general problems of the 2011 Chrysler Town & Country

Trailing arm on right rear passenger side of the van snapped, whie 'I was driving on a city street close to my home. The rear of the van started to shake violently I was able to bring the vehicle under control and stop. I then proceeded cautiously to return to my home. My husband removed the right rear tire where we saw the trailing arm snapped in half.

I was driving with my children through a parking lot when our van started making a horrible sound. . . . When I pulled off to the side and got out I saw that the right rear tire wasn't where it should be and there was a medal part hanging down. We had the van towed to my mechanic, dave grandominico, contact #614-882-9965, who looked at our van the next day and said that there were only 2 bolts in the trailing arm and those two bolts snapped. He said that there should have been 4 but it he could see that there was never 4 (no markings or scratches where there was no bolts indicating they had never been added). Dave recommended that we take the van to a Chrysler dealership so they could document the manufacturing problem. Dave then installed 2 bolts in to the slots where there was none (so that we could drive it to chyrsler); he left the 2 snapped bolts in place. However, when we took the van to Chrysler, they told us (in so many words) that we couldn't prove that there was only 2 bolts (since dave had installed 2 new bolts), and therefore we would have to pay $400 - $500 for a repair and they were taking no responsibility for the matter outside of repairing it.

Vehicle began approximately 30 miles prior with a wobble/sway at highway speed. After another 20 miles clinks developed from right rear. The final incident had the right rear wheel seemingly lock causing me to bring the vehicle to a sudden stop. As it turns out the vehicle had 2 right rear swing arm mounting bolts missing and the other 2 sheared off. This caused the right rear tire to contact the inner wheel well cutting it. Additionally there were 2 bolts missing from the left swing arm mount. Had this occurred at highway speed and not as I was exiting it could have been a very serious accident.

Tl-the contact owns a 2011 Chrysler town and county. The contact stated while driving approximately 5 mph in reverse on a slight incline, the vehicle made a jerking motion. The failure recurred multiple times. The vehicle was taken to a dealer for diagnostic testing. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure was 46,000. Pam.

Slightly before 9,000 miles I started noticing a slight shimmy of the steering wheel when the brakes were applied when driving over 50mph. This condition did not occur consistently, but was sporadic. As time has past, this condition has become much more frequent, the steering wheel shimmy has become much more severe, and is now occurring at speeds as low as 35mph. I have owned Chrysler town and country vans over the past 16 years (trading up every 2 years) and can testify that their brakes have been a consistent weakness (typically warped discs). My previous 2009 Chrysler t&c even had a recall for their brakes. However, this severe steering wheel shimmy thing is something that I have never seen in the past and I am afraid that it is approaching a violent situation that may cause loss of control. The mileage on the vehicle is far too low for a brake wear issue. Furthermore, a warped disc would be noticeable when breaking at all speeds. I am about to go to my dealer with this, but am checking the internet to see if this is a known issue and if there are any existing recalls. These observations are made from my 30 years of experience as a mechanical engineer and former head of product reliability at motorola.

Noisy tires, 225 65r 17 michelin energy a/s feathering on outside edges on front tires. Alignment checked and found to be in spec by dealer. Tirerack rates this tire very high, but after a few thousand miles, they are already showing signs of abnormal wear and cupping. The combination of the t&c fwd engine weight, cheap front end components which cause stabilty problems, along with this soft riding, hard rubber michelin, will become another problem like the Ford explorer & mavericks with firestone 500s. Steering stability, quick response and wander are a safely issue on this tire /vehicle combination.

Today I noted that both michelin as energy saver 225 65 r17 front tires are cupping on outside edge, steering has been very sensitive at high speed, vechicle wanders easily on the the freeway requiring frequent steering correction. It is the alignment of the "caster" adjustment/design or manufacturing of the new t&c design has a problem. With only 3500 miles on it, I ran my hand over the tread of all tires, and the front tires are cupping, while the rear are smooth. Please advise. Dealer informed of oversensitve steering, has not performed an alignment yet. Waiting for a call from from Chrysler complaint dept.