My vehicle turned off as I was driving causing me to almost be involved in an accident. This was not the first time my van has done this. It is caused by the faulty ignition switch issue sited in the l25 recall. I no longer feel safe driving my van alone or using it to transport my 4 children. I am seeking a loaner vehicle from chrysler until mine is fixed.
2009 Dodge Grand Caravan steering complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 23 of 23, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Filed complaint about 3 weeks ago. Called chrysler recall center and explained the vehicle problem. Chrysler representative confirmed there is a recall on my vehicle, but the parts are not available. They stated they would document the urgency of my repair as the vehicle has failed 2 times in 3 weeks. I expressed my concern over the safety of driving the vehicle, especially with children. I was told the vehicle is safe to drive, but make sure I remove all object from my key ring. I really do not think this was the problem. The second time it had a power failure, the vehicle was almost stopped, ready to make a left hand turn, the road was smooth. How can the parts not be available when it was just released on the news that chrysler ordered the parts even before the recall was announced. Also, 32 deaths possibly related to this defect. How can this not be of an urgent matter to have them replaced. I am nervous driving, which I have too in order to get to work, school, shopping. This whole situation is unbelievable to me. I have always bought american made cars, and this is the customer service I receive. I hope chrysler is ready for more lawsuits. Its a shame people have to get hurt or even die for action to be taken.
While driving approx. 35m/hr in low traffic, van steering wheel stiffened, no warning lights on dash, then ABS signal went on and brakes were out. I was able to coast to side street and the van had complete engine shut down. I had 2 children in the car. Thank goodness we were not on the highway and traffic was low. The van restarted and we drove home. Called my mechanic who had me get the battery checked out, which is only one year old. We bought a new battery a year ago because occasionally the van will not start right away, was stranded several hours at a baseball game, then it started. Had it put on computer at mechanic who cannot find any codes coming up for reason. Van has had at least 5 episodes of failing to start on first try. Second time this month, oct. 29,2014. Pulling to turning lane to go down our home street, when again, steering stiffened, I looked at dash board, ABS light came on, brakes out and engine shut off. I knew what was happening so I stopped before turning and restarted van. This is very dangerous. I had my daughter in car. Again, thank good ness not on busy street with traffic or highway. I travel a lot with children and I am now afraid that this will happen on the highway and a serious injury or worse will happen. Dodge needs to address this immediately.
In october of 2013 I took my vehicle to my local chrysler dealership explaining to them my car stalls when it comes to an incline in the road I'm talking mere inches, not climbing up gigantic hill. Since october it has continuously stalled out on me, to go so far as to just stopping at a red light. If I put my foot on the brake and began to slow down, the entire vehicle starts shaking and feels as though the tires are trying to grip the road and there is a jumping and jolting sensation. My car cuts off at least once a week since october. I've taken it to the dealership to run a diagnostic, but they can't find anything wrong with it. Of course they're willing to take the entire car apart and charge me for it but I can't afford that! What's happening to my vehicle is from a manufacture defect. I was so happy to see the news article on wed. Com today which is why I'm contacting you.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 dodge grand caravan. The contact stated that while driving at 30 MPH, the vehicle failed to accelerate. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic for diagnosis. The mechanic stated that the steering wheel senor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 125,000.
My van turns off while driving it numerous times since this date. It also wont start at times and I am stranded anywhere from five to 30 minutes.power steering gets stuck sometimes and when braking at high speeds the whole car shakes.
Driving 45 MPH and vehicle shut off losing power steering and brakes. No check engine light. Pulled over and restarted. Happened again twice 2 days later. Thought it was bad gas. Filled up and added heat. Seemed to be ok for about 10 days, but still was running harsh. Engine shut off again 5/20 and then again on 5/21. Did see briefly a check engine light on one of the occurrences otherwise no clues. Had already filled up twice so ruled out gas. Took it to mechanic and the only code he could pull up was the egr valve and maybe the spark plugs, but couldn't guarantee that was the cause. Replaced plugs and valve and so far the engine has not shut off and that includes one 1000 mile rt, and two 200 mile rts since then, but I'm still not totally convinced. However after reading about all the complaints about engines shutting off, I thought I better log this for the safety of others and the expense I paid to replace the egr and spark plugs.
