Sway Bar Problems of Dodge Caliber

The vehicle had steering problems for over a year; it would get looser with any bump you hit. Multiple front end parts were replaced almost every 3 months. I had just finished putting new tie rod ends, cv axles, wheel bearings, brake pads, and sway bar links in the front end. Also had a front end alignment and tire rotation done. While driving the vehicle down the road 15 minutes after being repaired the steering gave out and the front left drivers side wheel collapsed and bent in. The car was towed home and was noticed the subframe had cracked and rusted out. It was a 2007 Dodge Caliber sxt with 130,000 miles on it. Owned it for 6 years and had nothing but front end problems and the suspension. I had over $5000 worth of repairs sunk into it within those 6 years.

See all problems of the 2007 Dodge Caliber 🔎.

I I have changed multiple times the sway bar links and had to put on new struts twice. There was supposed to be a recall on the cross member bar and when I took it to be fixed the dealer would not honor the recall on the bar. It is now making once again a popping sound in the front drivers side and I am wanting to once again get the recall on the car that was supposed to be fixed before.

According to my mechsnic ,the sway bar has rotted off and this has been a problem for this model due to where the air conditioning unit drains there has been a warranty extension I've been told when we turn the wheel left or right it feels like the the car is coming apart the subframe needs to be replaced .

Heard a clunking noise when turning and stopping, got home thinking the strut was broken and found that the sub-frame for engine, sway bar and tire assembly completely rotted and cracked on the drivers side ready to break in two. Car is unsafe to drive. Mileage 91k.

See all problems of the 2009 Dodge Caliber 🔎.

I took my wife's 2009 Caliber to our mechanic because she heard clunking noises from the front end. We were informed by our mechanic that a piece of frame stretching across the front of the vehicle is severely rusted. The steering rack and sway bars attach to this frame work. Also front end components. The vehicle makes loud plunking noices when going over small and large bumps and much worse when hitting pot holes. No other rust is apparent on any fram work under the vehicle. This vehicle is only nine years old. I think that's extremely odd for such a young vehicle. I feel this may become a safety issue very soon and think there may have been a recall that I am unaware of.

I have replaced both front struts both sway bar links passengers side front lower control arm and bushings (ball joints) still here something hitting and while driving the car goes where it wants in steering goes into other lanes to oncoming vehicles have to pull back onto my lane like it looses steering.

Where do I start! from day one we have had issues with this car. Cruse control didn't work, brought back to dealer the first week to be fixed. One month later, front speaker went out, another trip to the dealer speaker was replaced. At 34,611 miles, car was stuck in park, would not shift at all. Towed to dealer, replaced stop lamp. At 35,031 miles, front end making loud knocking noise, you guessed it, another trip to Dodge, lower control arms replaced. Skipping to January of 2017, car now has 124,000 miles loud crunching sound coming from front driver side. Thought OH, another ball joint needs replacing, which has been replaced in January of 2016, along with more control arms, sway bar link, and struts, about $1200. 00 in all. Took this pile of crap to local merlin's shop, showed me the rotted cross member with large holes in it, completely rotted through, back cross member was in bad shape as well. Absolutely disgusted with this car, traded it in for a 2011 chevy and got $ 500. 00 which was pretty generous. How could Dodge not recall this issue, my wife would drive this 5 days a week 40 miles a day on the highway, lucky she could of been injured or worse, she always said the front end was not right, this has been rusting out for years. I guess safety is not a priority with their customers, they never sent any warning out to have this checked out. I will never ever buy another Chrysler/Dodge or Jeep product.

Summary: the vehicle was taken to the mechanic thinking there was an issue with the transmission. Mechanic states the the fluid nededed changed and found a front crossmember of the subframe completely rusted apart next to the sway bar. The 2007 model has an extended warranty that was given to extend it 10 years with unlimited mileage for the replacement of the crossmember, but they have yet to do this with the 2009 model. Obviously, the issue has continued with subsequent model years and is absolutely unreasonable to think a vehicle that is 7 years old with no other rust, should have such a serious issue.

The vehicle was taken to the mechanic thinking there was a brake issue as there was a clunking and shaking while braking and turning. Mechanic states the brakes are fine and found a front crossmember of the subframe completely rusted apart next to the sway bar. The 2007 model has an extended warranty that was given to extend it 10 years with unlimited mileage for the replacement of the crossmember, but they have yet to do this with the 2009 model. Obviously, the issue has continued with subsequent model years and is absolutely unreasonable to think a vehicle that is 7 years old with no other rust, should have such a serious issue.

I have a 2008 Dodge Caliber we bought it in April 2013 and about every 5-6 months we have to replace struts, ball joints,etc. Plus have the sway bar worked on that often as well. . . . . Dodge needs to recall all these cars with this defect and we have problems with alignments. . . These cars are very high maintenance because they are so defected and no one can afford to replace all this and keep their cars in shops every 5-6 months. . . Please Dodge do something about all of this. . .

See all problems of the 2008 Dodge Caliber 🔎.

Tl-the contact owns a 2007 Dodge Caliber. The contact stated that while driving at 40 mph, there was an abnormal noise that came from the under carriage. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed that the sub frame and sway bar needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 138,000. Pam.

