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 was going 70 mph on a highway, with my two young children, and I came upon an area where I needed to reduce my speed to 60 mph. As I was putting my foot back over from the brake to the gas pedal my shoestring was suddenly caught on something. I could not move my foot so I quickly used my other foot to take my shoe off. Thankfully I was then able to use my bare foot to get in control of the pedals again. I stopped the van to see what happened and found that there is a clamp of some kind to the right of the gas pedal and my shoestring was caught in it. In my opinion this is a major safety issue because if I had been bumper to bumper in the city when this happened I would have likely rear ended someone. This was a very scary experience and something needs to be done to remove or replace this clamp on these vans.
The contact owns a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan. While driving 45 mph, the vehicle began to accelerate. The contact had to apply the brakes with force and the vehicle failed to slow down or stop. The contact was only able to stop the vehicle when he shifted into neutral gear; however, the rpms continued to rapidly increase. The failure mileage was 16320. The current mileage was 16330.
The contact owns a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan. He stated that when activating the cruise control between 25 mph - 55 mph, the engine revs up to 5,000 RPM's. the vehicle was taken to the dealer, and a technician replaced the thrust bearing. Immediately after the repair, the failure resurfaced. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer. The technician concluded that because they could not identify the cause of the failure, they could not provide a remedy. The failure mileage was 22,000. The current mileage was 24,000.
While at a stoplight in small city traffic in connellsville, pa, on 31dec2008, I decided to see how my enterprise rental vehicle, a 2008 Dodge grandcaravan, would accelerate. Pulling away from the light, I floored the pedal and got up to about 45 mph, then let up. No reduction in acceleration occurred. I took my foot from the pedal and the engine continued to race. I was still gathering speed, so I pushed the brake pedal with lots of gusto. The vehicle's brakes then worked against the engine for perhaps a quarter mile. The vehicle speed was reduced to about 20 mph, but when I did a test lift off the brake pedal, the vehicle once again started to accelerate. Back on the brake, I swerved into a large, empty parking lot. I tried neutral and the engine then took off wildly, so I switched off the ignition. Pausing a few seconds, I restarted the vehicle and found everything back to normal, except that the esp warning light that had come on with my intense braking was still on. I drove a few minutes and the light went off. I then returned the vehicle to the enterprise Agency, where I shared my experience with the manager.
Driving on I96 near coopersville Michigan, with my cruise control on. A slower vehicle was ahead of me so I had to brake to stop the cruise function. It did not dis-engage. I had to pull out in front of a faster vehicle to my left, in the fast lane and accelerate. At that point it fully accelerated. Could not stop vehicle from accelerating. Heavily applying the brake did not dis-engage the cruise control or stop the throttle from being fully engaged. Pulled vehicle to shoulder, 7,000 RPM. Turn off key to shut off. Police in coopersville witnessed the incident. Dealer currently has vehicle in Ontario waiting for parts to correct problem.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Ballinger, TX, USA