general problems of the 2008 Chrysler Pt Cruiser

In Dec. 2013, at 71k miles, in the car used by my college-age daughter, when starting the car on a cold morning (20's) I noted rock-hard brake pedal and no power assist whatsoever while backing down our driveway. By the street, it had a normal pedal feel and assist. This repeatedly happened in cold-morning starts. The dealer, klaben Chrysler Jeep Dodge of kent, ohio, was helpful and eventually replaced the brake booster a few weeks later, for free. A year later my daughter mentioned the car was doing this again (cold weather had returned). I took the car back to klaben and said I was compelled to contact NHTSA as if I or my daughter hit a person because of no brake assist whatsoever, it would be tragic. In March of 2015, klaben again replaced the booster and pcv filter, free, informing me that there was oil in the booster. While this service was appreciated, when my daughter was home from college recently (Jan. 2016), I started her car and the brake pedal was rock-hard when pushing it to take the car out of park. It immediately had power assist after that, but this tells me the problem is returning. There was a safety recall last year (after our car's last booster replacement) on 2013-14 Dodge dart models for the same problem and the repair was identical--replace booster if oil is found in there. I believe other Chrysler models besides the dart are experiencing this issue, as our car has. The recall should be expanded and hopefully a permanent fix found. I believe our car's cold-weather braking will continue to deteriorate and I don't want this problem to rear its ugly head in the next winter.

I was coming home from work and driving down the street when the lights on the dashboard went out, the gas gauge went to zero and the car just died. I lost power steering and braking and I was lucky there was no one behind me at the time. The key was locked in the steering wheel and I could not restart. I called 911 for help as cars were now zooming up behind me stalled in the lane. I was so scared that someone would hit me. I sat waiting for the tow truck for about 15 minutes when the lights suddenly came on again and the gas gauge went back to full. I tried to start it and it started right up. I was able to drive it 2 blocks home. The next day I drove to the cleaners and while trying to park it died in the parking lot. I again waited and it finally started again. I took it to the Chrysler dealership and they say they can find nothing wrong. They suggested I junk it for about $100. I have also taken to an independent mechanic and he said he could not find a problem. I see there are others who have reported a similar problem. And now there is a Chrysler recall on other 2008 models with what seems like the same problem. I cannot drive this car because it is unsafe in traffic.

Tl- the contact owns a 2008 Chrysler Pt Cruiser. The contact stated while driving at any speed the vehicle experienced a complete loss of power. All warning lights illuminated when the failure occurred. The contact stated that the failure intermittently occurred 2 minutes after restarted. The contact stated that the failure manually needed to be restarted in some instances of this failure. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or independent mechanic to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle failure mileage was approximately 70,000. Kh.

I was driving in traffic when all of the dash lights came on and the engine quit running. At that time I lost all steering and braking for the vehicle. It has happened about 10 times since then, twice while I was on the highway.

Driving 25 mph on a stop and go highway with traffic lights. It was not raining, but the pavement was wet. The vehicle in front of me stopped abruptly. I applied the brakes and they immediately locked causing me to skid 120 feet into the vehicle in front of me.