2012 Chrysler 200: loss of power steering

Filed Nov 12, 2023 · Electrical, Engine · CA

The first time this incident occured I was driving in a residential neighborhood and my horn started randomly honking. Over the past few months the horn will randomly start honking and will continously honk for long periods of time. The horn will blast for miles and there is nothing that I can do to make it stop. I have been pulled over because of this and it's terrible driving at night with the horn blaring. The horn does not work regularly anymore. Then my car started shutting off while driving with no warning lights and total loss of anything that is powered (steering, brakes, etc). I have had to pull over on the freeway in unsafe areas, stuck in the middle of intersections with kids in the car also. After shutting off sometimes I am able to start it right away and it will be fine and other times it wont start and after some period of time it will finally start. I replaced the battery and got a new key fob but neither one has fixed these issues. On top of the random horn blaring and car completely shutting off while driving I now have begun having issues with my transmission. It started randomly not shifting while driving causing me to have to pull over and restart the car after about 5 mins. I have had to pull off the freeway to restart my car. The transmission issue was random at first but I haven't been able to drive my car at all because it will NOT shift after 10 MPH. It is automatic with manual option (which I never use) but it will not shift gears in auto mode or manual. The horn blaring is not only embarrassing but the loudness of it is detrimental to a persons hearing. I have read many reports of this particular car having these same issues and the fact that it completey shuts off without warning and loss of power steering,brakes is extremely dangerous especially when traveling on freeways/highways at 70MPH not only for me and my children but the other drivers around me. I have not had it diagnosed or repaired by a mechanic due to the transmission issue.

Filed Oct 5, 2022 · Engine · GA

The contact owns a 2012 Chrysler 200. The contact stated while driving approximately 40 MPH, numerous warning lights illuminated and the vehicle stalled. The contact lost power steering and power brakes and was unable to pull the vehicle off to side of the roadway. The contact had the vehicle towed to her residence and had an independent mechanic diagnose the vehicle and he determined that the engine seized and needed to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repaired. The contact had researched online and related the failure to the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 11V487000 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

Filed Apr 24, 2021 · Brakes, Engine · 116,000 miles · WA

When driving the vehicle will suddenly shut off. No warning of it about to happen just does. I lose steering and brakes and turns on only after time goes by or by removing negative terminal from battery. It's happened at 35mph and at 60 MPH. I've gone a week with no incident to having it happen dozens of times on a single trip. Very scary situation. Especially in traffic.

Filed Oct 10, 2020 · Electrical · 79,000 miles · IN

2012 chrysler 200 engine dies without warning when driving. Restarts after 45 to 60 min. Car dies anytime, in heavy traffic on 2 occasions - no power steering, very hard brakeing and nearly causing accident. Died in freeway traffic

Filed Jun 29, 2020 · Engine · 116,000 miles · AK

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 chrysler 200. The contact stated that while driving 80 MPH, the vehicle stalled without warning. The steering became difficult to maneuver. There was an abnormal odor of radiator fluid detected in the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the residence. An independent mechanic went to the residence, and diagnosed that the head gasket was blown. The vehicle was not repaired. The local dealer and manufacturer were not contacted. The failure mileage was 116,000.

Filed May 29, 2020 · Engine · 136,000 miles · TN

I left my home, in my vehicle which had been running completely normally with no dash lights on, overheating, leaking, etc. I live on a dangerous road (it's extremely curvy, dark, has a high accident rate and no shoulders just 12ft. Deep concrete ditches on both sides. I left home around 9:35pm and made it approx. .5-1 mile and braked slightly to take a sharp curve, and with no warning my engine stalls completely (also causing loss of power steering). I was doing roughly 25-30 MPH. When the engine died. The loss of power steering caused me to be unable to keep my vehicle safely in my lane on this sharp turn (I was just lucky that the oncoming lane was clear). Luck is also all that prevented me from breaking down awkwardly positioned right in a dark blind curve. I was able to coast on what little speed I had left, to one of the only safe pull offs on my road ( I barely had enough momentum to do that, and it was just by chance that I was by the spot where it was possible to get out of the roadway. I have seen well over 50 online complaints so far, of owners of 2012 chrysler 200's who have suffered failures practically identical to mine. My vehicle had been in for regular maintenance/oil change just a week or so prior to this, the inspection revealed no issues needing attention. The car runs perfectly normal right up to the moment you loose all power and your ability to steer with any precision or speed. This problem is obviously fairly common in this vehicle, seriously impairs your ability to control the car suddenly and without warning, causes no check engine warning therefore no error code to diagnose by, and depending on your circumstances and luck at the time could either cause a giant inconvenience or a serious tragedy. Chrysler already recalled for a nearly identical issue but only included the 2015 models. They need to address this before someone dies.

