general problems of the 2008 Dodge Caliber

The entire underneath of my car is rusted out. I was driving to work one day when someone pulled out in front of me and I had to hit the brakes. That resulted in the subframe and front drivers axel to break as I’m driving! the sunroof leaks when it rains and half the time the electricity doesn’t work on the sunroof button. My doors have completely stopped auto locking and my hazards will randomly start flashing without pushing the button. Steering is absolutely terrible, it feels like you’re skidding on ice or hydroplaning the entire drive.

The front calipers will not engage when brake pedal is pressed. The brake pedal sinks to the floor and has no stopping power. The master cylinder was replaced and calipers are new replacements. After replacing these parts it now smell of burnt brake fluid but there is no leak and the problem seems to worsen. The first time I was doing 45-50 on a county rd when a another car pulled out 20 feet away and I was trying to slow down when I lost the front brakes as pished in on the pushed in on the brakes the pedal sank and they didn't engage. I then bought the new calipers and it was fine for about a month. The second time I was stuck in traffic on a busy city street when the abs brakes failed resulting in me running a red light and almost getting hit. It has corroded and took hunks off aluminum from my front driver rim. I have not been able to figure out what the problem and keep replacing parts for it to tear up new ones.

While driving my car speed lowered and the trans temp light and esp light and traction control and etb module light came car won't go over 40 and remains in limp mode even after taking it to the shop.

Luckily, I was on a city street. The vehicle lost power and slowed significantly, almost stopping completely and began to reboot as if it were just being started. I am complaining because I do not feel it to be safe for consumers on any road. I have a 3 year old son and I would very much like Dodge to fix this problem before my, or anyone else's family, gets whiplash from a rear collision. I'm reaching out to NHTSA because, I lack the tools and knowledge to fix it myself, and don't find it fair that I pay for a mistake that Dodge made in making the car.

My 2008 Dodge Caliber stalled out when driving & had the electronic throttle body control lights go off. ( we traded instead of fixing) not 1 week later my 2014 Dodge avenger has this same electronic throttle body control and stalled on the highway!!!!! the shop that is trying to fix this just has another avenger fixed for the same issue ! why have these not been recalled? if someone gets hurt stalling out on a highway because of this, there is going to be issues.

The code stating a wire is lose within the driver airbag. The airbag light keep going on and off consistently while driving.

Dash warning lights all come on, interior light comes on when using right turn signal, loses power only up to 40mph , sometimes won't start, odometer gauge flapping around, which are current problems,have replaced suspension three times, and replaced computer! will never purchase a Dodge again!.

One headlight doesn't,work sub frame completely rusted, doors lock at different speeds shock and struts are horrible squeaks and makes really bad sounding noises at any speed even backing out.

Tl-the contact owns 2008 Dodge Caliber. The contact was driving at 70 mph when the radio and dome light just came on and then the vehicle shut off. The gas pedal had to be pressed extremly hard for the vehicle to stop. Multiple warning lights illuminated. The contact then drove the vehicle home safely. Then the contact called Chrysler Dodge Jeep ram greensboro 27407 (336) 790-9850 (336) 790-9850 where they explained what the contacts next move for payment. The vehicle was not diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage is unknown. Jw.

Coming home from a trip and stopped to put gas in and it was night time and the dash lights would not come on. It happened 3 times now. I do not like driving home with a flashlight. Also the other problem we have is we had. Our oil changed and we're told that the front subframe is rusting out and the oil pan will need to be replaced soon.

I have reported this before and nothing has been done I have a have a 2008 Dodge Caliber and have had to change the electrical throttle this is very serious fir my car have turned off in the middle of driving in traffic this part needed to be recalled before I all some one else get kills or get badly hurt I have had to replace this part 3 times and I'm very tired of this please find out why this part goes bad so fast on these cars I have ready plenty of stories about this part going out on these Dodge Calibers and still no recalls do something before some one gets hurts and please look into this matter because its serious when you're driving the car shuts off in traffic and I'm sure I'm not the only one that have brought this to y'all attention do something before its to late and this is my second Dodge Caliber and having the same issue with the electric throttle and my car was in motion it happened all 3 times.

Losing power and all idiot lights flashing on highway or driving around the city very dangerous can not go over 45 on highway.

Car started making popping and creaking sounds when making a right hand turn. We have replaced everything there is as far as tie rods even to the point of motor mounts. Last night I get a call and the car had done something I had never heard of. The harmonic balance pulley had flown off and the car had to be towed home. I also have the same problem as it seems cazillion other people have posted online. This car leaks. It has leaked since day one and the dealership in conroe, TX said if you get a car with a sunroof, its gonna leak. They are full of crap. This car's headliner looks as if it has been trodden on with muddy boots. It leaked so bad that carpeting would get wet then it was leaking down into the dash which caused the lights to do weird things. I can't even get rid of it because I would feel guilty for endangering someone else's life.

My car was cutting off while driving down the road and with that the steering would lock with no way to move out of the way of other traffic but would start back up a minute later. This went on for a few days. Then it cut off while driving and wouldn't restart. Got towed to mechanic who determined it was the tipm.

