Three problems related to door latch have been reported for the 1998 Dodge Avenger. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
In the year of 2001-2002 was the first time that my door handle on the driver side of my 1998 Dodge Avenger broke. I went to a Dodge mechanic shop and they fixed it. In the year of 2003 the passenger door handle broke off and later on in 2004 the driver side of the door handle broke again. I got someone to fix it. It is now 2006 and my driver side of my door handle has broken off again and the passenger door handle will not open the door from the outside. This has caused me to be locked out of my car multiple times. I don't understand why the handles keep breaking off. There has to be a defect because they are easily broken.
Within one year of each other, both the drivers and then the pasengers door handles broke off. This seems to be a manufactures defect, as several sebring and Avenger cars in our area have all experienced the same failure.
1998 Dodge Avenger ES. When I went to open the driver,s door the entire handle snapped off and was in my hand. Cheap plastic mechanism. Have to open door from the inside. Very inconvenient. Have call into a couple mechanics and Dodge dealer for repair estimates.