Filed May 11, 2020 · Electrical, Engine · 160,000 miles · VA

The car randomly loses power along with the power steering and cuts off. I could be driving for 30 mins and it'll be just fine then out of no where it may cut off at stop light, while I'm decelerating or even trying to gas up. It has cut off numerous times on the highway without any warning or light and I'll only know by the sudden loss of power steering or noticing the RPM gauge dropping to 0. Sometimes it'll start up just fine right afterwards like nothing happened and sometimes it'll take a minute or two to start up. It may start a right back up then cut right back off or it may start up and be fine until the next day. Sometimes it only starts back up when I disconnect the negative battery terminal for a few seconds.

Filed Sep 16, 2019 · Engine · 30,000 miles · FL

While driving I started to coast to take sharp turn and engine died, no power steering and no brakes. Couldn't turn and ran off the side of the road. This is a major issue.

Filed Jul 13, 2019 · 130,000 miles · MI

While driving the car down the road randomly shuts off and when it happens you have no steering control or braking control

Filed Apr 30, 2019 · Electrical, Engine · 112,000 miles · NC

While driving my vehicle back the office from my lunch break, I made a right hand turn onto the main road and began to accelerate the vehicle with more gas. At about 35mph the car engine completely shut off and I had to coast to the side of the road with no power steering. I had to wait approximately 20 mins until my car would restart again. I was able to get back on the road until after another few hundred yards of driving the car stalled again completely. I was then forced to call a tow truck to have it taken to an auto shop.

Filed Jan 11, 2019 · Electrical · 109,000 miles · IL

I was driving on the expressway and my car died without any warning. I brought it to the dealership and they said I had oil in the injectors. They cleaned it up and sent me on my way for $715. Not even a month later I'm still having the same issues and now sometimes it's not starting. So another repair shop changed the battery and starter, after the work they run some tests and say that I have a bad tipm to bring it back to the dealership. I bring it back to them and they want around $1800 now for this repair. I called chrysler and spoke with them about this and they refused to help in any way with this situation even though we are loyal dodge family customers(on our 5th vehicle). The reviews online show many people having this issue and it is a very dangerous and scary experience having your car die in the middle of the expressway with no power steering. I definitely think there should be a recall for this part to save the lives of others on the roadways. Thanks in advance

Filed Dec 5, 2018 · Electrical · 29,582 miles · CO

Engine light came on, had battery replaced since the battery was about 6 years old. Car has only 29582 miles on it. Seemed to fix then while driving 3 miles later battery light came on again. Decided to take to dealer the mext morning. Then while driving to dealership the car began to rapidly lose functionality while warning lights were appearing on the dashboardone by one until it car lost power while driving. The time from no warning lights to complete loss of electrical functionality was approximately 2 minutes. The shut down included an abrupt loss of power steering and braking capabilities while driving on a busy street during day. I was able to quickly compensate for the loss of power steering and braking and stop the vehicle while drifting into a gas station parking lot. Attempts to restart the vehicle involved no clicking or the engine attempting to turn over. Had car towed to dealership. I can only assume ot may be the alternator since battery is brand new now. I am wondering if this is part of campaign #17v‑435 but my car is a chrysler 200 3.6 engine 6 cylinder touring convertible and that recall does not show 200's on the notice. I have not gotten any recall noticies for this type of problem.. I bought car brand new. I am the only owner and faithfully take my car to the dealer for maintenance and oil changes.