2009 dodge grand caravan - dallas, tx while pulling out of a parking lot into the middle median to merge with traffic the vehicle lost all power. The engine died in the middle of the freeway and the steering and brakes failed to work. The vehicle has had this incident occur 3 times in 2014 each time resulting in the same outcome, engine dies, steering is lost due to no power steering and brakes fail. In each incident I was traveling at the speed limit and resulted in severe loss of control of the vehicle resulting in muscling the vehicle to the side of the road as it coast while quickly throwing the gears in neutral all at highway speeds. These incidents are not isolated to the more than 260 complaints over the last 11 years about general motors vehicles that suddenly turned off while being driven. This is clearly the same issue and will result in more deaths or sever injury if our regulators do not take action. Taking the vehicle to the dealer after each incident only resulted in the dealer finding no trouble codes and being unable to duplicate the problem releasing the vehicle back into my care to drive in its impaired condition. Chrysler was contacted on the 3rd loss of power incident and case# [xxx] was opened. This is clearly related to the gm ignition switch recalls evidenced by more than 100+ complaints here: http://www.carcomplaints.com/dodge/grand_caravan/2010/engine/engine_shut_down_while_driving.shtml http://www.carcomplaints.com/dodge/caravan/2006/engine/intermittent_loss_of_power_while_driving.shtml http://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2014/chrysler-investigation-ignition-switch.shtml http://www.arfc.org/complaints/2008/dodge/grand_caravan/power_train/problem.aspx information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 dodge grand caravan. The contact stated that while driving approximately 10 MPH, the steering wheel seized and made the vehicle very difficult to control without warning. The vehicle was taken to dealer where it was diagnosed that the steering sensor needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was repaired. The approximate failure and current mileage was 40,000. Updated 02/11/14
Vehicle while both driving on road and in park stalls. It givens no notice or warning that this is going to happen. At least 10 times I have noticed that the ignition switch has "moved" from the "run" position to "accessory," by itself. I have taken it to 3 different dealers but each has said they couldn't find an issue no codes have been coming up in the computer. I even had it stall in the dealer when I picked it up yet they have not done anything to fix the problem. When it stalls the steering wheel is extremely hard to move. I have 3 small children in the car when it stalls on main roads it is very frightening and dangerous trying to control the car, put it into neutral or park and get it to start or try to get to a safe place to restart it! I have contacted chrysler-dodge customer service, service managers etc all to no avail. I asked the dealer service managers if there was any recall and they told me there wasn't any....I see on the federal safety agency website there is one but it is for 2010 and up but the 2009 vehicles also have the same stall problem! Report receipt date: mar 01, 2011 the federal safety agency campaign number: 11v139000 component(s): electrical system
Traveling down a street, the esp and traction warning lights came on. Checked the owners manual, it states not to drive over 30 MPH when that occurs if the lamps cannot be reset. Reset lamps, lamps came back on, speed was reduced to 30 MPH and after traveling a short distance, without touching the brake pedal, the brakes on both front wheels applied and brought the vehicle to a complete stop in the middle of the street in traffic. The brakes would not release until the motor was shut off and restarted. We were not hit by other vehicles, but it could have been very tragic. We were told by the dealer that failure of the steering angle sensor in the steering column will cause the brakes to engage and stop the vehicle. The cost for replacing the failed sensor and realigning the system was $712.45.
Shaking in steering wheel when brakes applied at higher speeds. Started intermittently at about 12,000-13,000 miles, proceeded to get worse. Husband at first couldn't feel it so I did not take it in. When it got really bad I told my husband to take it for a drive again, he said he thought it was the rotors to take it in to the dealer. Sure enough I had warped rotors which were changed on june 4, 2010. I am not the only person I know to have this problem at such low miles on a dodge vehicle. I have informed them to notify you.
On one occasion, my vehicle swerved without warning into the oncoming traffic lane, like being blown by a strong gust of wind. On another occasion, the vehicle spontaneously started pulling and my wife had to fight it to get it to pull safely to the shoulder. When I arrived I tried it and experienced the same problem. The dealer diagnosed it as a faulty clockspring & steering wheel position sensor. The electronic stability program had improperly sensed the steering wheel position and had been trying to compensate. While replacement of the said parts resolved the problem, my family was lucky to have avoided a serious accident when the vehicle swerved into the oncoming traffic lane.
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