I am having issues with my 2003 chrysler pt cruiser. The fog light switch has worn out and is causing my car battery to be drained due to the fog light staying on. I was going to replace the part. However I was checking online for quotes when I stumbled upon a forum full of complaints for the same issue. There are over 600 comments regarding problems with the pt cruiser, most of them with the same issue. I hope there is something somebody can do about this. I am hoping for a recall of the part, I will buy a new part I just don't want the same part again. This is a dangerous problem because I have been left stranded due to my car being drained of battery life more than 5 times.
2003 Chrysler PT Cruiser lights complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 34 of 34, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The plastic headlight lenses on my 2003 chrysler pt cruiser have become so cloudy they are practically useless. This is dangerous. I have seen other pt cruisers as well as other chrysler products with this same problem. I am going to have to replace them as I am fearful of having an accident due to low visibility. I live in a rural area with alot of deer and this low visibility concerns me.
1. I generally drive our 2003 chrysler pt cruiser with the fog lights on during the day, and the headlights at night. This means I was turning the fog light switch on the turn signal unit several times a day. 2. Beginning early in 2009 I experienced times when the fog lights would not turn off with the switch without a lot of cycling, or the fog lights would turn themselves on when the door closed. The vibration of the vehicle made that happen. Then, when trying to get the fog lights to turn off, the switch began to smoke. Turning off the car cleared that, so I stopped using the fog lights. The turn signals and headlight portion of the switch worked fine. 3. I contacted the chrysler dealership and was told they were out of the switch. I then contacted a local auto maintenance company I have used in the past and trust. They quoted me a better service price, and that the switch was backordered. There were over 5000 switches on backorder and it was six months after the order was placed before we received the switch and had it installed. My concern is two fold: 1. The 5000 may well have been the tip of the iceberg in terms of failures, and 2. If I had not been sitting there, would the lights, after coming on by themselves have cause the switch to actually catch the vehicle on fire? I thought that the brief time I was smoke should have been enough to blow the fuse, but it didn't.
The federal safety agency 629139 exterior lighting headlights, moisture inside vented headlamp assembly. Headlights have hard water deposits on inside of lamp,with sun exposure have become so corroded they are not usable have to drive with high beams on.
High beams coming on without being turned on, at first once or twice a week then everyday it would happen then everytime using the vehicle, the high beams came on after I turned them off when getting out of my car upon returning to my car would not crank, the high beams where still on, had to get my car jumped started, removed the fuse and haven't had the high beams to come on again, but I need my high beams esp. For long distance driving through the mountains, there's a shortage somewhere between the fuse and high beams lights.
Shortly after leaving the house, the fog light indicator came on even though the headlights themselves were off. Pressure on the end of the stalk turned the indicator off but it came back on when pressure was released. After parking and shutting off the engine, the indicator (and the fog lights themselves) remained on. Removing the keys from the ignition had no effect. The only thing that turned the fog lights off was setting the turn indicator in the 'left turn' (down) position. Further testing found that the only other way to turn off the fog lights was to remove the appropriate fuse from the interior fuse panel. Researching the problem online turned up several message boards with a large number of drivers reporting this exact problem going back at least three years, which turns out to be caused by a failing multifunction switch. (one such forum: http://www.topix.com/forum/autos/chrysler-pt-cruiser/tf81khbdldvt92ah2/ ).
Fog lights are turning on by themselves even when light switch is not on and when car is not running causing battery to drain and many headaches! This happens 3 or 4 times a day!
I have a 2003 pt cruiser bought it used and since then have kept up with the maintenance on the vehicle . While coming home from austin to san antonio at 9:30 pm the lights on the car headlights completely went out that included the fog lights. I had no blinkers no lights and had my wife and child with me. Proceeded to exit and had a relative meet me up in san marcos texas I followed him all the way to san antonio where I made it home using my relatives car lights as help. The next morning went out to buy the part that I need it 70.25 at the local dealer ship here in san antonio since this happen I have no hazard lights and no turn signals. I have looked at the car and had trouble shoot the car with no avail I have replace the part and took the one from my dodge intrepid and have had no luck to get blinker back on chrysler sure one hell of a car one that can get you kill.
This problem started in the spring of 2006. Although I didn't know it at the time, the fog lights came on by themselves while just sitting in the parking lot or at home. No warning, so I didn't know until I went to start the car and the battery was dead. Since this was intermittent, no lights on the dash advising me the fog lights were on and during daylight hours, I never noticed that the fog lights were on. After several times of this happening. This caused me to replace the battery. While replacing the battery I noticed that the original cables had inferior battery connector leads. The cables connectors were mostly eaten through causing me to have to replace them. (I noticed that when I got the new leads that the connectors were of a better material). Due to this not having any rime or reason as to why the battery kept going dead and no one had any idea why this was happening I simply had to wait until I discovered the cause. In dec 2007 I went to start the car and sure enough the battery was dead. However this time when I jumped the battery the fog light on the dash stayed on and that is when I found the problem. I was unable to turn them off since the switch was already in the off position. My only recourse was to remove the fog light fuse. Since removing the fog light fuse I have had no further issues to date. I still do not know the cause or the cure so, I logged on to this site to look for a service bulletin or information to tell me that and here I am. The mileage on the vehicle when this whole stuff started was approx 36,000 and it now has 42000 miles on it.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 chrysler pt cruiser. The contact stated that the fog lights activate by themselves and cause her to jump start her battery often. She believes that the cause of failure is the switch control device. The manufacturer advised her to take her vehicle to an authorized dealer and have them diagnose the failure. The contact has not yet gone to the dealer, however, she called them and they told her to bring the vehicle in for inspection. The powertrain and dealer information were unknown. The failure mileage was 75,000 and current mileage was 78,000.
