Discovered severe rust-through of the front left-side strut tower while doing routine fluid level checking. The damage is under the hood of the vehicle, and initially appeared as dimpled metal without any holes or gaps. The metal crumbled in my hand, and revealed the rust through as I picked away the pieces. I researched the problem on the internet, and found many identical problems, as well as the tsb from Chrysler: 2304402 (NHTSA 10000317). Several of the references had pictures that looked just like our vehicle. As the tsb notes, there is a special repair kit created and supplied by the manufacturer just to correct this specific issue. Although out vehicle has not had any collapse or other catastrophic failure, several of the owners had experienced severe problems as a a result of this structural flaw. The defect was described many times as a result of a manufacturing detail, where two single pieces of metal were layered to build the strut tower. The seam between these two layers of metal was not properly sealed, and as a result, moisture was allowed to enter the seam and corrosion inside the plate sandwich began. With the problem inside the metal structure essentially hidden from view, the metal decay could continue to advance without easy discovery. The tsb is dated nearly 2 years after the last vehicle date, with warranty coverage already expired. This is a serious structural and safety problem, and Chrysler is not offering to recognize the defect and fix this except at our cost. This manufacturing defect, as demonstrated by the unusual damage pattern as well as the special repair kit needs a safety recall to support owners and correctly assign fault.

- Madison, WI, USA

The strut towers are corroding on 1996-2000 Town & Country/Voyager/Caravan mini vans. Chrysler has admitted this in tsb # 23-044-02. I think the problem is more widespread. Anyway, my understanding is that, if the strut tower fails during operation, the result can be devastating. There are many young children riding in these vehicles, soccer moms etc. I find it incredible that there is not more visible information on this. I am the original owner of my 1997, and at the same phone and address as when I bought it. I have not been notified. I accidentally ran into this while researching for new struts for the vehicle. I looked at my vehicle and sure enough, one of the strut towers is failing. I called the dealer, the remedy is $500 per strut tower. If this isn't a classic design flaw (that is potentially lethal), I'm not sure I could find a better example. Two things need to be done. (1) information needs to get out, it's not happening. (2) Chrysler needs to absorb or at least share in the cost of the repairs. I believe if #(1) above were happening adequately, # (2) would have already happened. We need to set aside that the automakers are in trouble, and stop favoring them at the expense of children's lives.

- Saint Paul, MN, USA