This is my 4th set of brake pads on my caravan on the front and the second set on the back. I have had the rotors machined as well. I only have 32K non stop and go mileage. This is ridiculous. The mechanic at Chrysler said they are aware of the problem but there is no recall. If this continues I am going to return my car. I have a 13 year old car that only has had a couple of brake pad replacements and it has 175K. This is not a cheap repair. Do the right thing Chrysler and have a recall and get this fixed. This stinks!

Warranty page #5 claims only items not covered is Tires and Unwired headphones. Took to Dealer where Van was purchased and they claim brakes are not covered. Only thing service writer could say its not a dealer problem its the manufacturer. He gave me an 800 number to call and apparently Dodge only deals with customer issues M-F.

Update from Apr 21, 2010: Dodge agreeed brakes should not have failed and replaced pads and rotors without charge!!!! It took almost two weeks but I am very happy with outcome.

Chrysler refused to cover any of the cost due and this REALLY came out of the customer service reps. mouth... the dealer told her that "the reason the brakes failed at such low miles was because of rust and corrosion due..." AND THIS IS THE GODS HONEST TRUTH "...to lack of use by the customer"!!!!!!!!!!!

I could not believe what I heard. I of course asked to speak to her manager she said why it wont change anything they have to go by what the dealership tells them. I asked what if they are wrong tough luck......Chrysler Corp. thinks this is how to get back into car selling busn. yikes who ever owns them now is in for rude wake up. I have since called dealership and asked how they could have missed this since they saw this car every 4 to 6 months since it was purchased in 10/08. by their award winning 5 STAR SERVICE certification plus car was looked at by two other mechanics before I took it to dealer and guess what they both said defective brakes and also they saw and heard there is aproblem with early wear on caravan brakes but the dealership didnt know anything. Chrysler Corp. doesnt know but thousands of other people due. Gee ...I wonder how they will be in busn. GUESS what dealership called me back and they said call rep back have her call them and everything will be taken care of .......gee I wonder WHY...... cann ya stand it . i am nit finished yet I am going to blog , email and call write anyb ody I can cuse I am sick of BIG CORPS walking all over us little guys. Anybody has a problem start calling and pushing this back into their faces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I live in Michigan and currently I am staying in Arizona for the winter months. On January 20, 2010, I took my 2008 Dodge Caravan into an auto service repair facility to have the brakes checked as I was hearing scraping sounds from the front brakes. The mileage on my vehicle was 20,172.

The service mechanic looked at my brakes and told me the front pads and rotors needed to be replaced. He said the rotors were below the specifications recommended by the manufacturer (Chrysler). He told me it is highly unusual that rotors should be replaced at the first brake replacement and especially with only 20,000 miles on the vehicle. (Based on taking a round trip from Washington, Michigan to Ft. Myers, Florida in 2009 of 2,800 miles and the recent trip from Washington, Michigan to Queen Creek, Arizona of 2,000 miles, the brakes had a realistic mileage of 15,000). It was the mechanic's opinion the quality of material used in the manufacture of the pads and rotors was poor. Jokingly, I told him they were probably made in China, next door to where they make drywall. Little did I know this is probably closer to the truth than I realized. It cost me $440 to have my brakes repaired.

I am going to contact Chrysler and complain to them about this problem with the brakes on their 2008 Dodge Caravans. I have read where a number of owners of the 2008 Dodge Caravan have had similar problems with their brakes.

I have had a number of Chrysler built mini-vans in the past. I was not happy with the quality of the last couple and decided to purchase a Kia mini-van. My decision to go back to a Chrysler built mini-van was based on: the desire to "buy American", reports that Chrysler's quality had improved, and the "stow-and-go" seating feature. I am sorry to say that I am now leaning towards a Korean or Japanese manufacturer for my next mini-van purchase.

I took my van in October to have the brakes looked at because they were making a screeching noise at 14000 miles and the dealership ended up replacing the two front rotors and pads.

I have since taken it back to them because it is pulsating when you come to a stop.

The dealership said they resurfaced the rotors yet it is still pulsating.

I then took it to a tire shop and they inspected the brakes and state that the resurfacing was never done and that it needs to be done.

