2012 Chrysler Town and Country: doors won't lock, open or latch

Filed Oct 7, 2022 · Electrical · PA

The driver-side rear sliding door lock actuator has failed to operate any longer and because of this part failure, the driver-side sliding door will not unlock or open. The safety of my family is being put at risk because should we be in an accident on the passenger side of the car, for example and "t-bone" or a roll-over that does not allow us to use the passenger side doors, everyone in the back (we have a 7-person family, 5 children in the back) will not be able to exit the minivan without climbing over the driver seat or climbing over the rear seat. And assuming the accident is severe enough to not allow us to exit on the passenger side of the car, I believe it is also safe to assume that injuries will have occurred and the children and/or adults will be unable to climb over or around seats and could be at great risk of injury trying to get out of the car by themselves or by emergency support since no access will be available for them to get safety support boards into the car or for them to get into the car and to the children safely. This problem has been confirmed by a local body shop since the door will not open or close they had to completely remove the door to get into the panel to inspect. I have not had the vehicle inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representative but it has been inspected by my mechanic and auto body shop. There were no warning lamps or messages warning of this problem or part breakage. It was a situation where we left the house and used both sliding doors and while we were out, the driver side sliding door stopped working. This appears to be a very common problem with chrysler/dodge/jeep/ram products and has been going on for years. There are numerous videos on youtube showing people talking about this problem and recalls have been issued for other model vehicles and need to be put in place for my vehicle as well.

Filed Feb 15, 2022 · Body · KS

Both rear sliding door lock actuators have failed twice within the last 3 years. Before failure, they make a loud electronic honking noise. Sometimes they do not lock during this period, causing security concerns. After they fail, they stay locked and cannot be opened. This includes attempts to unlock manually. The passenger rear sliding door failed about 3.5 years ago, and the drivers rear sliding door failed soon after. They have both failed again currently. There is no way to open either door at the moment. This is a clear safety concern.

Filed Jul 8, 2021 · Body · OH

Driver side back sliding door lock is stuck in lock position and won’t open. Safety issue! Took it to a mechanic he stated it was the lock actuator. This is very dangerous and frustrating needs to be a recall!

Filed Apr 13, 2021 · Body · 110,000 miles · NV

Driver side rear sliding door became locked and stuck in the closed position. It will not unlock electrically using any button inside the vehicle nor will it unlock using the key fob. The door lock cannot be forcefully disengaged manually either. This creates a great safety hazard because in the event of an accident, the rear passengers can egress only through the right sliding door (or out the back hatch if they are mobile enough to move by themselves). There is much documentation of this in online user forums and on chrysler's own website, there is no user-level repair or bypass information available. The only available fix is to take it to a dealer for an approximate $1000 repair charge. The vehicle is unsafe without both sliding doors operational and the dearth of information how to fix the issue is worse. Occurred at approx. 110000 miles.

Filed Apr 4, 2020 · Acceleration, Electrical · 150,000 miles · CT

2012 chrysler town and country purchased second hand at 84.000 miles vehicle started then following at 86,000 miles. Lights sensor would activate lights without input from remote or driver. Then the lights stopped sensing when to change and has to be activated in manual. Vehicle windows would not remain up and locked when manually inputted to do so or activated to do so with remote. Interior lights would randomly switch on and run the battery dead. This resulted in many jumpstarts. Vehicle began to use fuel like 30.00 weekly with normal driving of my family to 30.00 every two to three days with no charge in driving. This increased when the family needs to drive increased to almost 20.00 daily. Vehicle would not accelerate on an incline would stay at 30 MPH despite you pressing the gas and it woul rev. Vehicle would decorate and accelerate on its own merit, one could press the gas and it wouldn't increase going up an incline causing any to maneuver around you to avoid collision and the it would accelerate on its own merit. Vehicle lift gate would not remain locked when secured whether by remote or manual. Lift gate also stopped sensing and has almost locked my small disabled a children in between where it closes. Vehicle lights would stop working with sensing in the auto mode. Have to manually use them then internal lights would come in and kill the battery. The signals in the dash had major malfunctions you would get the airbag, check engine and various lights intermittently flashing. The driver side seat would not work as you change a fuse it would blow. The passenger doors would not lock with remote input or manual lock door can open when driving. Rear windows would open on their own merit usually causing animal to get in. The car fuel pump would not stop running until the battery died or the terminal was removed. The screen said display is hot.*dt