I bought my car used in June of 2014 and thought it was in pretty decent shape at the time, little did I know. I was driving my car (2009 Dodge Caliber) and hit a small pothole and heard some rattling afterwards. I assumed it was maybe a clamp on my exhaust and so wasn't real worried about it and figured I would have my mechanic check it out in a week of so. I got concerned after a couple days because the rattling turned into clunking. I sent it to my mechanic and he said there was major rot on the engine cradle which was rotted and broken and both front control arms were no good and sway bar bushings also needed replacing, two days before this noise I was on the highway traveling at speed limit, had this all fallen apart I could have been killed. The cost to repair all the parts which were, as far as my mechanic is concerned, faulty and should be recalled, was $1920. 13 !!! this car is 6 years old with 86,000 miles on it and should not have the rot in these places as severe as it is. I know on the Dodge Caliber forums many owners have similar problems with the major front end parts rotting. This is a major problem and I wouldn't even have noticed had my mechanic not put it on a lift and looked at it and even then once he took off the engine cradle to replace it he noticed the rotted parts that were covered by the cradle, thank god I didn't lose control and get killed as I travel a lot on the highway, this problem needs to be brought to light and Caliber owners need to have their mechanics check out their cars before someone's engine falls out and they get killed. When I purchased this car it was most likely rotted pretty bad and I didn't know that was a defect in them at the time. I see lots of these cars for sale still on lots, people need to have the front ends inspected thoroughly before they purchase one .

The contact owns a 2007 Dodge Caliber. The contact stated that there was an abnormal noise coming from under the vehicle. The vehicle was driven home where an independent mechanic where it diagnosed that the front cross member, outer sway bar link, sway bar bushing, and the rear engine mount needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unavailable.

Sway bar gaskets & endlinks along with front struts & plates had to get replaced 2007 Dodge Caliber 89k miles lightly used not an abused vehicle.

My 2007 Dodge Caliber was diagnosed by an authorized service center to have a corroded engine cradle and a broken sway bar bracket. The car was deemed unsafe to drive by the servicing center, and I was given an estimate of $731 to repair it. At the time of the diagnosis, the car was only 7 years old with 75,825 miles on it. I contacted Dodge to see if they would offer any assistance, and I explained that I found it completely unacceptable that the frame of my vehicle had rusted through to the point that it was unsafe to drive the vehicle. Dodge customer service contacted the service center to verify the diagnosis and confirmed that they had told me the car was unsafe to drive. However, customer service offered no assistance and told me that they were unable to do anything because the car was outside of it's 3 year warranty and I "didn't fit the parameters" for them to be able to help me. An engine cradle that has completely corroded after just 75,000 miles is a serious safety hazard and, in my opinion, also indicative of a serious manufacturing defect, yet both the dealership and Dodge refused to do anything to rectify the situation.

Started to hear squeaking and clanging noises in the front passenger side of my car. It would make the noises with every bump and especially could hear it going down hills. Then the steering wheel would wobble and it felt like I was driving on a flat tire, but tire pressure was fine. When it started to be all over the road, like I was constantly hydro-planning, I researched on line and found that this particular year and model of car has major problems with the control arms, ball bearings and tie rods. I made an appointment with my mechanic and told him I thought it was the passenger side control arm. He checked it out and it was both control arms with connected ball bearing, both tie rods and both sway bar end links needing replaced. He also discovered that the tires that had been put on not even 9 months ago where showing threads. Cost of repair not including the new tires and alignment was $887. Will be up over $1000. 00 after tires are replaced and alignment is complete. I was afraid to drive on wet pavement, had very little control of the car. Was always correcting the steering while driving, it just pulled and when I hit a bump it would jerk to the side where the bump was.

I called Dodge Chrysler about the fact that my car needs: 2 rear lower control arms, 2 lateral links, struts, bellows, 2 sway bar links,bushings and 4 wheel alignments. Not to mention the abnormal wear I've had on these tires, where, Chrysler dealerships have told me you can't do wheel alignments on the rear of the car. It needs 1700. 00 worth of repairs. The car is not that old but I don't think it should need this much repair. I understand you can't get parts for this car. No recall? there are so many other of these cars with similar problems.

Car started fallling apart at around 48k tie rods. Control arms. Struts. Bushings. Ball joints. Bearings. Sway bar links. Lateral arm bushings. Upper control arm bushings. Upper tow links. Front strut mounts. My latest repair bill (today) is 1500. 00 and the car has only 60k on it. The catalytic converter is also slated for replacement as soon as the dealer gets it in. I am a very conservative driver and always keep my car serviced. I bought this car brand new. The suspension on this car is a menace. The blower motor also went at 48k (a safety issue in my northern mn winters) and the rear defroster only has two or three lines that work. The power steering unit is also losing fluid and I will have to have that repaired as well. I am more than happy to provide a print out from firestone auto repair.

The contact owns a 2007 Dodge Caliber. The contact stated that she heard a banging noise when she drove over a bump in the road or when making a turn. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who replaced the front left control arm, front left strut, and both sway bars. The failure recurred and the vehicle was taken back to the dealer who replaced the front right lower control arm bushing as it was hitting the frame. The contact called the manufacturer who paid for a portion of the repairs. The contact began hearing another noise and planned to take the vehicle back to the dealer. The current mileage was 63,432. The failure mileage was approximately 45,000.