Car had not been driven regularly due to it throwing codes preventing it from being safety inspected. Driven briefly around 12:00 noon on thursday, october 11th, 2018 to see what codes it would throw. On friday, october 12th, 2018 car was moved out of garage & parked in driveway where it sat until sunday, october 14th, 2018 when it spontaneously combusted and local fire department had to be called to extinguish fire. Vehicle is a total loss.
2008 Dodge Nitro electrical complaints
Page 3 of 8: complaints 41 to 70 of 198, newest first, as owners wrote them.
While driving or car sitting it randomly starts honking horn, wipers going, wiper spray, lights flashing. Dangerous while driving on road due to lack of visibility. Suspect tipm (totally integrated power module) is the problem.
Electrical for door panel went out. Can't roll windows up or down, and can't lock door from driver side. But the light is still on in the panel.
When I start my truck it do not start right away. I have to try at least 3 times. When I put my truck in reverse the car stalls an then I have to appl the gas hard an it jerks an doesn't move. I have to put the car in drive the try to reverse again. There's also a loud rubbing noise while in reverse. There's also a electrical problem the radio goes in an out. There is black padding around my car battery to keep the wires from touching. I complained to the dealer several times. The heat was not working. They took the truck and made the repairs. The only thing that was fixed was the heat. I am still dealing with the other issues. I have three children. Two of them have disabilities. Autism and adhd. This situation is very stressful. When I purchased this leased SUV I had all these problems an I still have them.
We were driving straight through a parking lot on friday, may 11 and suddenly the wipers in the front and back started going at an accelerated rate and the wiper fluid was continuously pumping out and the horn was continuously honking. I got into a parking spot, tried to turn the car off and it wouldn't. I was even able to turn the key in the ignition to the off but it was still running and I could pull the key out while it was running.. I was so startled I am not sure if the lights or any signals were going off. I did research on the web and apparently many, many people have had that and it is the tipm. It is not an isolated incident with these nitros. I brought it to the dealer today and they said it would be okay but gave me their card in case it happens again. Honestly, I am afraid to drive this thing especially reading about the many incidents they have had. I reported this to chrysler as well.
It constantly honks horn, flashes lights and locks and unlocks unattended with or without keys in ignition.its so bad runs battery down. Noticed it's tried to stall while driving going around curves or turns. It's been diagnosed as the tipm and warranty won't cover it. I've disconnected the battery due to annoying others as well plus running battery down.this is getting to be a bigger problem.more and more issues .it's definitely a safety issue and needs to be fixed by chrysler!
Doors unlock lights inside and out all lights come on when no one is touching the keys they keep doing it every couple of minutes and stay on for up to five minutes draining the battery. The vehicle is parked keys out and it still happens
There have been variant problems such as the power locks stop working or go on and off by themselves, even when no one is by the car (we can hear it). Now the car turns off while driving, even just goes black on the dash and the engine stops.
...so, I left my house, got about a block down the street and all of a sudden my horn starts blaring, windshield wipers started moving, the windshield wiper fluid sprayed, all of my interior and warning lights starting blinking in and out and my nitro started sputtering. At this point I had lost power steering and power brakes but I managed to pull it over to the curb and the car dies. I'm sitting there thinking to myself, "what in the hell?!" I was already startled from the horn randomly blaring, so I'm in the middle of swallowing my heart when heavy, thick smoke starts coming from under the hood. ...and it stinks like smoldering wiring. I snatched my keys, popped the hood (which probably wasn't too bright in hindsight) and ripped the wiring off of the battery terminals. It was hot under that hood and I'm glad I had the wherewithal to disconnect the battery. I realized then that the car was never going to start again, nor would I want to. I had a friend tow it to his shop and he had a look. The tipm, wiring harness/wiring and surrounding plastic was all destroyed. He said the wires got so hot that it would all have to be re-run throughout the vehicle, a $3500 to 4000 estimate. Forget that noise. My biggest concern is that the car was moving when all of this happened and had I not been in a quiet neighborhood this could have been much, much worse, especially considering the power steering and power brakes failed.
My nitro will not lock or unlock using the key or switches. Driver side is the I my side that will unlock.
