general problems of the 2013 Chrysler Town & Country

The battery died and would not recharge. I checked the van. No lights were left on; no warning notifications. I replaced the battery. I had the seat behind the driver seat stowed because I had surgery on my left foot and needed to haul my knee cart with me. I no longer needed it so I raised the seat and found it had melted/burnt in several spots on the seat back. I was mortified! my van is a 2013 but is in great shape and only has 46,937 miles on it. It was parked in my garage and could have caused a house fire killing all occupants. I contacted Chrysler. They won't assist in the repair or replacement stating it hadn't been recalled and was no longer in warranty. Insurance denied the claim due to it being a part malfunction. Please let others know that the seat heater & wiring harness are defective!! I feel Chrysler should accept the responsibility pay for the repairs due to defective parts. Had this fire continued, they would be facing a much larger lawsuit such as wrongful death, etc.

The driver side headrest airbag deployed. No one was hurt, this was a replacement recall part from December 2023. This was supposed to be safe, what if I was driving my family and friends around and this happened? we don’t feel safe. I left a message with the dealer and am waiting to hear back. No one has inspected it this time yet. No warning signs.

I was enjoying holiday driving with family in my 2013 Chrysler Town & Country limited when suddenly a very loud pop was heard, with a forceful strike to the back of my head being felt. Alarmed & dazed for a moment, it was observed that my driver’s side active headrest had just exploded forward striking me on the back of my head. Once off the highway and stopped, I discovered that the active headrest had actually come apart. From the damage inside the exposed headrest, this catastrophic failure seemed to be mechanical in nature with root cause thought to be stress fatigue for the plastic casement. In other words, this active headrest did not just randomly “go off” from an errant srs command or an electronically manipulated trigger short. I observed the headrest’s metal latch pin to still be in the locked or reset position. Instead, the plastic assembly holding two (2) heavy coil springs ruptured unprovoked. When this happened, the front part of the headrest assembly rapidly propelled forward. Though the 2010-2016 Chrysler Town & Country active headrests are an integral part of the air bag or supplemental restraint system, this particular failure was not due to a srs control nor electrical malfunction. Rather, the plastic retainer struts surrounding the metal latch pin failed. Being that my head and neck were static in position with a small amount of clearance from the front face of the headrest, the propulsion of the headrest forward caused quite a sharp smack to the back of my head. This led to some residual neck strain for the balance of the day. I have not experienced any repercussions since that day of the incident, but I do believe this to be a safety issue for others who may be more age or physically compromised. I’ve found through mopar tech forum and dealership research that the 2010 - 2016 active headrest failure is not rare, but more and more common to the Chrysler make. Please advise. Thank you so much.

Driver side front seat active head restraint deployed while vehicle unoccupied. Plastic holding metal pin or rod broken.

I was driving and all of a sudden I heard a loud pop and the driver side head rest deployed on its own. There was no accident, I was just was driving. The headrest struck the back of my head resulting in me having a sore neck.

Headrest deployed with no occupancy or impact. Vehicle was parked in the garage when this occurred.

Today my wife was driving our 2013 Chrysler town and country. I took some pictures of the headrest popped open. I watched some youtube videos about it to find out that it is a safety feature if the vehicle is in a rear end collision. This van however was not in an accident. Since it is Saturday, my dealer's service department is not open. I will have to call them on Monday.

I was driving and all of a sudden we heard a loud pop and the passenger head rest deployed on its own. There was no accident, just was driving. Looked online to see if I could push back together, but learning about all the pieces, the plastic parts that hold the pin in broke as it was deployed. Will need to call the dealership now to get it fixed/probably entirely replaced.

Just driving down the road and passenger head rest just exploded hitting my 17 year old son in the back of his head. No impact or collision just normal driving.

Passenger seat active head restraint deployed while vehicle unoccupied.

Unknown. Inexplicably, the driver's headrest had deployed (see photos). I noticed it while opening the vehicle's driver door in a parking lot. The vehicle was not parked near any other vehicle. I brought the minivan to the closest Chrysler dealer. For more history please see text that immediately follows from my original 3/2024 communication to you. Original 3/24 request #1488564 case/reference 103 8151 the case concerns a driver’s headrest that deployed in 2022. On September 21, 2022 I brought my 2013 Chrysler Town & Country Mini-van to schumacher Chrysler of delray beach, FL. After 2 days (on 9/23/22) the service advisor informed me that their parts department didn’t have a matching headrest in stock and they would have to order one. At that time the vehicle had 68,530 miles. I followed up monthly, then bi-monthly, then quarterly until October 2023. At that point (10/30/23) I called your office where it was assigned case 103 8151. Your office told me to call stellantis, which I did the next day. It became their case 878 2888 3. They told me that they’d contact the dealer, schumacher, and I’d hear from the dealer “soon. " I never did and I finally called stellantis on 3/12/24 as followup; 4 1/2 months is a long time for “soon. " stellantis claimed they tried calling me in December 3 times. I never received any such calls or phone messages (and in checking caller id on my phone — which I basically never erase — had no record of any phone calls from either stellantis or schumacher. You’d think someone would have the courtesy to leave a message. ) stellantis told me yesterday that I needed to start-over; make the 25 mile round-trip drive to schumacher (the closest Chrysler dealership) to “diagnose” the problem. What is there to “diagnose” on a deployed headrest that they, schumacher, already saw and diagnosed? I am requesting that you, NHTSA, take this matter “under your wing. ".

