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 1999 Dodge Grand Caravan. The contact stated that the power windows, windshield wipers, and cruise control would fail sporadically. The emergency brake warning light would also illuminate intermittently. The radio had also failed in addition to the air bag warning light remaining illuminated. The contact took the vehicle in for recall repairs in 2008 under NHTSA campaign id number: 04V480000 (air bags) where the clock spring was replaced. The repair corrected the failure for approximately one month before recurring. In addition, the contact stated that the drive belt was defective and was repaired several times to no avail. The failure mileage was approximately 125,000 and the current mileage was 180,000.
The contact owns a 1999 Dodge Grand Caravan. While driving 30 mph in the rain, the serpentine belt detaches. The mechanic replaced the belt eight times; however, the failure recurred on January 25, 2008. The mechanic advised that the dealer should perform a diagnostic. The dealer replaced the pulley bracket, the bolts, and the serpentine belt according to the manufacturer's technical service bulletin. The failure recurred on January 27, 2008. The current mileage is 160,669 and failure mileage was 605. Updated 02/14/08. Updated
The serpentine belt on our 1999 Dodge Grand Caravan has slipped off several times. Visit carsurvey.org and you'll see that many other Dodge owners are experiencing the same problem regularly. Some are getting stuck in the freezing snow as a result. We've had other problems, such as a burned out computer board owed to a short in the driver's side seat. And the driver's side power window will not function. We will not buy another Chrysler vehicle. Furthermore, as a journalist, it's interesting to note that Dodge has not taken responsibility for all the glitches in the Caravan and issued additional recalls. I'd have much more respect for the company if they did. We've only had one recall, and that was for a clock spring in the steering wheel.
The serpentine belt has come off three times to date. Once in 3 inches of snow, once on a sunny day and once when on slick roads but no puddles. Almost caused accidents twice with three children in the car! the belt has been replaced as has the tensioner and this has not solved the problem.
- Oxford, IN, USA
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Continual serpentine belt issues with Dodge Grand Caravan. We purchased this vehicle new in 1999, it has less than 100,000 miles and has required replacement of the serpentine belt at least 4 times. Additionally, the belt has come off on 2 occasions when vehicle was driven through a puddle. This seems extremely excessive.
1999 Grand Caravan - serpentine belt comes off when it rains or vehicle is driven through water, even minor amounts. Causes sudden loss of steering ability, especially if it occurs without warning during a turn. I have owned this vehicle for 6 years and 125,000+ miles without incident. During the last 25,000 miles belt has come off unpredictably 6-8 times in wet weather. Occurrences started following replacement of front tires and a wheel alignment. Dealers and service stations have blamed the tensioneer, a pulley, the belt itself, and water. Replacement of these parts does nothing to resolve the problem which occurs again with the next rain storm. Something changed at 125,000 miles that causes the belt to disengage the pulleys and /or tensioner when water is sprayed up by the tires in wet weather. I changed tires to a different tread design and this helped for a time, but with wear the problem recurred.
The serpentine belt on my 1999 Dodge Caravan keeps coming off. Especially when it rains. The belt has been replaced several times. The idler pulley has been replaced. The belt tensioner has been replaced. An engine bracket for the idler pulley has been replaced. When the belt comes off, power steering is lost which makes it hard to control the van. If I was not a fairly strong person I would have hit a semi-truck at the last incident. My wife could not have controlled it. There is an after market fix for the problem through Goodyear or gates. Chrysler does not have a fix for it. Below is the latest incident. It has happened five times in the last two years.
1999 Dodge Grand Caravan,3.3 liter engine, started out about once a year the serpentine belt would slip off and have to be reinstalled. Then started every 6 months, usually during wet weather, came off with my wife, she would lose steering almost causing a wreck. I would have to leave work and go where ever she was and put belt back on. Finally noticed the tensioner pulley leaning to the left allowing belt to slip off. Replaced pulley thinking problem solved, but once again belt would slip off during a rain and wipers on. Very dangerous situation for my wife again, no steering. Tried a better quality belt, same thing, belt would slip off during rain. 2 weeks ago it slipped off with my wife on major freeway in birmingham, al, I had to go about 50 miles and put belt back on with traffic speeding by and all during a rain storm of course. Yesterday I drove the van to my job and on the way home ran into a rain storm and guess what, it came off again, luckily on the street I live on. I've read about thousands of people with same problem with this type of van. I've owned the van since the beginning, loved it except for this problem, even bought a new 05 Grand Caravan because they are good vans. I just wish Dodge would admit the 99 and similar years had a recall issue on this serpentine belt. Or why can't they tell us, the owners how to fix this problem?
I have repeatedly had the serpentine belt come off while driving in my 1999 Dodge Grand Caravan. This is unsafe. I lose power steering, A/C or defroster, the van overheats unless you park it instantly. This has happened at least a dozen times and I have replaced the tension pulley and it still didn't help. This needs to be recalled.
When serpentine belt gets wet itwill come off of the pulley. This problem occurred three times and consume rlodt control. The consumer stated that there was as recall on this issue but the vehicle did not fall under the recall
Surpentine belt keeps coming off randomly causing a very dangerous condition of not being able to steer the car. The dealer has repaired many times and says there is no known fix. Because the vehicle in not safe I can no longer have my family in the vehicle. I look at the web site for other complaints on this minivan and I see many othe people have the same un-safe problem with this model.
The serpentine belt tensioner has a broken spring there fore not putting tension on the serpentine belt causing water pump and altinator and later battery problems.ive done some research on this and it seems to be a problem all over the country to which belts are falling off etc.....the vehicle has been taken to the dealership before and we were told that all was well.ive heard the belt slipping for a while now usually at start of vehicle. This seems to be a proplem with many more 99 Grand Caravan at or around 40-50,000 miles.this should be a warrenty fix but is not!
When driving at 30 mph and without warning, the serpentine belt disconnected from vehicle, which causing the vehicle to lose power steering and all other functions controlled by the belt.. the consumer stated a new belt and tensioner was installed at 26,215 miles and less than 10,000 miles later the belt fell off again.
The fan belt and tensioner have failed twice, and after doing research, it appears that this is a very common occurrence. I even found a web site of people who have had the same problem, some more than six times on the same van.
The engine gave no signs or symptoms of an impending failure. The vehicle had been inspected by my mechanic 1200 miles earlier and the tensioner replaced. The main bearing failed sending metal fragments throughout the engine. The side-effects of the bearing blowing apart destroyed the engine and necessitated that a new engine be installed. This will cost approximately $3500 and take about 2 weeks. This type of failure is absolutely unacceptable for a vehicle that is only 3 years old and has only 55K miles on it. Dodge should be ashamed that a failure like this would occur in such a late model vehicle.
Clock spring assembly was replaced in July 2000, at this time, airbag light is on. Dealer replaced clock spring assembly again on 14-Aug-2001 with 80533 miles. Serpentine belt and tensioner replaced, it was causing noise.
A worn bushing/bearing in the tensioner pulley allowed the drive belt to slip off while cornering. The loss of power steering assist nearly caused the vehicle to drive off the road. The vehicle then quickly overheated leaving my wife and children stranded on a county road in a potentially life threatening situation. The actual temp was +5 F with a wind chill of -30 F. they were thankfully rescued within about 20 minutes thanks to her cellphone. I understand Chrysler has issued a tsb for belts that slip off when driving through snow or water due to pulley failure. This is an extremely dangerous situation and should be subject to a recall. Thank you. Roger stites.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Mathison, MS, USA