Electronic throttle control picture came on dash as I was trying to start car to leave from my home. Car shut off and does the same thing again and again. Dont want to run battery down. Car still in garage at home.

I can drive the car but can't speed up or engine light will flash. If I'm at a stop light too long my car will stall while engine light is flashing and can't turn over engine right away.

For the second time, I lost power to the turn signals, windshield wipers and washer, rear wiper and washer. I also lost the ability to set cruise control and the mileage display was blank. About 20 minutes into a rainy drive the wipers and turn signals came back. Then the wipers stayed on and would not turn off. I stopped for gas the the key fob would not lock/unlock doors. Problems went away and came back, but not all of them. I drove to the Chrysler / Dodge dealer and asked about any service bulletin. They didn't find anything specific on the computer. Made an appointment to have car trouble-shot on 5/23/2015. I am concerned that the air bag maybe not deploying should I need it.

While going 45 mph car started stalling and would idle at 1. 5 stopped in neutral. Lost almost all power. Mearly caused a collision.

While traveling at 45 mph on 6 lane highway engine decelerated to between 5 to 10 miles per hour. Engine begun to idle very rough. I was approaching a side street and was able to turn off the main hwy. To access the problem. The electronic throttle light had come on indicating a problem with the throttle system.

The contact owns a 2008 Dodge Caliber. While driving 55 mph, an abnormal ticking noise was heard from the front end of the vehicle. The electrical throttle control light illuminated on the panel and the vehicle stalled. The contact pulled over to the side of the road and was able to restart the vehicle. The vehicle was eventually towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that there was no failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 150,000.

The lights and all dash gauges turn off while driving and all the warning lights on the dash come on. The engine light stays on until the car is turned off. When restarting all lights go away. This happens most often when when I am braking. No pattern for when or what speed. Abs seems to kick in for no reason during this electrical failure. Power has been lost and car has died while driving. I am told this is the tpim module fault that requires replacement for $1,500. 00! there is large and common problem with this tpim and Dodge has wrongly not provided a recall for the Caliber.

I first expericed the eletronic throttle control problem last month when I was on my way home and lost power while driving took it to a local mechanic and he said he would look at it. . When I got the car back he said he cleaned the throttle sensor and shouldnt have any issues payed $75. Well a couple of days ago the battery light came on and was on the entire day then went off. Now when it came back on and the electronic throttle light came on with it. The car would not go over 2 miles as I was driving towards the light I had to immediately turned off the car and turn back on. Thankfully there was no one at the light behind me when I did that. But I researched online and seen that many other has had this issue with their cars dating back 2007. My car is a 2008 which seem to have been fine till now. I have had the altenator go out and replaced followed by the battery being replaced that same week. I'm afraid to get on the highway with the car now. It's kind of scary to be on the road and have the car just stop on you. And have someone behind you not prepared to be stopping so quickly. I pick my grand baby up from school and I would hate to have this happen while she is in the car. I want to see if there was a recall on these vehicles with this problem but don't know where to look. I haven't put the milage down because im at work putting in this report and its dark. But the mileage is well over 150,000.

Hi I got my power module replaced like 2 time in the past year and it went out again and it's we're all of my fuses are connected to so my head light dose it work and I got pulled over like 8 times and just different things has been burning out. Thank u.

I am writing to discuss a possible danger in the design of the fuse box. The fuse box under the hood of the Dodge Caliber appears to allow too much moisture beyond the upper seal. Every 10,15, and 20 amp Mini fuse develops excessive oxidation on the contacts. The oxidation may cause malfunctions in two ways. The first is phantom error codes and check engine lights. The second is the cvt transmission may slip out of gear while driving causing sudden loss of drive power and lead to collisions. Another issue that concerns me is the potential for circuits to overheat resulting in electrical fires under the dash and under the hood of the Caliber.

We were noticing the car being sluggish and not wanting to pick up speed so we made an appointment to get it looked at. Before that could happen the electronic throttle control light popped on when I was going through an intersection, the car wouldn't go above 20mph and felt like it wanted to stall out. I took my foot off the gas and the etc light went off after a few seconds. I was lucky it was very early in the morning and the intersection was empty. I continued on my way to work about 1/2 mile and the etc came back on. I managed to get it to work and parked it. I looked up what the light means and proceeded to google what it was for my car. I was socked by how many people have had this exact problem for the make and model. I couldn't believe this issue was not known or recalled. Car owners should have been made aware of this issue before it became a hazard. I left work and prayed my car would make it the 1/2 mile to my home. Unfortunately , the etc light came back on then started flashing. After reading other car owners posts I decided not to risk staling it on a bridge so I coasted it into a gas station were it chugged out. I walked the rest of the way home in 85 degree weather. We towed the car to our repair place, they hooked it up to the computer to read the codes, then they reset the controls hoping it would by pass a glitch. It didn't. They then had us bring the car to a Dodge dealer to be repaired. The dealer was familiar with he problem "this happens all the time with these cars. " they couldn't get to it until after the fourth of July weekend. They installed the replacement throttle body $272. 42 (part 4891735ac) at a cost of 566. 00 total. We just got the car back today. It is running smoother but only time will tell if the problem was fixed.