Tipm failed causing all power to be lost while driving. There was a recall for the 2007 nitro and the 2009 nitro for the tipm and an investigation for the 2008 but no recall. This power module needs to be recalled. There are hundreds of complaints of this happening. How does one know if my 2008 nitro doesn't have the 2007 power module that was recalled installed
Driving the vehicle suddenly stop moving, the hazard lights, wipers, windshield washer washer, horn constantly blowing, engine running but not moving, just stopped moving in city traffic, extremely hazardous and life threatening situation. I noticed on social media this appears to be a very common problem with 2008 dodge nitroes, why have there not been a recall on such a common problem with these vehicles. This website have a number of other drivers testimonies of this extremely hazardous life threatening problem. What can be done to correct this problem immediately. Http://www.carproblemzoo.com/dodge/nitro/horn-assembly-problems.php the nthsa really needs to investigate this problem, someone will loss their life, especially on an interstate hwy, which I was just about ready to enter, cars traveling at 60 plus MPH.
The headlights randomly turn on and off even when the car is not running. This is draining the battery frequently. Replacing the battery has not helped with this issue. The turn signals will randomly begin blinking while I'm driving. The horn has begun sporadically beeping while driving and also when the car is off and parked in my driveway. The heat has completely stopped working - it only blows ice cold air which is the last thing I need when it is below zero here in the mornings when I am leaving for work. There is clearly an electrical problem which seems to escalate over time - and it seems other years of this vehicle have been recalled for these same problems. I am not understanding why the 2008 has not been recalled. I am terrified of what this problem will escalate to - I have a young child that I must transport daily to daycare.
My A/C and heat randomly stopped working out of no where. No matter how long I wait or how high I turn it, the air never comes on. It's winter time and it's dangerous to be without heat in a car. I know several people who have the same problem and mechanics never seem to know how to fix the problem. So it just keeps happening. It doesn't work when it's stationary or motion.
While driving horn, wipers, windshield wipers turn on and remain on even when I turn off car. Disconnecting battery is only way to get it to stop.
My son was driving and all of a sudden the horn started blowing, the wipers were wiping and the hazard lights were all going. He pulled over, turned off the car an it still didn't stop. It eventually did stop on its own after a few minutes. He took it to the dealer the next. They told him no error codes came up , charged him $95 and sent him on his way. A quick look on the internet and I see this is a common problem and they just blew it off. We will take it to our local service station tomorrow (after driving 6 hours round trip today to get it from him at school). The car only needs to last less than a year. He will buy a new car once he graduates. We really don't want to pour a ton of money into it now. He was driving on a 4 lane state highway when it happened. From what I have seen on the internet, this can cause the engine to stall as well. We are fortunate that didn't happen to him, but we are worried that it might in the future.
Two times our vehicle has lost all power while driving down city streets. We had no brakes or power streering.... Thank goodness we weren't in heavy traffic and were able to get off the street without having an accident. The horn started honking and the wipers started going with the washer fluid pouring out. My husband opened the hood and banged on the tipm and was able to get it to stop. We were then able to restart the engine and drive to our home. We had the vehicle checked and was told it is the tipm and that it will be at least $1200 to replace. We are afraid to drive it anywhere for fear that it will happen again in the middle of traffic causing an accident. There are reports of people who have had their tipm replaced in their nitros and the same thing happened again after replacement. We are undecided at this point what we're going to do but we will think twice about purchasing another dodge/chrysler product .
The vehicle randomly turns on headlights, wipers, sprays wiper fluid, horn blows, lock/unlocks itself, windows and power lock button will not function during these episodes. This has happened with no one near the vehicle, upon opening the doors, and driving down the road. This has been occurring for a couple months very rarely. It's not done it daily for the last week. Now it has added not starting to the list of issues. You can unplug fuses and put them back and sometimes will start. Occasionally battery cable has to be pulled off and put back to finally get it to start.
Driving on a long stretch of dark highway, lights started flickering on and off, finally lights went totally out leaving me in the dark not able to see forward I then crashed into the side of the off road scary, next day took to shop they said it was the tipm, goes out every 4 to 6 months going on my 3rd one lights are out, lighter, and window
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 dodge nitro. While the vehicle was parked or being driven the power door locks failed to lock or open the doors without warning. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the totally integrated power module failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 120,000. Updated 06/23/17
The horn on the car will go off by itself, window shield wiper fluid will go off by itself. Doors lock automatically.
The computer makes the the truck stall,wipers,horn,locks and washer fluid goes haywire and it does this while drive and parked.park brake dont lock brakes secure.airbag sensers stays on.its been happening since july 2015 took to dodge dealer in lake charles la.had computer replace but happening all over again.
