IT's obvious the fuel relay on these and other Chrysler models is failing. Either closing /shorting out and welding shut in on the position, causing the electric fuel pump to run constantly even when the engine is off. This drains the battery dead and then the car won't start. Or...the contacts become so bad that they no longer can make contact and the fuel pump does not go on ...meaning the car won't start because of no fuel.

The repair at a dealer is @$1200 the TIPM which is 99% being replaced because of a $6 part ( The fuel relay)

If Chrysler were fiscally and financially responsible they'd set up or hire out a few rebuild stations around the states and have all the defective TIPM's repaired at a total cost of @ $50 to $100 with labor...but no..They'll bury their head in the ground ..piss off 10's of thousands of customers who invested in Chrysler product and then do the recall on only a small portion of the defective vehicles...spending 100's of millions more than necessary because they toss the perfectly good TIPM with a $6 bad part out and replace it with a new TIPM ( probably with another cheap soon to fail again relay) and go about their irresponsible evil ways. The person in charge of that decision should be canned.

Update from Apr 2, 2015: Felt I needed to update the status on this.

Chrysler continues to ignore this issue though it is well known to them this is a widespread problem. After my last experience and experimentation I have come believe it is being misdiagnosed and is far more serious than a "bad relay" It is a "bad fuel system" more specifically I believe either it is a fule pump that is intermitently shorting or drawing far too many amps or the computer system sending a electrical power "Burst" that fries the weakest link , in this case the alleged "defective fuel relay". Based upon my experiment, the relay is fine and performs within specs..something else in the chain is creating a energy draw or burst that is beyond what the relay was designed to handle and burns it up. Here's the experiment and results... In our case the fuel relay froze "closed" meaning that the fuel pump runs all the time. Being as it is just a matter of powering off the fuel pump to stop the draining of the battery overnight, I decided to pull the fuel pump fuse each time we turned the car off..That solved the battery drain but was pretty inconvenient. I decided to create a circuit from the the fuse box with a switch that would be inside the car. I created a loop in the fuse. This made it easy to shut off the fuel pump from inside the car..This first set up lasted about 3 weeks and then one day the switch I used burned up.. I should have taken pictures but didn't....I thought about it, rewired the loop with heavier gauge wire to carry the amps and installed a heavier duty switch...I also installed a 20 amp fuse inline the loop just in case there was a burst or draw that could create enough energy / heat to cause things to burn. This set up lasted about 2 months and then one day we smelled plastic burning ..I inspected the inline switch and discovered that the fuse had melted...Here is a link to picture of the fuse http://goo.gl/kKqcCD.... Note that only one side is burned... I am not an electrical engineer. I know just enough to be dangerous ..why the fuse melted and didn't blow I can't tell you..I can tell you I know this does happen in auto electric world as I have a friend who works in the industry that I queried on this and he explained sometimes a fuse will melt rather than "blow" ... My point in all of this is "SOMETHING" is putting a load on this circuit that destroys the fuel relay or in my case when I used the fuse circuit as a shut off point in the circuit the switch and then later the fuse... I suspect the fuel pump is the real problem but Chrysler needs to step up and figure this out as it is happening to 100's of thousands of its vehicles.. Heat, Fire and Fuel are not a good combination and certainly can cause serious injury or death... I will be making a full report to the National Traffic and Safety Administration and to Chrysler.. If you are having this issue please remember this isn't just about you and spending $1000/ $1200 to fix this...You need to file a complaint with the NTSA and with Chrysler. Blog about it.Talk about it..The lives we save may be our own or people we love and care about...This is ridiculous that they are trying to let this slip by. It is clearly a real problem that will very likely result in people being injured or killed due to this flaw in their fuel system.

For 1 month the vehicle was difficult to start. It would crank just fine, but the engine would not 'ignite' (especially when cold.) The vehicle would finally start after 5-10 long attempts (turning the engine over and over and then turning the key to the off position before trying again.)

This difficult startup issue lasted for 4 weeks. At that point the vehicle began to stall after running for 10 - 20 minutes (sometimes while driving.) Finally, after parking the vehicle one evening, the fuel pump continued to run after the engine was shut off and the key was removed. It wasn't noticed right away, so by morning the battery was completely dead.

