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.
There are many problems with my 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan. 1. the windshield and rear wipers will go on an off when they want too. Sometimes when you turn them on you can't turn them off. The back one will come on sometimes when starting the car. 2. the horn all of a sudden stopped working. 3. when my van hit around 80,00 miles the air cond. Stopped working and doesn't get cold. Took it to a place to check and they said it was a know problem with Dodge. And that it would cost around $1,500 to repair.
The van will start then immediately turn off. It does this more when it is hot outside. If you let the vehicle sit for about 4 hours in the shade it will start and get you to your next destination. If the weather is too hot it won't start until the weather changes to cooler. I have replaced the starter, two computers, got the circuit board cold soldered. Replaced the battery and can't remember all the rest. It still has this problem. It seems to be very common. There is a web site topix.com that has a forum just for this problem. No one has been able to fix it completely. Some one some where has got to know how to fix this problem. Also the clock spring is under recall. Once you get the recall done after a few years the spring breaks again and they don't fix it again. So I no longer have a horn or airbags that work.
While driving SRS light appeared on the dashboard and remained on. Also, horn didn't not work. Consumer took vehicle to the dealer for inspection, and mechanic determined that the clock spring needed to be replaced.
I have a 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan and my airbag light stays on, horn and cruise control has gone out. I have 3 other friends with the same problem and I feel this should be a recall fix if so many other same year vehicles have the same exact problem. I even found a website with many others listed having the same problem. I have recently returned from kuwait in the middle East and when I began driving my van again this problem was identified. This is definitely a safety hazard. Please let me know if I can take to a dealer near me to have fixed free of charge?
The clockspring in the steering column failed. This causes the horn, cruise control and airbag system to fail. There is no indication that the horn is out. Only the airbag light on the dash comes on. You don't know the horn is out until you need it! I had the same problem on my personal van and on my company van. They were bought from different dealers at different times. It is very hard to believe that a single driver can have the same problem on two different cars without there being an inherent design defect in this part. Please investigate this problem before lives are lost through the loss of the horn or airbags that don't work when needed. The conductors that feed the explosive charge to the airbag are open during this continuous fault and the airbag will not deploy in an accident.
The clockspring failed on the date indicated. The air-bag, horn and cruise control were non-functional during the failure. I replaced the unit with a new one. I investigated why the unit failed by disassembling it. The flat ribbon cable in the unit failed from inadequate strain relief at the point of connection. All 5 conductors were broken due to repeated hard bending without adequate support at the connection point.
Airbag indicator light came on and noted horn and cruise control were inoperable. Research indicates airbag clock spring failure located in steering wheel. Intend to report to dealer.
Air bag light came on, and horn and cruise control failed simultaneously. Many other 1996 Grand Caravan owners have reported this same failure, and have been told the clock spring has failed. Given the number of identical complaints, this should be a recall item. I'm certain many more owners would report this if they were aware of so many others experiencing this problem, but give the modest cost of repair ($250 est.), most people have probably paid for this repair without reporting it since the potential safety problems are so serious (no horn or air bag!!) given the modest cost of repair and the serious injury that could result from not correcting this, Dodge should pay for this repair before someone is injured or killed. Isn't this what NHTSA is for? please help force Dodge to be responsible. Similar models and other model years have had problems with the same part, as well. Please respond, and let me know what I can do to encourage Dodge to correct this situation.
The three components have ceased to work, apparently due to the clockspring. From information on the internet this is a frequent problem with theses vehicles.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Fountain Valley, CA, USA