I own a 2003 chrysler pt cruiser. The covers for the headlights have become totally yellow and hazy or foggy making them very, very dull at night. I contacted chrysler, was told this was not their problem. I have been advised and have spoken with other pt owners having the same problem. Due to the cost of these covers, I feel chrysler should be responsible for the replacement of same.
We own a 2003 pt cruiser. It has manifested three separate problems, all of which are similar to complaints I have found from others on the internet: first, the "check engine" light comes on. The dealer said we needed to click the gas cap. We did that, but the light came back on. Second, the fog light switch failed such so that the lights turned on without the switch being touched. We discovered the problem only after the battery had been drained, stranding my wife at work. I "fixed" this problem by pulling the fuse on the fog lights. I have read complaints in which this faulty switch has actually started fires. Third, we have the infamous intermittent starting"problem. I have replaced the starter and the battery. I checked alternator function and integrity of all cable connections to the starter. Then I read others' complaints and have found there is no available solution. The problem became more and more frequent, and now the vehicle is dead in the driveway. Our vehicle has only 54,000 miles on it, and we believe we should expect many more miles from it. We are afraid to take it to a dealer and have hundreds of dollars worth of fruitless diagnostics done on it. We still owe $1,800 to chrysler financial for the car. It pains us to make payments on a vehicle that is a lump in our driveway. We would like to have the vehicle repaired at no charge, assuming the manufacturer has found a solution. Although the vehicle is currently out of warranty, the problem began to occur long before the warranty expiration, but we could not get it to repeat for the dealer. Is there a "secret warranty" for this issue? We cannot find a full-text tsb to find out.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 chrysler pt cruiser. The contact noticed that the headlight lenses were scratched and discolored, which diminished the visibility of the headlights. The dealer has not inspected the vehicle to determine the cause of failure. The current mileage is 22,000 and failure mileage was 10,000.
The fog lights in the chrysler pt cruiser suddenly came on and will not shut off. I believe the multi function switches were defective in pt cruisers and need to be recalled. The battery could have died if I did not pull the fuse.
Pt cruiser 2003 fog lights came on without warning, battery ran dead, cost over $200 to replaces the turn signal stalk. Chrysler mechanics were aware of this issue and clearly were enjoying the profits. They refused to cover the repair or participate in any way. I submitted a request for consideration to chrysler, which they rejected because the car has 70,000 miles on it. Reference number: 16043282, email case number: 1688956. Obviously, the number of miles on the car have nothing to do with the turn signal stalk wearing out! This was obviously a poorly-designed part, judging by the number of other owners who have complained about the same problem. While I appreciated that my warranty was up, problems of this nature should receive active consideration for compensation. This was not going to make or break chrysler, although it has a significant impact on me. I would think you would be interested in having me tell people how impressed I am with your support for such a situation, rather than tell them they should avoid chrysler products because they could easily find themselves in my situation. I plan to make good on my statement to pursue other avenues of satisfaction. Was there anything you could do to help?
Pt cruiser 2003 fog lights come on without warning, battery runs dead, defective parts etc. $75.75 new battery, labor $110.05 $76.14 new switch, and $129.98 a second time labor for the same problem. Chrysler mechanics are aware of this issue and clearly are enjoying the profits. In a one (1) week period.
Dt*: the contact stated that the brake and tail lights would not illuminate properly. The bulbs intermittently burned out . The vehicle was taken to a service dealer, where the bulbs were changed 4 times. The fifth time the bulbs failed, the dealer determined that the light fixture was defective. Updated 7/25/2006 -
Dt*: the contact stated upon inspection of the vehicle it was noticed the covering of the headlights were cloudy. The dealership cleaned the headlights. The manufacturer was alerted.
Dt*: the contact stated the interior and exterior lighting flickers and there is wind noise noticed near the passenger side door. Although the dealership and manufacturer were alerted no repairs have been made.
Brake light mechanism fell out from position under dashboard which made the brake lights stay on constantly, resulting in a dead battery and a dangerous situation with the brake lights being constantly on.
I bought my 2003--never titled--pt cruiser last may. I noticed several weeks later that while driving the headlights and panel lights flickered continuously. Afraid of a short and causing a fire I contacted my dealership immediately. I had the car back 5-6 times and they tried everything from checking for shorts, to replacing a switch, to installing a new panel cluster, and nothing fixed the problem. At one time they had my car for over a week working by phone with the technicians from chrysler to try to solve the problem and it still exists. I have been very patient them, but my patience has worn out. On one occasion 50 miles from home the lights flickered so bad they went out temporary and I had to pull off the road.
While driving at 55 MPH headlights were flickering and finally burned out. Vehicle was taken to the dealer eight times for this problem. Dealer has checked every component, trying to repair the problem, but to no avail.*ak the manufacturer repurchased the vehcile from the consumer.
While driving consumer noticed that headlights and dashboard light were flickering off and on. Vehicle was serviced three to four times, but dealership was still unable to find proper remedy.
The gasket on the third break light does not fit up to the rear windshield. There is about a 1/4 inch gap. A new one was installed but it has the same problem. It must be a design flaw.
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