2019 Dodge Grand Caravan: key fob or push-button start problems

Filed May 27, 2026 · Body, Electrical · IN

Automatic sliding doors will not unlock or open at all- not manually, not with the inside door buttons, not with my key fob, and not with the automatic buttons on the front ceiling of the van. I have 3 young children all 5 and under. This is an EXTREMELY dangerous fault that puts all of their lives into danger! The inconvenience of a grown adult having to climb through the back hatch to lock her kids in is annoying yes but my concern is how I'm supposed to safely get to them if we were in an accident! My husband can not get to the kids at all as he is well over 6 foot and can not fit. I'm trying to get the dealership to fix the issue but they're telling me that there is no recall even though I thought I received something in the mail awhile back. The message that appears when we try to automatically open the door is that we should first unlock the doors to which we already have. The lock will not move when you manually try to unlock it either.

Filed Sep 23, 2025 · Body · GA

Passenger side sliding door is stuck in the locked position. Nothing I do will unlock it. The lock doesn't respond to any buttons either on the key fob or on the overhead panel. Also cannot be unlocked manually. It is my belief that this is a serious safety issue for rear passengers.

Filed Nov 13, 2024 · Body · IN

Driver side rear door is stuck in the lock position and will not unlock with the manual button on the front doors, key fob, or the button on the door itself. So, it is therefore stuck in that position.

Filed Feb 4, 2024 · Electrical · MI · fire

My wife parked the van in our church parking lot. Turned it off and locked the doors like normal. Came out two hours later to see the front windows covered in smoke and the. Hitting the unlock button on the key fob opened the door to find the driver seat melted, center console, right half of steering wheel, driver window visor and roof melted and burnt. The fire of damage was only in that area the rest of the car has heat damage and smoke damage. But from under the driver seat and up completely melted away. This just happened today Feb 4, working though USAA insurance company to figure out the way forward.

Filed Oct 3, 2023 · Electrical · TX

The driver's side rear sliding door is stuck in the locked position so I'm not able to unlock the door. This goes for the button on the front door, the button on the key fob and manually unlocking it from the back seat. This is a huge safety issue. Someone could die if they couldn't get out in an emergency. From doing a quick search online, there are hundreds if not thousands of this same issue. Something must be done before someone dies.

Filed Jul 18, 2022 · Electrical · CA

On several occasions, the right sliding door on the van would not open either manually or electronically. I tried unlocking all doors, pushing buttons on key fob and inside the vehicle, and pulling on the interior and exterior door handles. The door would be stuck. On one occasion, the left sliding door opened on its own when the vehicle was locked and unattended.

Filed Mar 2, 2022 · Body · MI

I bought this vehicle in 2019. I have had an intermittent safety issue even now in 2022. I have taken this vehicle into the dealer 3 different times. Every time they said that they did not see anything wrong. Now the vehicle is out of warranty and it still has the intermittent problem, which is that the right sliding door occasionally does not stay oven when you open it. It opens all the way, no matter if you hit the keyfob, hit the open button above the windshield, push the open button in the back seat, or lift open the handle on the outside of the vehicle. This is how it should work. Unfortunately, several times over the last 3 years it doesn't want to stay open and starts closing by itself - immediately after it opens - sometimes causing panic and sometimes it hits you in the side and just stays there while making a ratcheting noise for a minute. Then you have to manually open or close the door. This defective action of the door would happen sometimes once or more a day and then not happen for a month. We got so used to this bad door system that we hardly pay attention to it anymore. But anytime someone else uses that door, they may get shocked about the door closing again right after someone opens it - and it freaks them out, or worse. The right passenger sliding door did the problem the most ,and the left sliding passenger door also did this mis-action - but not as often.

Filed Nov 16, 2021 · Engine · WI

On the 2019 Dodge Grand Caravan equipped with remote start via key fob, the following hazardous senario can occur. The vehicle is parked in an "attached" garage with all doors to that space closed. The remote start function can be activated nearby from the dwelling, unintentionally, and without human awareness, since activation of this function only requires 2 clicks of the remote start button within 5 seconds. This can occur with key fob in the pocket, for example, or by other random means. The vehicle, functioning as designed, will start in the enclosed space, and run for up to 15 minutes. Substantial exhaust gases can accumulate in the garage space during this period, with substantial risk of carbon monoxide existing in that space and permeation into adjacent living spaces. This owner contends that the vehicle designers should have anticipated this and similar senarios, and should have provided, by design, a means by which the remote start function can be disabled/enabled as desired by the vehicle owner or by Dodge service. Presently, there is no feature to disable remote start. Local Dodge service indicated that the only option is a key fob without remote start button. This represents a potential safety issue which should be evaluated by the manufacturer.

Filed Sep 23, 2021 · Body, Lights · OH

I just bought the car. My family was very excited to have powered doors, including the trunk. We tested the doors thoroughly. That night I push the button on the key fob to open the trunk and hear an awful metallic ripping noise. I inspected the door to figure out the cause. The spoiler, which has the brake light attached, was loose. It was still attached though and I needed to go somewhere. While driving the spoiler flew off and completely detached. Luckily no one else was on the road at the time. My husband found the part later and the clips to hold the piece on were broken.

Filed Apr 26, 2021 · Body · 53,000 miles · IL

The passenger rear sliding door will not open with the keyfob. You have to manually lock and unlock. When you hit the door button on the keyfob it will unlock the rest of the doors but not open the door. If the rest of the doors are unlocked and you grab the sliding door it will set off the alarm. If it is locked it will not unlock and open with the button on the roof until manually unlocked.

Filed Oct 30, 2020 · Electrical · 52,000 miles · MN

Passenger side power sliding rear door,latches,but will not lock.door.used key fob to lock doors when going into a store to shop.all the doors locked, but the one .mentioned..vechicle was parked at the time.other than not being able to secure the vehicle,I worry that a child could open this door when moving,since this door will not lock.