151 old farm rd. Leominster, ma 01453 march 26, 2004 daimler-chrysler corporation po box 610207 port huron, mi 48061-0207 dear sirs: my father always told me, never buy a chrysler product. however, a couple of years ago when looking for a mid-size SUV with a third row I was tempted by the dodge durango. However, I kept hearing my fathers voice, never buy&.. but I thought, that was the 1950s. You dont see blue smoke pouring from the exhaust pipe of chrysler products anymore. Surely in the 21st century chrysler products can compete with anything on the market. Right? so I relented and bought my first chrysler producta well-styled dodge durango. I would prove my father wrong. Well-----? After only 60,000 miles and a $2,000 repair bill I am now telling my sons, never buy a chrysler product. what happened? At 60,000 miles I took my durango into my dealer for routine service and a state inspection. Please try to imagine my shock when I got a phone call from the service manager informing me that the ball joints on my car were so dangerously worn, the car would not pass inspection. If I did not get it repaired they would have to red-flag the car because it was too dangerous to have on the highway. Now really, who would want to drive a car that unsafe? I was relieved that the mechanic discovered it and possibly prevented a horrible accident. I had it fixed. Totally worn out ball joints at only 60,000 miles? And that is when I heard my fathers voice again, never buy a chrysler product. sincerely, ian bothwell cc: the federal safety agency.
2001 Dodge Durango suspension complaints
Page 6 of 10: complaints 131 to 160 of 265, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The consumer had problems with the ball joints. The owner has already replaced the ball joints once and now they need replacing again. This vehicle was purchased new and had less than 30,000 miles. Provide further details.
I saw on t.v. That the dodge durango's were having problems with the lower front ball joint. My dealer, nethaway's, checked the ball joint's on my vehicle and they are abnormally worn for a vehicle with 63125 miles. I informed dodge of this problem, and received no assistance in correcting the same.
Consumer complained about a ball joint problem. The tires are wearing out unevenly, and a wheel alignment is impossible until the ball joints have been replaced.
While driving 5 MPH consumer noticed vehicle pulling to the right. Consumer stopped the vehicle, got out to inspect it, and noticed the right wheel separated from the control arm. Vehicle was towed to a mechanic who determined that both control arms failed.
Premature wear on both front ball joints. Right side upper and lower wore prematurely. Left upper wore prematurely. Seals were intact. Vehicle has 40k miles. Dodge durango 2001.
Front end shook and pulled to the right when braking. This was due to the upper and lower ball joint being worn out. They needed to be replaced, per the dealership.
Consumer had a tire blowout. Took vehicle to dealer to have the tire repaired. Mechanic repaired the tire, and determined that upper and lower ball joints on both sides needed replacement.
At 32120 miles dealership replaced all four ball joints, 10 months later, mechanic determined the need to replace all four ball joints again.
There was a knocking noise that sounded like something was loose in the front end of the vehicle. The noise mostly occurred when vehicle went over a bump in the road. Dealership performed a diagnostic test, but no failure code was found.
I have a 2001 dodge durango. After seeing a report on the ball joints on tv I took my vehicle in to be checked. Good thing I did because the right ball joint was about to break and had to be replaced. The left ball joint has some wear but was not replaced at this time. There is a definite problem and it needs to be addressed.
When making a left turn heard a knocking noise from the front end. Dealership serviced vehicle several times, but was unable to locate the cause of the noise.
Consumer took vehicle to an independent repair shop for regular maintenance, and mechanic determined that lower and upper ball joints needed to be replaced at consumer's expense.
During a vehicle inspection it was found that the upper ball joints on the right side had to be replaced due to premature wear.
When either turning the steering wheel to the right or left there would be a grinding or crunching noise coming from the front. Noise could be heard when backing up or going forward. Vehicle had not been taken to dealership to be checked out.
Rt frt upper ball joint failed @ 29,357 miles on 12/13/03. As of this date-3/4/04 left frt upper ball joint is failing & needs to be replaced.
While driving, the consumer says the front end felt loose. The upper ball were replaced but the steering wheel is hard to turn. Please provide further details.
When making a sharp left turn there is a popping noise in the front end. Consumer feels it may be related to ball joint failure.
When turning either direction the vehicle's front end produces a knocking noise. The cause has yet to be determined. Please provide additional information.
While making right hand turns consumer heard a loud noise coming from the front end. Dealer informed consumer that the problem pertained to front upper ball joint failure.