All my research indicated the fuel relay is faulty. But the relay is built into the TIPM and there is no easy fix. This seems to be happening on ALL 2011 Chrysler/Dodge vehicles and there is even a recall on the Dodge Durango for the issue.

This faulty TIPM needs to be recalled and replaced. My local dealership has suggested that I get the relay 'fixed" using the fix mentioned in the Durango recall. The Service Adviser suggested it would be around $400 (no guarantee) and that it would be reimbursed if the recall was extended to my make of vehicle at some point in the future. I'm worried that they are going to make it worse and wreck the TIPM, which is a part that costs over $1000 (and hard to find.)

I hope to update this complaint after the vehicle is 'fixed.'

This car has been the absolute WORST vehicle experience we have EVER HAD. First, the key started falling out while driving. If the key fell out, the car ran fine. If it didn't, the car ran, but the dash lights didn't work, the blinkers didn't work, the heater and AC didn't work, and nothing to do with the radio or Bluetooth worked. And it was ALWAYS hard to start. We take it to the mechanic, and they can't fix it because it's in the main computer, we have to go to the dealership. Six hundred and fifty dollars and a new WIN module later, we get the car back. THE VERY NEXT DAY, the car won't start at all. So, we call back to say the car is not fixed and they need to actually fix it! They claim that the starting issue sounds like the battery and not the WIN module. So my husband rides his bike to Autozone (did I mention it's our only vehicle?) with the battery to have them check the battery. They say the battery has gone bad. So we get a new battery (that was an entirely different saga). This made the car run great. For four days.

Then, I was locking up for the night when I noticed an eerie sound coming from our garage. After much investigation, we determined that the sound was coming from the car itself. The car was turned off, the key was out, but the car had not turned off all the way. We tried starting it and turning it off again. No luck. I was afraid there was a bomb or something in the car. Finally, not knowing what on earth the car was doing, we backed the car out of the garage so that it would not build up carbon monoxide in our garage all night long and went to bed. In the morning, it was so dead that the key would not even unlock it. We called the local mechanic, who came out to our house and towed it to their garage and charged the battery. Of course, they could not get it to repeat the strange sound and draw on the battery it was doing, so they just gave it back to us at no charge. So we took it back to the dealership and described what had happened. They had no idea.

This went on for about another month. Then the sound came back, of course on a Sunday night because no mechanics are open on Sunday nights. This time my husband disconnected the battery so that it could not drain the power. In the morning, we took it back to the dealership. Thankfully, this time when I turned the car off, it was still making the sound, so I was able to get a tech to come out and look at the car with me. Unfortunately, after the tech got an idea of what to look at, they were booked solid for another week and couldn't get the car in that whole time. PLUS, they didn't take notes of what he said the problem was.

So, since it is our only car, we had no choice but to continue to drive it for a week, waiting until we could actually get it in to the dealership to get it fixed, just disconnecting the battery every time we stopped the car. Well, as you can imagine, the problem just got worse, and was destroying other parts of the car as it went. Then, the day before our appointment to take it into the dealer, we stopped at the store for ten minutes to get something. We didn't disconnect the battery, because it was such a short stop. And the car died. Completely. We had to call my brother-in-law for a ride to Autozone to charge the new battery just to get the car to the local mechanic a mile away.

Well, the alternator had been destroyed. Since it is a new car, they had to send to the dealership for it, which takes time. And money. Another six hundred dollars later, we had missed our original appointment with the dealership and our car now had a brand new alternator and needed a new PCM module and voltage regulator. Of course, the PCM module had to be done at the dealership. Since we had missed our original appointment, they could not get us in for another week. But the car would not run at all. In fact, it broke down twice transporting it from the mechanic to the dealership.

Now we just had to leave it at the dealership and rely on others to loan us cars because all of our money had to go to car repair. We lost most of our Christmas budget (did I also mention it's Christmas time? that the time frame for this went from Halloween through Thanksgiving, and is now into Christmas?), spent our fifteenth wedding anniversary at the dealership trying to find the TIPM module for the car, and have nothing left in savings for anything else to happen. Well, the dealership replaced the PCM module first after 11 days and gave our car back to us (another 700 dollars).

The very next day, it took four tries to start the car.

