This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
The front calipers will not engage when brake pedal is pressed. The brake pedal sinks to the floor and has no stopping power. The master cylinder was replaced and calipers are new replacements. After replacing these parts it now smell of burnt brake fluid but there is no leak and the problem seems to worsen. The first time I was doing 45-50 on a county rd when a another car pulled out 20 feet away and I was trying to slow down when I lost the front brakes as pished in on the pushed in on the brakes the pedal sank and they didn't engage. I then bought the new calipers and it was fine for about a month. The second time I was stuck in traffic on a busy city street when the ABS brakes failed resulting in me running a red light and almost getting hit. It has corroded and took hunks off aluminum from my front driver rim. I have not been able to figure out what the problem and keep replacing parts for it to tear up new ones
I was turning in my vehicle for a trade in and during the appraisal test drive the axel broke and it had to be towed. The gentlemen stated that is was due to rust build up. Over the years, I have complain about the power steering feeling off, the car not driving right, etc and it has been in three places where the maintenance folks said nothing was wrong. According to the bulletin, these same issues should have been caught somewhere to prevent this from happening. I may have been notified but I am active duty military and move every two years to include deployments where I easily could have not received the notice. My car value was 1500 dollars before it was wrecked, but I should be reimbursed for the previous maintenance totals and the lost days of not having my car the other times it should have been fixed. Below, I will show pictures of the rust, inspections that was done in June 2018 showing that underneath was good, and previous work on my vehicle when I complaint of issues with steering, tires, suspension. Number: 23-007-17 rev. C group: 23 - body date: July 13, 2017
I was driving down the road every time I shifted gears the front end would just go like wobble wobble so I slow down from 45 to about 10 miles an hour if that I made it home with zagg got underneath there and the sub frame is literally busted the way it sits it looks like it does not have a motor in it anymore if I want to know what to do I would've wrecked if I do not get an answer soon I am going to channel 13 news I have pictures of what it looks like and I'm going to the better business bureau it's a 2008 there is no way that frame should've busted like it did no way I was on city roads
This car has had nothing but problems had to replace all 4 control arms, ball joints bushings springs tie rods have spent more then $2000 between parts and labor and wore out tires do to control arms and other parts never a Dodge again got fixed back had be refixed 2 weeks later after control arm rebroke
I have a 2008 Dodge Caliber garage kept 49000 miles with a rusted busted frame. Didn't realize until knocking in front end. Always done repairs and recalls and this is dangerous. Called to request Chrysler to be accountable and they basically told me its my problem. Where do you go from here in liability.
- Homer Glen, IL, USA
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Owned the car for almost 4 years. Tie rods have been replaced 3 times. Recently had to replace, struts, ball joints, brakes on the front for the 5th time, back breaks are out and rotors as well had them replaced less than a year ago. Manifold had to be replaced. Barrings on the front and one on the right back. Went through a set a tires in less than 6 months. Has been to Dodge and other mechanics problems still persist.
We were noticing the car being sluggish and not wanting to pick up speed so we made an appointment to get it looked at. Before that could happen the electronic throttle control light popped on when I was going through an intersection, the car wouldn't go above 20mph and felt like it wanted to stall out. I took my foot off the gas and the etc light went off after a few seconds. I was lucky it was very early in the morning and the intersection was empty. I continued on my way to work about 1/2 mile and the etc came back on. I managed to get it to work and parked it. I looked up what the light means and proceeded to google what it was for my car. I was socked by how many people have had this exact problem for the make and model. I couldn't believe this issue was not known or recalled. Car owners should have been made aware of this issue before it became a hazard. I left work and prayed my car would make it the 1/2 mile to my home. Unfortunately, the etc light came back on then started flashing. After reading other car owners posts I decided not to risk staling it on a bridge so I coasted it into a gas station were it chugged out. I walked the rest of the way home in 85 degree weather. We towed the car to our repair place, they hooked it up to the computer to read the codes, then they reset the controls hoping it would by pass a glitch. It didn't. they then had us bring the car to a Dodge dealer to be repaired. The dealer was familiar with he problem "this happens all the time with these cars." They couldn't get to it until after the fourth of July weekend. They installed the replacement throttle body $272.42 (part 4891735ac) at a cost of $566 total. We just got the car back today. It is running smoother but only time will tell if the problem was fixed. Updated 02/27/2015
Had a second occasion of the valve stem corroding and failing in that the actual stem broke free of the housing and dislidges the plastic cap. This latest incident resulted in a total lose of air pressure and control of the car on a 65 mph on an interstate highway.
