which it means that I not only need to come up with a down payment for another vehicle, which I can't afford at the moment, but that I also lost faith in the Chrysler corporation. I refuse to risk my children's life in another Chrysler vehicle. For now I want daimler Chrysler to face their responsibility. Meanwhile, I have been careless and I have no way to get to school (I am a full time college student) or to get my children to their normal activities. The Chrysler corporation says that they can't authorize a rental until whenever their adjuster contacts me. I have called them at least five times with no response.
At approximately 2 pm on March 24, 2007, my 2004 Dodge Durango caught fire in the driveway at home. We arrived at home at approximately 12:00 in the afternoon on Saturday after driving the vehicle approximately one hour (rural driving). I went inside for approximately two hours and when I went outside to leave, I noticed smoke coming from a whole in the windshield. The instrument panel was on fire. I called for my husband to come outside and he immediately call the local fire department. The fire department arrived within a few minutes and extinguished the fire. The vehicle was a total loss (purse, two car seats, clothes, umbrellas, cds, etc.) I have not received an official recall notice from daimler Chrysler corporation. After searching online after this incident, I found a letter from the us department of transportation regarding electrical system: Instrument panel recall. The letter stated that recall notices will be sent in April 2007. After five days, our insurance company (state farm) will not cover the payoff amount due on the vehicle. Daimler Chrysler corporation has not accepted any responsibility for this instrument panel fire. Therefore, we are left without a vehicle, $2,700 loan balance and loss of personal belonging.
- Knightdale, NC, USA
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I was driving down the highway for about 3 minutes and I noticed the interior lighting was on. At this time my instrument panel started smoking. Once this happened the gauges started acting crazy and the windshield wipers came on. The switch was not on and there were no lights in the dash. By the time I got to the side of the road the dash had black smoke coming from it. Within 5 minutes the vehicle was completely engulfed with flames. By the time the fire and rescue got there the traffic on the highway had slowed considerably and the smoke was so bad you couldn't even see the highway. The vehicle was a total loss. There are a number of things that could have happened. Thankfully no one was injured and my children were not in the vehicle.
- the contact stated that the 2004 Dodge Durango with 38,000 failure mileage caught on fire while parked in the driveway. The contact thought that there was a short in the electrical system. There was recall 07V092000 that was established on March 2,2006. The vehicle will be towed today. The consumer provided a report from the fire department. Updated 05/21/07
- the contact owns a 2004 Dodge Durango with a current mileage of 46,000 miles. The contact's vehicle hd the same problems as mentioned in recall 07V092000 concerning the instrument panel. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer, and was told that this vehicle was not included in the recall due to the VIN, and that he would have to pay for the repairs.
- the contact owns a 2004 Dodge Durango. The interior lighting in the instrument panel will not turn off. The failure caused the battery to lose its charge on several occasions. The radio and the door chime turned on intermittently. The dealer stated that the vehicle needed a new cluster module. The manufacturer stated that recall#07V092000 related to the instrument panel did not pertain to this vehicle due to the VIN. The current and failure mileage were 43,000. The consumer states there is another recall pertaining to his vehicle recall #03V528000 and also has invoices for service provided to vehicle. Update 4/23/07
On March 2, 2007 I got in my 2004 Dodge Durango limited (hemi) to take my kids to school, I noticed my radio had no sound, the power came on, but no sound at all was heard. After I drove about 1/2 of a mile the speedometer and tachometer gauges started acting erratic, jumping up and down, the radio came back on for a few seconds, then cut out again. The overhead temp control was jumping from 54 degrees to negative 40!. my airbag light came on and stayed on as well as the etc light. After dropping my kids at school, I have not drove this truck, with less than 41000 miles. After reading that fires have started in many other 2004 Durango's, I would like to know why my truck has not been issued a recall, what are they waiting for? I can not put my kids in this truck. In October 2006 my truck was leaking from above my drivers side door (34713 miles), we took it to the dealer and they had to re-seal seams above my door as well as other possible areas water could be getting in, one week later my truck started stalling at stop signs, my husband took it do the dealer again (35050 miles) the dealer schaefer and strohminger Dodge whitemarsh of course tells us that it is lack of maintenance (not true) and we need the throttle body cleaned ($169 and a tune up $182) yet just the week before when my truck was there they did the multi-point inspection report and checked that everything was fine. After doing research I found out the issue with the leak above my door was sent out as a customer satisfaction notification no. D10, dated March 2004, why didn't I get this notification" better yet, why didn't the dealer fix this before I bought it in Sept. 04? what good is the warranty from them when everything is denied" I will never buy a Dodge/Chrysler vehicle again. I have had many vehicles and never had an issue with a dealer not honoring a warranty and fixing problems, this is ridiculous and unsafe.