Three days later, the phantom sound that meant the car wasn't turning all the way off, was back.

Now, they are hunting for a TIPM module. You remember the mechanic from the dealership who came out with me and looked at the car who didn't take any notes? Before they made us wait an entire week to get the car in? This is what he had said was wrong. But they didn't take any notes. And I was in surgery when the car died completely and had to go through the local mechanic first. So now they're searching for a TIPM. This will cost another 700 dollars. It is on NATIONAL back order. Apparently Chrysler isn't telling even their dealerships about this NATIONAL problem.

One day earlier this month our 2011 Grand Caravan with only 34k miles on it began to have intermittent issues starting and staling. This of course happened right after the three year warranty expired. It would happen at the worst possible times when the kids would need to go to school or be picked up causing us much stress. After taking to the mechanic and lasting several days it was determined the fuel pump was bad. This should not occur on a new car but we paid to fix. The day we were supposed to get the car back the mechanic told us TIPM needed replacing which would be another $850 and the fuel pump just replaced needed replacement again due the faulty TIPM.

TIPM needs to be replaced. It is on back order. Called Dodge corporate and didn't make any head way. Called to Greenway Dodge and they stated that what they are doing is a temporary bypass on the relay (band aid) if you will, until TIPM is recalled. But what they are not telling you is that if should you go ahead with the temp fix that it voids your warranty plus it is not 100 percent it will work.

I need to get back from GA to Mass and I can't. Afraid of driving up especially in the winter with children and a 80 year old father. Lawsuit pending but will not be entering into court until Jan 2015 at which time we should know something but even still we have no idea if it will be fixed immediately or how long it will take.

It is bad enough that there is a recall on the electrical system on the back windows which could possibly cause a fire and that in itself is back ordered for a whole year. So how long will this mess take. I think Chrysler should take all cars with this TIPM issue shove it where the sun doesn't shine and give everyone a brand new car at their expense and pay off balance that consumers owe on this junk. It is not fair nor right that we the consumer have to suffer for Chrysler/Dodge sins in putting in faulty TIPMS

About a year ago the vehicle started sporadically not coming on. Battery was replaced, that was not the issue, alternator was tested, that was not the issue…about 3-4 months ago the problem got much worse and would sometimes take 2-5 attempts before the car would start. Sometimes it would start then immediately stall. Last week it just stopped running; would not turn on at all.

Turns out it is the TIPM that has gone bad not allowing the fuel relay to work properly. The part is around $1200 to replace, if you can even find one. Chrysler/Dodge has recalled this in various other vehicles but still refuses to recall it in the 2011-2012 Dodge Grand Caravan. We have friends who also have a 2011 Grand Caravan and were having the same problems before us. Their dealer replace all sorts of other parts on the car before they took it to a shop that told them it was the TIPM; the Dodge dealership said they doubted that was the issue but if it was they would replace it for them at no cost. Guess what? It turns out that was the issue and now it has been replaced and they have not had an issue since. I have since, after much research on the internet, made a bypass for the vehicle; which will work temporarily but it will not be a permanent fix. I want them to fix my vehicle!

On Thanksgiving morning 2014, me and my family went out to go to visit Family for Thanksgiving dinner, but the vehicle would not start. It would crank and crank, but never come close to turning over. The gas tank was full, the battery was fine, but clearly it wasn't getting gas. We obviously couldn't go anywhere. After using our other vehicle, we managed to make it to dinner (though obviously late).

The next day, I had the car towed in, and several days later when the dealership finally had the time to analyze what was wrong, I was notified of the TIPM problem. So far, it's been nearly a week and there is still no further news on when we can get it fixed. I've been told there are only 300 TIPM's IN THE COUNTRY and that they are unsure when they can get the part.

Thus far, I've been told that it would be covered by my extended warranty, and that the part is "approximately" $700 and labor would be "about" $200, so I don't yet know what it'll cost. I do know that it will cost me $50 for the warranty deductible. While that is not a large amount, the more troubling issue is that I'm now paying for the loan and insurance on a vehicle that I cannot use for reasons that were entirely out of my control and for a period of time that is unknown.

After being told by the dealer our van wouldn't start due to the alternator, we decided to have the alternator looked at. The other mechanic found nothing to be wrong with the alternator.