The nut that holds the tire valve stem corroded, cracked in half, and fell off the tire. The result is that the valve stem fell inside the rim, and all of the air suddenly leaked out of the tire. Luckily there was no light traffic on the road otherwise there could have been a serious accident. This has happened again on a second tire; this occurrence I was driving at a low speed in a parking lot. After a brief internet search for "Dodge valve stem problems" and viewing online forums it seems to be an issue across several Dodge vehicles. This defect should be recalled as it has potential for significant safety implications. I can only imagine what kind of disaster could have happened if one blew out during rush hour. Thank you
I was on the highway on my way to work, and I went to change from the left to the middle lane and the car kept on going pass the middle lane and toward the wall in the right lane. Thank god the lanes had enough clearly between and I was able to gain control and straigtened out the wheels without crashing into other cars and before I hit the wall. I took it to my mechainic and he changed the tire rod on the driver left side wheel. This same tire rod was changed approximately six months prior to this incident. Another scary experience I have endured with this car, which could have been fatal for myself as well as others. I have had four incidents with this car already, I am very scared to drive it. I brought this car in August of 2009, I am still making payments on it, and still have to take out of pocket expense for its' faulty workmanship. Today is February 11, 2013 and I am ready to get rid of it...after this I will never buy another Dodge made car.
I was on my way to work and drove approximately 5 minutes. As I was making a left turn to approach the entrance of the exressway, the car starting swerving and screeching and during my manuvering and engaging of the brakes, it came to a holt. The left driver's side axle had snapped and the tire was side-ways. I had to get the car towed to my mechanic, who stated that in all his years in his profession he has never seen anything like that. The axle which is made of steel was broken in half. Thank god I was able to safely manuver it without crashing into something, it was quite a scary experience. If I would have experienced this occurrence on the highway, it would have been a fatal accident. This is not the only incident I have had with this car, please refer to my other submissions for this car.
I was in georgetown Ontario on the weekend and got in my car to drive back to windsor on Monday Oct 8th. The tire pressure light came on but we had frost overnight and knew this was a normal change in tire pressures. I stopped at the gas station and put air in tires and made sure they were all the same pressure. The tire pressure warning light immediately went out. We drove for about an hour and the tire pressure light went on again. I stopped at the next service center on the 401 and checked the tires. I could see the right front valve stem was cracked. When I turned it, the air started to quickly exit the tire. I had my wife put her thumb on it while I got the jack out and installed the spare tire. I had to have the tpm sensor and valve stem replaced @ $150. Reading on the internet, this seems to be a common problem. The service manager told me its due to corrosion and has had to replace some. He said Chrysler has not come up with a solution to the problem on my model vehicle. This car only has 38,000 km and is just over three years old! the valve stem should not be cracking! this is a big safety hazard, if that stem had let loose when I was passing someone on the 401 in the left lane, I could have lost control of the vehicle. I am now worried about the other three valve stems.
I have 2 2008 vehicles the first one is a Dodge avenger and the 2nd one is a Caliber. I bought both of these cars from the same dealership new. I have issues with the tire pressure sensors in all the tires. They are corroding causing the tire pressure to drop, are they any current issues or recalls on these type of devices.
2008 Dodge Caliber SXT: Bought the car from dealer in morehead city, nc. After 24K miles had to replace tires because they were already worn. When tires were replaced out of my pocket the service dept failed to do an alignment. Now 19K miles later my tires Bridgestone turanza's P215/60R17 are already worn out again. Upon inspection by the dealership, they determined that it was air pressure problem that caused it to wear and also my inner tire rods were already worn. I told them I had seen complaints on the internet that the 2008 Caliber was having premature wearing of tire rods and they claimed they never heard of this. Of course now that my car is at 43K miles and out of warranty they don't want to take care of it, I have to. Also, the fact they missed doing an alignment the first time they did not find the tie rod wearing premature before my warranty was up or either they did know it and they didn't tell me. I don't trust the dealer or their service team now because they missed doing an alignment, they missed a rotation when they were supposed to, they missed finding the premature wearing of tie rods. These are dangerous issues when you are out driving on the road now I wonder every time I get out there are my tires going to blow or are my tie rods going to break. Shame on the dealership and shame on Bridgestone for not wanting to stand behind their products. What will it take, loss of life. The only thing the dealership will offer to do is pay for 2 tires and I have to pay for everything else.
At around 35000 miles is when this started: When I would slow down I would notice that it felt like my driver front tire would wobble, this went on for a while, and no one could figure out what it was, blamed it on bad tires. I even took it to my dealership because my warranty was going to be up soon and asked them to look over everything and they never found anything. So I got new tires and it would still sometimes seem to wobble but it wasn't consistent. Fast forward to this summer (2011) I start to notice that it is really bad pulling out of my works driveway turning left so I think my shocks are going bad. Also I start to notice that when I start moving again from a stop it seems like the car has a little jerk. So I go to get my oil changed and tires rotated (different places) and at the dealership for the oil they fill out a little inspection sheet, only thing marked is a bad air filter. Shocks are good they said. Time to change the brakes too, so I buy some with the air filter and tell my husband when he is changing them to please look good because something is not right. Well, he finds out that he can completely move the whole wheel assembly on its own! so I take it to a local shop and both lower ball joints are bad and maybe a tire rod! at approx 48,000 miles (current) this is ridiculous!!! so call Dodge dealership and out of warranty so... unless we bring it down and all these other instructions they might be able to pay for some of it. Not driving the vehicle 45 miles when the wheels might snap off and for them to most likely say "too bad"! after seeing how many people have the same problem something is obliviously wrong with the design of the Caliber, and for Dodge to do nothing, we will never even consider a Dodge, or maybe even a Chrysler (never had issues with past Jeep) again!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Daleville, AL, USA