Filed Sep 17, 2019 · Electrical · 130,000 miles · IN

Electrical has been malfunctioning from rear view window detectors, reset camera, door locks, auto start, and now door latches. I have to manually place key to start van, and now the heater turns on randomly, and the door opens without being anywhere around the van, and it locks and unlocks randomly, sometimes with kids in it with the keys too. I can't go anywhere without coming out to parking lot and doors are open. It will sit in our garage, honking, locking and unlocking, doors opening and closing, with no one touching the key or near it. I had repair twice at a dealership, bob thomas dimension ford, who charged $1200.00 with no fix, and could not keep going without a vehicle. Now it feels unsafe to even drive. *dt *as *dt the consumer stated chrysler declined to fix the recall.

Filed Sep 9, 2019 · Electrical · 81,000 miles · AL

Car would not start from park. Towed to dealer. Diagnosis , win module bad. Why is there no recall on the 2012? It will cost about $1500.00 to fix. In addition, this is a safety issue. The right rear sliding door will not lock. This seems to be an issue when I looked online. The doors either do not lock or lock and are unable to open. Again a problem with the computers.

Filed Apr 18, 2018 · Body · 117,000 miles · AR

Opened passanger sliding door now it stays open and will not close the doors melfunctioning the other one shuts on you and sometimes doesn't stop like the sensor is not picking up someone is between it power doors are not working the way they should and I can't drive down a highway with children and worry about having a door open very unsafe the van is parked and can't be used because the door will not close by ramote or button or even handle its stuck open

Filed Jan 25, 2018 · Body, Electrical · PA · fire

Responded to a vehicle fire and found this vehicle wit fire and heat damage to the driver's door area. The driver had been driving the vehicle when she stated there were flames coming from the door of her vehicle. The heat damage was mostly in the area of the interior door handle. Owner and driver of the vehicle stated the window buttons had been working intermittently. Fire marshal warminster township *tt

Filed Feb 11, 2017 · Electrical, Fuel system · 37,710 miles · CA

The tipm was replaced by the dealer after the engine stalled (while stationary) and/or would not shut off. Other electrical problems occurred when both sliding side doors would not open or close for a week and then they would work perfectly, then not work.

Filed Jan 14, 2016 · Acceleration, Electrical · 52,000 miles · TX

Vehicle dash power cycled, all alarms came on, gauges stopped working, A/C quit, windows will not work, windshield wipers will not turn off, turn signals quit, cruise quit, power doors will not open, radio/entertainment system failed. "no bus" displayed on evic (dash). This has happened at startup and while driving streets or highway speeds. Pulling battery cables off to reset does not work. Problem just seems to clear up on its own.

Filed Sep 16, 2014 · Electrical · 13,000 miles · CA

This is a minivan. The rear hatch/liftback intermittently fails to operate at times. The hatch can either be manually opened and closed, or electrically opened and closed via the remote control or via the button at the rear inside or a button above the dashboard. If the hatch is open and fails to close electronically, then the door will not latch by any means, even if the door is close manually. I have had to hook the bottom of the door with a rope and tie it shut, but the door is not mechanically latched. I have had the minivan to the dealer on 3 separate occasions to get this problem fixed under warranty and the problem is still not fixed. The 1st time the vehicle went in for repairs the center witnessed the problem and replaced the latch. Numerous codes were recorded in the black box. Not sure if chrysler used these codes to consider further parts replacement, but they won't replace anything at this time. Chrysler is not willing to replace any further components without the problem occurring at the service center. The problem was witness by wife, 3 children and myself. The kids have had to crawl over the rear seat to get access to things in the rear of the van due to the hatch not working. The big concern is the hatch not latching in the closed position when traveling.