At any speed consumer can hear a clanking sound coming from the front end of the vehicle. Also, when turning corners there is a clanking sound coming from the wheel area.
We noticed a squeaking in the front-end while our 2001 dodge durango was under warranty. Took to dodge dealership in brownfield, texas, and mechanic could not duplicate the sound. Said we probably were hearing vibrations from cd's in the side-door pockets. Car now has 60k miles, and over last 10k miles or so, have noticed four things 1) front end making popping sound, like a joint pop on your ankle or something and 2) when turning sharply, vehicle bounces like the wheel was out of round, 3) uneven wear on front tires, especially on left side, and 4) vehicle less stable when hitting bumps as steering tends to move back and forth. Tried to get a mechanic to check last weekend in lubbock, but could not get vehicle into shop due to their workload. Family member told us that durango's were on the news about what appears to be the same problem. We will be scheduling a visit with a dealership. I hope we don't lose a tire, as we are minimum of 30 miles from a dealership. The consumer took vehicle to a dealership and was informed that the upper and the upper control bushing needed to be replaced because they were worn. The next day after part were replaced there is still a popping and squeaking noise in the front end of the truck.
Bad ball joints on 2001 dodge duango
In january of this year, I was drivng my 2001 durango home from work and heard a "clunky" noise. Thinking I had a flat tire, I stopped and looked and saw nothing. When I got home, my husband drove it around the block and thought it was the brakes. The next morning, he drove to mckinney dodge (about 10 miles on the freeway) and as he got off the freeway and pulled into their parking lot, the drivers side wheel turned completely sideways and broke, causing the vehicle to fall down on that side. I pulled into the parking lot a few minutes later and saw my vehicle with the wheel turned outwards and front end down on top of it. They fixed this under the extended warranty. This also caused the mag wheel to bend and the tire not to hold air, so we had to pay another $50 to have that fixed before we could even drive it. The service man had called me at work and told me how fortunate we were that my husband was not still on the freeway when this happened. The dodge dealership told us this was a very uncommon occurrence. I now feel that we were deceived by dodge trying to cover up this problem and worry about our daughter and grandchildren in their new 2003 durango. There should be a recall immediately and the problems should be corrected before people are killed. Our durango had about 39,400 miles on it at the time.
Vehicle makes noise when turning wheels. Mechanic says ball joint is bad.
While driving on highway the front end started grinding. Two miles down the road the left front wheel locked up and vehicle went into a skid. After safely maneuvering to the emergency lane the driver got out and found that the wheel had completely colapsed and would not turn at all. The vehicle was towed to a dodge dealership and upon inspection, it was found that the bearing had disintegrated. The inner ring of the inside bearing had seized to the spindle. The only thing holding the wheel on was the brake caliper. After replacing the drivers side assembly the dealership checked the passenger side and found it to be loose as well. It would have soon done the same thing. This vehicle only has 60k miles on it and this should not have happened. Fortunately the driver was able to control the vehicle safely off the road, however it could have resulted in a roll over or worse, death.
2001 dodge durango; ball joint needed replacement at 27,000 miles.
The upper ball joints on my 2001 dodge durango failed and needed to be replaced at an expense of over $800.00. Luckily for me and my family it was not a catastrophic failure when we were driving the vechile!! It was reported to the dealer who informed me it was happening alot to other owners and that no recall has been issued so there was nothing they could do.what, do several hundred people need to die first before anyone recognizes and fixes this problem!!?? This vechile only has less than 47,000 miles it at the time of repair and it is absolutely ridiculous that nothing has been done about this problem!!
I bought my dodge durango in october 2002. I heard a clunking noise & felt like someone hit me from behind when I would stop. Had checked at pontiac dealership where I bought it, they said there were no problems. I saw cbs news story on durangos and realized that the ball joints may be the issue with my vehicle, it still makes the same clunking noise, and I still feel the vehicle push forward when I am stopping my vehicle. On february 14th of this year, I was driving and lost my brakes, found out that the cylinders were bad. I will put this down as an incident, but the noise is still ongoing, and so far I haven't had an incident & would like to prevent one.
Owner of a 2001 durango slt & 2004 durango ltd. The 2001 durango had excessive wear on the ball joints at about 40k miles which required replacement in order to pass safety inspection. (front wheels were loose). The manufacturer did not cover the cost of replacement parts or labor.
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