Driving down the street at about 30mph and the car started jerking really bad the soon it died I went down and diagnosed it, come to find out the throttlebody is bad and seems to have happened to almost every Caliber sebring owner.

While driving my children to school, my car began shutting down on a major road putting mychildren and myself in danger. The throttle control light came on. After turning the car off and waiting a couple of minutes I was able to drive extremly slow to ge them to school safely. This sounds similar to the same problems currently happening with the chevy cobalts. Is it going to take Chrysler/Dodge killing people before this gets recalled? I encourage everyone to contact their local news stations along with national news stations! car companies are only interested in making their money and not looking at the safety issues of the death traps they are selling to consumers. I will be endlessly pursuing this matter until Dodge steps up and pay for the repair! I will call every news station until some attention is brought to this matter and holding car companies like Dodge/Chrysler responsible for selling and manufacturing faulty vehicles. I have gone through all complaints listed on this site and numerous others. Someone is not doing their job!.

I was on my way to work and getting onto a freeway entrance, when right when I was merging, my car completely lost throttle control and bogged down. It was very foggy outside and a semi truck almost ran into the back of my car. I was able to get off the freeway and home with my car in what is known as limp mode. There was no check engine light, only a red lightning bolt light, and my esp (traction control) was on also. Upon doing some research I have found that the electronic throttle body goes out in these cars quite a bit. No body in my city had one and luckily I was able to source one from another state. Everyone that was out said they were on back order. This further confirmed my thoughts that this is a common problem along with reading about 10 other cases and a car forum where this has happened to many member there also. I understand things wear down and break and need to be replaced, but with my car only having 70,000 miles on it I find it a little ridiculous, and on that forum there are some where their throttle bodies have gone out at 30,000 miles. I'm just surprised that no body has been seriously injured or killed in accident because of this issue. One particular member on the forum I read he stated that the car had completely died on him in the middle of a busy intersection. I have a 4 year old son and it just bugs me to think that what if I had him in the car and that semi wasn't able to move out of the way in time? all I'm asking is that Dodge either makes a better quality throttle body and puts out a recall or at least replaces the throttle body under the recall for free. I have wrote to Dodges customer complaint department, but have not heard anything back so I figured maybe I would try here and see if anything can be done.

After turning on my car it began to lunge while in idle. As I attempted to back it out of the driveway the accelerator pedal had little to no effect. The car would not drive more than 10 mph, still lunging. The indicator light for the electronic throttle control (etc) lit up and started blinking. I took it into the dealer and the diagnostic ($150) proved it to be the etc. The etc kit needed to be replaced which apparently is a "dealer only" part. This is such a common occurrence for Dodge that the etc kit is on back order and will not be available for 2 weeks! not to mention the part costs $600+. And by the way, I had to have the transmission replaced in 2011!.

The main issue is not being able to take the car out of "park" when it is running. For the past year it has happened intermittently. The last 2 days none of my trying and retrying to get it out of park works. Also, my windshield wipers come on whenever they feel like it. Mostly upon starting. I also cannot reset my change oil light.

I have replaced the bulbs multiple times on the turn signals. The brake lights continue to come on and off at their leisure . Sometimes, the turn signals on the front work and sometimes not. This is becoming a regular incident and is very dangerous since I drive long distances frequently. I also have been stopped by law enforcement several times for defective bulbs, luckily only warnings so far.

I was on my way to work, headlights and dash lights started to flicker, all the indicator light on the dash came on. Smoke started coming in the vents into the vehicle went to stop, brakes grabbed for a second then went out completely, even shifting the vehicle to park did nothing. Stopped the vehicle by hitting guard rail called police, within minutes the entire front end was in flames.

I have 2 2008 vehicles the first one is a Dodge avenger and the 2nd one is a Caliber. I bought both of these cars from the same delalership new. I have issues with the tire persure sensors in all the tires. They are coroding causeing the tire pressure to drop, are they any current issues or recalls on these type of devices.

If it is 80 degrees or hotter, the automatic locks will not lock/unlock by pushing the button on the driver door or by pushing the button on the key. They will not perform the automatic lock when you first start driving. When this occurs I have no way of opening the hatch because there is no key hole. I'm afraid this is a fire hazard. Only happens when it is hot weather or when I have been driving for a long trip. Has anyone else had this problem?.

2008 Dodge Caliber stopped accelerating normally in September 2010 at about 43,000 miles (and about 6 months after I bought it from a Mazda dealership). I took it to several transmission shops who all said they couldn't help, but had heard of many similar problems with this vehicle. I finally took it to the dealership for a diagnosis and was told the whole transmission needed to be replaced (at about $4000). This diagnosis seems to be very different from the throttle issue that I've read about online. I was told it might hurt the powertrain further to continue driving it, so the car is still sitting in my drive way as a non-op. I don't understand how Dodge is getting away with this, when so many similar complaints exist (most of which are within the warranty).