Takata recall ...once again nothing is still being done and my problems got worse it's already been diagnosed as the tipm and not only did it start out as horn blowing and doors locking and unlocking by its self and trying to stall while driving now lights are flashing while unoccupied and have flashed off going down the road..and as I went to go to work due to lights continuously flashing it ran my battery completely down left me stranded. This is a major issue.ive spoken with my warranty company they said it's not covered I've also called chrysler and they refuse to do anything about .let me add heat and air and heated seats go hay wire as well .but I guess it's time to get a lawyer..I'm not paying big money for something that's gonna cause me harm .
Horn blows will unoccupied.doors lock and unlock by itself in or out if vehicle, vehicle has stalled several times,break light on and breaks failed ,heated seat either burn you or won't work, A/C comes on by itself,gas is disappearing really quick,oil light comes on, starter sticking, took to dealership and was diagnosed with tipm failing.s several times its tried to stall on me traveling on highway and friday ran upon a slow vehicle in a curve and break light came one as I applied breaks and had little to no breaks.I almost hit the other vehicle due to this .this obviously is a safety issue and needs to be handled .and its even affect the remote start as well .it won't run 30seconds and it shuts off .can't lock doors knowing they'll stay locked either .but most importantly above all is the stalling out its all tried to do and massive amount of fuel its dumping into engine getting into my oil ruining my vehicle and the electrical issue is gonna cause something catastrophic and needs to be recalled asap.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 dodge nitro. While driving 60 MPH, the vehicle lost power. The contact stated that the tire pressure warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where the technician diagnosed that the alternator and battery were defective and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired; however, the alternator was previously replaced three times. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The contact referenced the federal safety agency campaign number: 07v291000 (electrical system); however, the VIN was not included. The failure mileage was approximately 140,000.
While driving the wipers and fluid will start going off both wipers front and back and the horn will start blaring, have to pull over and pop open the hood and bang on the fuse box, everything will stop and I am able to start the truck up and go on. Now the headlights stop working, I turn on the headlights and they come on for a split second and then off, only the running lights will stay on. I have opened the drivers door and the horn will honk and the wipers will move up briefly. Other times nothing happens for days.
Tipm computer is bad and affects many items. Car will stall when driving. Wipers and washer fluid will come on randomly. Horn will suddenly blare on its own and stick. Headlights will stop working. This is a very widespread problem and dodge has recalled other vehicles for the same problem but not the 2008 nitro.
I drive a 2008 dodge nitro, had it for 3 years, had no issues untill this year 2016, at the beginning of 2016 I had my car accelerate on its own while I was a red light, that almost caused and accident, took it in to the dealership to get that checked out but after paying $140 they did not do a thing because, they could not duplicate?? Then months later, it happened a few other times, ones on my drive way and another in a parking lot at wal-mart, had.no issues for about afew months, but then suddenly just a few months ago I had a sudden scare of my car turning it self off on the freeway, I had my kids in the behicle and it was at night, glad nothing bad happened, but then I started to notice the lights on my pannel started to turn on, first it was the security red light, then, tire gauge, they till this day keep turning on and off, but the latest issue and most frequent is the windshield wipers, they stay truned on, the pannel lights and windshield wiper issue all started to happen since june2016 I called dodge not the dealership but their actually office, and all they kept doing was giving me the run arround, asking me to go spend my hard owned money to get it checked out, yet I had already done that when that first started, and they could never "duplicate" it, and that was when it would just take off on its own, I recently did a search and found out that all dodge nitros were going thru the same issues, yet no recalls have been done, not sure what they are waiting for, but these are very dangerous issues, why a lawsuit has.not been filed??? Please of there is a lawsuit im not aware off please post it, we all need safe cars to drive, also im curious have any of you nitro owners have had dodge trying to buy your car from you, I have had offer after offer, I find this something strange
When filling the gas tank up as the pump kicks off at least half a gallon of gas spills out of the tank splashing onto my legs and spilling on to the ground. I bought this vehicle used and was told to contact a dodge dealer about a possible recall but the dealership has told me there isn't a recall but they've had several complaints about this issue. Also, recently I have been unable to lock my vehicle because a few seconds after activating the locks either manually or using the key fob the car unlocks and the headlights come on. I had to take the battery out of my key fob as it would continuously unlock and activate the headlights during the day and night. When manually locking the vehicle it still unlocks itself a few seconds later but does not continually unlock like when the key fob is in use.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 dodge nitro. While attempting to lock the doors with the key fob and on the vehicle's door panel, the vehicle would not lock. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.
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