(1) I got into my 2004 Dodge Durango slt and began driving. I noticed that the interior lights were on. I attempted to turn them off but they would not go out with the overhead switch. I read the manual that stated lights would go out after 8 minutes if there was no key in the ignition (2) when I arrived home I got out of the car and went inside my home. A few hours later I went back out to the car.when I opened the door a vapor cloud billowed out and a very strong odor of burned electrical components was in the driving compartment. When I started the car I noticed a number of non-working components including. 1 - all guages (needles non responsive to actual running conditions) 2 - odometer and gear selector (digital readouts not working) 3 - interior lights 4 - backlighting for termperature controls and various other controls (3) this woccured just over a month after purchasing the vehicle used. I have yet been able to afford to fix the problem, and the Dodge cetified dealers refuse to give me any kind of quote on the approximate cost to fix this problem. I will update this when I finally get this fixed.
At approximately 10:30pm on December 26, 2006 our 2004 Dodge Durango caught of fire. We originally noticed the interior lights would not go off either manually or automatically. After driving the vehicle for about 45 minutes smoke poured out of the dash board and within minutes fire erupted and ignited the interior of the vehicle. Flames broke through the windshied and caused additional damage to the roof of the vehicle. Firefighters arrived on the scene within 10 minutes and extinguished the fire. All of our personal property was damaged and my daughter (7) and son (5) will still not fall asleep at night in fear the house will catch on fire since we have an attached garage.
Instrument panel fire in 2004 Dodge Durango. Dome lights came on and stayed on. Took to dealer who diagnosed instrument panel computer malfunction. Did not replace, left dealer. Within 10 minutes, instrument panel started on fire and vehicle burned to ground.
On 12/31/2006, as we were leaving in our 2004 Dodge Durango, the automatic door lock mechanism engaged, and then the interior lights came on by themselves and would not dim. We initially could not get them off, but we finally were able to turn off most of the interior lights except for liftgate light. Since that time, none of the interior lights come on when opening the door. Also, on the AWD and 4WD switch panel, the neutral light stays on all the time. The alarm also goes off when using the key. We took the vehicle to the dealer on 1/2/2007, and then had to bring it back the next day for an actual appointment. They informed us that the instrument cluster panel, which is what is causing the issue, is on back order, and we have to wait 3 weeks to take it in so they can order parts. We will have to have a rental car as it will take possibly 4 days, and apparently we cannot accrue miles on the Durango during that time. In the meantime, with the other complaints that have been filed with similar problems like this and the possibility of fires, we are leaving the car out in the driveway just in case.
- the contact has a 2004 Dodge Durango with an odometer reading of 43000 miles on it when the instrument panel caught on fire. The contact stated that on 1-4-06 while driving at 15 mph the lights on the instrument panel started to blink off and on and he detected smoke. The contact was able to get out of the vehicle before the instrument panel caught on fire. The fire department extinguished the fire. The fire report will be available.
On Wednesday the 6th of December I was driving my Dodge Durango and noticed that the dome light was coming on and would not turn off intermittently that day my wife took the truck to the bank, while she was there she smelled something burning. This got her attention and she looked at the gauges and noticed that all of the gauges were reading zero, the tow/haul light was on and then the wipers came on by themselves. A short time later smoke started blowing out of the vents. She quickly got out of the bank line and parked it. She called me so I drove down to check it over. As soon as I opened the door I noticed a strong odor of burnt wiring. I gave it a quick look over and found the turn signals and stop lights were also not working. Later that night we were able to drive it back to my shop(with the wipers still going)I checked on alldata for service bulletins to help me diagnose the problem and found recall C43 which seemed to be a match for our symptoms. I pulled the cluster to check for burnt wiring but did not find any. Further investigation revealed a strong burnt smell from the cluster. I called Dodge customer service to see if C43 applied to my vehicle and they said that it did not, because it was built 2 months after the recall date. I asked if they could offer any assistance but they flatly refused because I had pulled the gauges myself even though I am a certified mechanic with 11 years of experience. I have not corrected the problem yet but I will probably replace the cluster next week.
: the contact stated on two separate occasions, when the key was inserted into the ignition and the key was turned, smoke came from the instrument panel. On both occasions the engine was not started. On the second instance, the ignition switch was turned off and the key removed. When the contact returned to the vehicle, the front was full of black smoke, and fire was seen behind the steering wheel. The fire department was contacted. The service dealer and the manufacturer were notified.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Ft. Knox, KY, USA