Car Will Not Start problems of the 2008 Dodge Caliber

While driving on a city street all the warning lights come on and the tach stops registering. I turned the car off it wouldn't restart. After awhile it restarted with the check engine light remaining lit. Took it to my mechanic he says the fuse module needs to be replaced.

While driving a 2008 Dodge Caliber se in a street between 40mph and 45 mph, the vehicle suddenly shutdown itself. Five second later and after pulling over as close as I could to the curve of the road, the car died. I tried to restart the engine to move it out of the way of the traffic, but the vehicle did not start. Smoke started coming out under the hood, and after further examination, I saw sparks and smoke coming out off the fuses' box. I disconnected the battery and waited for the smoke to clear up. Using a flash light, I found out that one of the circuit card in the totally integrated power module (tipm) shorted and melted part of the plastic cover. The vehicle couldn't be put in neutral, and the break pedal and steering wheel were inoperative. If this incident happened in a high way, I am sure that the incoming traffic could have hit my car with speed over 65mph due to suddenly deceleration and lack of vehicle's response to the driver's commands. My wife, three years old daughter and I could have been involved in a fatal crash.

Car wouldn't start because of defective tipm. I often travel the freeway and was experiencing a brief pause in the fuel systems while trying to accelerate. After research I have found that this is a common issue with a variety of Dodge model cars and feel that this could be very dangerous to the public in general. I feel the implications that this type of system failure has on these models as well as their safety feature is numerous. I also quite sure that the company is well aware of its defects, yet they are doing nothing to protect their consumers.

After purchasing my Dodge Caliber in February or 2008 I noticed the gas gauge was not consistently accurate. It took a total of 6 months for schaefer and strohminger to "fix" it. I called them afterwards to tell them it was better but not completely correct and they put me off several times. They said they would call the engineer and follow up with me. That never happened even after the ceo of the vehicle maintenance department told me I met the lemon law requirements. During this time the car began to hesitate from time to time when starting. I also asked them about that problem. They could not figure out the problem after having it in the shop twice. About a year later the car wouldn't start and left me stranded at work. It was towed to the nearest dealership. I called ahead to talk to the mechanic who knew exactly what my problem was because he'd had several others need to be replaced already in the Caliber. It was the wireless control module. While still under warranty they replaced it. It's been a few months now and the car has hesitated while starting 4 times already. Obviously there is a fault in the wireless control module unit they are using. Finally, I'm taking it back to have them check the water in the driver's side tail light and wet carpet behind the driver's side seat. I'm very dissatisfied with this car and do not plan on buying from Dodge or schaefer and strohminger again.