The dealer also said we needed our fuel pump replaced. We have had other vehicles that needed fuel pumps replaced and when the fuel pump went out we were not able to drive it at all. My husband was at an appointment and after turning off van he heard something running. The sound was tracked to the fuel pump. So the dealer wasted our time and money all the time trying to have us replace parts that would not have corrected the problem. After calling and trying to get a fuel pump regulator we discovered the fuel pump regulator is built into the TIPM. We have a faulty TIPM. I wish Dodge would get off their butt and issue a recall already. The only way you can shut the fuel pump off is to unhook the battery.

This has been going on for a couple months. The van wouldn't start and it has stalled in traffic with my 3 kids in the car. I took it to a shop and they diagnosed it as a faulty TPIM and it was going to cost $850 to replace and they would have to put the part on special order because they deal with mostly Japanese imports...probably because they don't see as many problems with the overseas brands...interesting isn't it DODGE?? I spoke with the Dodge dealership here in Las Vegas on Boulder Highway and Sahara, they said it would cost $887..How is it that they make the part and still charge more to fix it, no wonder Detroit is dying. After reading that this is an ongoing problem within this same year of Dodge/Chrysler vehicles, I'm appalled that the company hasn't recalled or done anything about it. A better way to get their attention so they will fix it would be to stack the body bags in front of their corporate offices after THEIR product kills a family of 6 on their way to Disneyland in a Dodge Caravan that stalls in the middle of an LA freeway. Luckily when it stalled on me, we weren't on a busy street, but this is a problem that needs to be solved immediately, or we could just wait for the bodies to stack up...so what will it be Chrysler?? One thing is for sure, I will never buy another Dodge/Chrysler or Jeep product ever and I will warn all of the people in my life that I DON'T want to have die in traffic to never buy a Dodge/Chrysler product. They caused this problem, they won't fix it, I'm done with Dodge.

Vehicle began suffering electrical problems on 9-22-14 by refusing to start, would continue to turn over after key was turned off and removed but would not engage. Diagnostics said the battery was faulty, (replaced). On 9-23-14 issue repeated with additional gauge cluster flashing and power features failing to operate normally. Diagnostic showed bad starter, (checked out fine), then it was the ignition switch, (checked out fine), now it says alternator, (pending evaluation).

Finally, on 10-19-14 the vehicle stalled while traveling at highway speed and shut off. I managed to pull over to the shoulder without incident due to light traffic and was able to jump start the vehicle again thanks to a kind motorist. This led to a fourth mechanic who has advised a replacement of the TIPM module which as he puts it, is the, "ROOT OF ALL DODGE EVILS.". My research shows multiple complaints have been made regarding this unit and that Chrysler / Dodge refuses to issue a recall or acknowledge the problem. What is the consumer supposed to do? I am unable to afford thousands in repairs and diagnostics for a faulty design...

I already contacted Dodge mentioning that I know a lot of cab drivers who have the same problems. So I ask them if they can help them with a recall or something but their answer was referring me to another recall on my car and just ignoring my inquiry. So if your product is so bad you should do something about. By the way, over 75% (over 900) of all taxis in the Dallas Fort worth area are Dodge Grand Caravan, but if this problem won't be solved by Dodge and very soon, then the majority of the drivers will be heading to buy Toyota Vans.

The vehicle would not start. The problem popped up out of the blue. It was happening in the morning after sitting for the night. Because it was having so much trouble, I took it to a local dealer where it was kept overnight. They tested the vehicle and thought it was the fuel pump, but since they were not 100% sure, they didn't charge me and said keep driving it until it won't start anymore. That is what I've been doing.

I have had trouble most mornings starting the vehicle and even started experience stalls during the day while sitting at traffic lights. Two months later, I take the vehicle in again, leave it overnight and they now tell me it's a bad TIPM (Totally Integrated Power Module). It will cost over $800 to replace and they aren't sure when the part will be available. I now have to rent a car that is not large enough for my family of 7 and I don't know what to do until then. Apparently this part is (can be) faulty and unsafe. I don't have the money to rent a car and fix a part that shouldn't have failed in the first place. What's up with this, Chrysler?!?!