I guess I will be on the phone and computer with the manufacturer for the next few days to get them to take care of this issue considering it is out of the "brake warranty" and I refuse to pay for anything or take it back to that dealership.

Well I really didn't think too much about having to replace my front brakes at around 26,000 miles, 1 month past warranty expiration, but then I visited this website and saw that this is definitely a recurring problem. They were pretty bad but we just bought new pads for $56.00 and my husband did it himself it was really very easy. Otherwise though I really love this car. It has actually changed my life.

Update from Apr 6, 2011: Well now after having this van for a lil over 2 yrs I ave gotten used to the front and rear brake replacement twice a yr. I have done calipers once but i can feel the rotors will need to be serviced pretty soon, cause I just put 4 new tires on and they vibrate a lil bit like there is gravel inte tread but there isnt any gravel. So far as the brake "area" of this van Its not really been that expensive but in a crap economy its getting to a point where I am considering having to think about selling before blue book takes a dive and purchasing a different vehicle. We are at around 56,000 miles now and a lil bit of a "gremlin" has set in with it. Not even three weeks ago my husband is changing the oil, so its up on ramps (FYI the front bumpers' ground clearance makes getting on/off ramps suck) he finishes and decideds to reset the change oil light on dash pannel, press gas pedal slowly but completely to floor 3 times in a minute or whatev, and then backs it off the ramps. Then he decided to run to e-z mart so he never turned it off an hour later he has walked home and tells me the van wont start. Also its parked right at the doors and you cant even put it into nuetral. Did some online research and went to check it out nothing looks damaged or loose and te keyless entry still unlocks and locks the doors but when i turned the key nothing no radio no shifting nothing. I freaked how was a tow truck going to get it withou being able to get to the front but they used dollys for front wheels and pshed the front end around but thats a huge "extra"fee. anyway the dealership was rude with me on the phone until the van showed up they said they'd call me in hr with diagnostic results.. 45 mins later they say the wireless control module must be replaced and the will charge $270 plus tax. # days later I go to pick it up and I was so happy cause they also repaired all the active recalls on it without me having to ask. Lil did I know as soon as I pulled in my drive way i smell some type of fluid burning off the motor come to find out its the heater core and is outragously expensive is it possible they messed it up and how do i prove it if they did.

Brakes wear out way too quickly. Brakes were wearing uneven and passenger side front pads were metal to metal before 20,000 miles. They were not covered by warranty because vehicle was over 12,000 miles. I took the vehicle to the dealer after I had replaced the pads and showed them. They checked the braking system and siad it was just a bad pair of pads from the factory. Now at 50,000 miles I had to replace front brake pads, front rotors, and rear brake pads. Rotors had to be replaced because they are below limits and cannot be turned again. From what I have seen searching online, this seems to be a problem with the new body style and Chrysler needs to get off their bankrupt butts and do a recall.

After being faithful Dodge Caravan owner for more than 15 years (the 2008 was my 4th), Chrysler has lost me as a customer forever. Brakes failed after only less than 16,000 miles and pads wore all the way to the metal without any warning and scored the rotors. Front pads and rotors had to be replaced and Chrysler customer service refused to cover the cost even though the dealer told me that this is a common problem with the 2008 Grand Caravans that Chrysler is aware of.

It is no wonder that Chrysler is in such trouble. They do nothing to try and retain once faithful customers even when they build a faulty product and are completely at fault. I am now putting this van up for sale and will never buy another Chrysler product again.

I am very disappointed with the quality of the van. It has had numerous squeaking noises coming from the engine compartment that were repaired under warranty. But it is a waste of my time having to take it in to get the problem corrected.

Now it looks like the brakes are going to be an issue on this van. I had the pads and the rotors replaced on all four wheels. The mechanic that I deal with (not a chrysler mechanic) commented that this seems to be a common problem with these vans.

I will not be buying a chrysler product in the future if chrysler does not offer some sort of

solution to this problem.