Sitting in my parked car and the front driver side ahr deployed without cause and hit me very hard in the head.

The front passenger headrest deployed . There was no collision, did it for no reason. The plastic catches broke causing it to deploy. If this had impacted my wife’s head it could have injured her, if this happens to the drivers side while someone is driving and impacts the driver it could cause them to lose control of the vehicle.

Passenger seat headrest blew open while driving to work today. No accident involved. Just bam! looks like the plastic pieces holding a pin in place gave out.

The active headrest restraint of the front passenger seat deployed, while the van was parked in our driveway. The plastic brackets were broken, so there was no way to reset the headrest. The vehicle was not in any type of collision when the headrest safety feature was activated.

I have written an email today customerservicesinternational@fcagroup. Com; communication@stellantis. Com, investor. Relations@stellantis. Com about the following issue on my 2013 town and country touring. I am hoping they will respond to my request ASAP. Here is the note (minus the personal details): on July 27, 2021, I went to my driveway and saw that something was amiss with the driver’s headrest. It seemed to have deployed for no reason. I googled this and learned that it is a defective active head restraint (ahr) system in many Chrysler vehicles, where the plastic breaks off and the headrest deploys unexpectedly when the car is not involved in an accident. I went to have a closer look and sure enough, the plastic piece in the headrest had broken off, causing the headrest to deploy. Because the plastic is broken, I cannot get the headrest to go back into place. This is definitely a defective part in the manufacturing of the vehicle. I am lucky that I was not driving at the time as I am sure it would have given me whiplash on top of the shock of having something like that explode behind my head which could have caused an accident. I read online that there are several class action suits in process for this exact issue against fiat Chrysler automobiles. I don’t necessarily want to take part in the law suit -- I just want to get this headrest fixed so that the car is safe to drive again. How can such an important component of the car just give away like that, time and time again, and not be a recall? there have been other recall issues on this car regarding the airbag -- but not this headrest, although I believe that fiat Chrysler is well aware of the issue. In any case, since it is not a recall issue, I am asking that you kindly extend my warranty to 10 years/unlimited mileage to cover this faulty headrest, and I will get it fixed as soon as possible. I am attaching pictures to show you the headrest, VIN, and odometer. Please rectify this situation. Thank you.

My 18 year old son was driving my 14 year old daughter on i97 in maryland when the passenger seat active head restraints headrest deployed startling both of my kids. No injuries or accidents but pretty scary at 65 mph.

The driver active head rest exploded forward while I was driving. I was simply driving down the road and a load boom happened and I was hit in the head. The head rest is sticking forward from the rest of the piece. It looks like the plastic piece holding the rod broke causing the head rest to shoot forward.

The doors lock and trunk doesn't take the lock. Sound front suspension, front seat adjustment, can't use hand free system.

The seat belt release is sticking and won't clamp the seat belt. Engine had a slight tick when purchased an tucking has became worst. Electrical dvd is short and won't operate. Side panel on van and modern like mine missing.

The passenger seat head rest had a plastic piece that broke spontaneously inside, and the front part of the head rest is popped out. I tried to reset it using the manufacture's instructions, but since the piece is broken, it will not go back together. The vehicle was stationary and unoccupied when this occurred.

The driver head rest deployed while driving on the highway, striking the driver in the back of the head, causing momentary loss of control of the vehicle, but no accident. The head rest will not go back into normal non-deployed position after following the on-line instructions for re-setting the head rest. . After checking on the internet for other such problems or recalls, found that Chrysler dealers refuse to classify this as a manufactoring problem and will only repair this problem at owners expense. I saw that multiple other owners of the 2013 town and country also had this problem. Please investigate this problem, I bought this vehicle brand new from a Chrysler dealer.

Front passenger side head reat anti whiplash mechanism deployed while the vehicle was stationary, engine running. I opened a complaint with dealership because they said im responsible for the cost even though service manager states it happens all the time. Opened a complaint with Chrysler financial, but never followed up on the defect because I turned the vehicle in for different make. Now they are trying to stick me with a bill that should be a recall.

Driving on interstate when 5 year old granddaughter started to scream. Turned and found that the driver's side second row seat had folded on her as though to "stow & go". Was shocked that a) the seat allows itself to fold when occupied b) there is not a safety button on it that engages preventing seat handle from operating and folding. Child had fallen asleep and started to slide off seat. In order to correct herself she pushed on the edge of her seat. The seat appeared to interpret this as a need to "stow & go". Chrysler needs to recall this handle and be forced to replace with a handle with a safety button or replace all the seats with seats that only fold when no weight on them is present.