I have a degree in diesel mechanics and have been around auto mechanics my whole life. I have a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan that I purchased new in December of 2007. I have had the to replace the front brakes and rotors twice in 33,000. miles, totally unacceptable!! What is going on at Dodge?? I have a 2000 GMC pick up, just turned a hundred thousand miles (88,000 I put on myself) and have never had to replace the brakes. I know this is absolutely the exception but... I can buy (understand) front brake pads maybe every 25-30 thousand but two sets of front rotors and pads is insane! I am telling everybody steer clear of Dodge. Dodge,step up and fix this.

Our van needed front brakes after less than 25,000Kms and my ex-wife, not thinking, brought it to a local garage who charged her $540.00 to replace both sets of front pads and both front rotors. Then the rear brakes went and she brought it to a Dodge dealer and they soaked her for another $500.00 or so. This is on a vehicle with LESS THAN 25,000kms!! Then I called a friend of mine who is a Dodge mechanic, and he informed me that Dodge knew about the issue, and issued two TSB's, one for the front brakes and one for the rear, specific to premature brake wear. In fact, for the rear, at first the dealers were told to rebuild the calipers because they were binding, then they were told in an update to replace the rear calipers with a newly designed caliper. Both the Ex and I have contacted Chrysler over 10 times, and they refunded her about $300.00 and closed the issue. I tried to have the issue reopened but the "Customer Service Manager", also known as front line message taker, REFUSED to open another issue. Can you believe that??!! This is from an auto maker who is trying to re-establish themselves?? I for one will never purchase another Dodge/Chrysler again and I hope this email serves to notify other owners of 2008 and newer Grand Caravans, that they should not have to pay for any repairs related to premature brake wear.

Update from Nov 22, 2009: As of two weeks ago, Dodge finally refunded the balance of what the ex paid to have the brakes done. This after numerous compliants from me and persistance on her part. She enlisted the assistance of CAMVAP, Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan. Link below.

http://www.aiamc.com/policies/submissions/camvap.html

It's a free service and one I would recommend to ALL Canadians who have issues with their vehicles.

25,000 miles, 18 months old and the brakes and rotors are shot. On top of that the dealer says sorry your sh*t out of luck. I am seeing numerous reports of excessive brake wear because of an undersized rotor. This is a design flaw and should be rectified by Chrysler. I have never purchased a foreign vehicle and hopefully never have to but I am really pissed off at this situation. This is not the fault of the workers. This is the fault of cheap shoddy design. I am not pissed at the guy who assembled the van, he did his job. I am pissed at the cheap ass who thought it would be a great idea to use undersized rotors to save a nickel.

I took my van in to the dealership cause I was hearing some strange noises from the brakes. The service guy tells me that he will have to take my van and put it up on the hoist, which i was ok with. Half hour he comes back and asks,how hard do you drive the mini van? I told him I dont drive the thing hard at all, why? whats the problem, I ask.He tells me that my brakes need to be replaced pads and rotor in the front. Thats when i mention to him that I only have 8,700 miles on the van. He told me that its a wear and tear part and i will have to pay about $450 to replace them and its not going to be covered under warranty. He also tells me that the rear brakes only have 3,100 miles on them left b4 changing . The nice fellow he is , suggest that i get all around brakes for $900 . After arguing for about 20 minutes with this guy, I end up telling him to just put the wheels back on my van and im leaving without new brakes. 10 minutes later the service advisor comes back and tells me that they decided to cover the brakes under warranty but they will only do the fronts. I told them fine. so now i have new brakes in the front.Next week i will go to another dealership and make up a story that my back brakes are making strange noises.Maybe i will get them replaced too.

24,000 miles. Front and rear pads worn and front rotors need replacement. Dealer not interested to discuss warranty (car 20 months old) but wanted over $500 to replace the defective parts.

Autozone has replacements. Rear Pads ($39.99), Front Pads($54.99), Front Rotors ($57.99ea). With a brake caliper reset tool for the rear parking brake mechanism this is a straightforward replacement.

24000 miles seems real low to me for pads, especially that a lot of mileage is highway. What was clear to me was that the drivers side front had worn way more than the other three. All four calipers seem to move freely and no evidence of uneven braking observed.

My suspicion is that the front rotor had a defect in the heat treatment, its worn beyond the machining limit. I replaced both front rotors for balance.

I really can't be bothered to try and argue this one with Customer Service 800 folks so I'm venting here...