Wheel Problems of Dodge Caliber - part 2

The nut that holds the tire valve stem corroded, cracked in half, and fell off the tire. The result is that the valve stem fell inside the rim, and all of the air suddenly leaked out of the tire. Luckily there was no light traffic on the road otherwise there could have been a serious accident. This has happened again on a second tire; this occurrence I was driving at a low speed in a parking lot. After a brief internet search for "Dodge valve stem problems" and viewing online forums it seems to be an issue across several Dodge vehicles. This defect should be recalled as it has potential for significant safety implications. I can only imagine what kind of disaster could have happened if one blew out during rush hour. Thank you.

See all problems of the 2008 Dodge Caliber 🔎.

Fiance had a seizure and car went to side of road. Car flopped on the left driver side and crashed into trees. Air bags did not deploy, seat belts were intact and working. Previously, seat belts were found to unlatch at times when driver was in car and car was in motion. Amazed that seat belts worked because it saved our lives. Airbags did not deploy.

See all problems of the 2007 Dodge Caliber 🔎.

Please note this car has been difficult since I bought it. Between the tires, brakes and rotors there have been issues. Approximately 6-12 months ago I stopped to put air in my tire as my sensor informed me the tire was low. When I placed the hose on the valve stem the stem cracked in half. This cost me money to fix. Now on 11/24/12 I was once again informed I needed air and once again the stem broke, costing me over $100 to fix plus I had it fixed at pepboys as the spare was a donut and didn't want to use it. This cost me $25 but the stem was not the one for the censor. Meanwhile I called the dealer, outten county Chrysler, and left a message as they were closed. I setup an appointment and was informed that they have seen this many, many times. To me, personally, I feel this a major issue. I bought a new car to alleviate all the "repair headaches" yet I am still doing it, plus why would simply putting air in the tire cause the valve to break? according to the person at the desk they noted they have seen this problem many times that the valve stems corrode and break easily. To me this is a rip off to me, the consumer and costly at that. Please let me know if you need anything else.

See all problems of the 2009 Dodge Caliber 🔎.

I was in georgetown ontario on the weekend and got in my car to drive back to windsor on Monday oct 8th. The tire pressure light came on but we had frost overnight and knew this was a normal change in tire pressures. I stopped at the gas station and put air in tires and made sure they were all the same pressure. The tire pressure warning light immediately went out. We drove for about an hour and the tire pressure light went on again. I stopped at the next service center on the 401 and checked the tires. I could see the right front valve stem was cracked. When I turned it, the air started to quickly exit the tire. I had my wife put her thumb on it while I got the jack out and installed the spare tire. I had to have the tpm sensor and valve stem replaced @ $150. Reading on the internet, this seems to be a common problem. The service manager told me its due to corrosion and has had to replace some. He said Chrysler has not come up with a solution to the problem on my model vehicle. This car only has 38,000 km and is just over three years old! the valve stem should not be cracking! this is a big safety hazard, if that stem had let loose when I was passing someone on the 401 in the left lane, I could have lost control of the vehicle. I am now worried about the other three valve stems.

With only 38,550 miles on my car (which has been well cared for) I had to have the wheel bearings replaced. When I picked it up, my mechanic (who has been the only mechanic I have used for over 10 years) told me that the ball joints were also totally shot & had to be replaced. After a little research I found out the danger I was putting myself & others in, had him do the ball joints the next day. These 2 parts seemed to need replacement way before they should have. The dealership here (service person/al) told me since I was over my 3 year, 36,000 mile warrenty, (and havent been there in 2 years) there was nothing they could do for me. Immediately after the work was completed by my mechanic, I stopped at the bank. There I saw another Dodge Caliber pull in. While in the bank, I spoke with that driver. She told me she just had the wheel bearings done also. Im not sure what year her car was but it appeared to be newer than mine! whats going on with these cars? shouldnt the dealer have had a little more interest when my actual mileage was only 2000 over the warrenty. They kept pointing out that the car was over 5 years old & only had a 3 year warrenty. To me that has no significance. . . The mileage is what concerns me. I hope others will take note & bring this to the attention of Chrysler before there are related accidents or deaths. I did try to find a number online to call Chrysler, only to come up with sales. . . I wouldnt buy another! please inform me of any actions taken. Thank you.

I was on my way to work and drove approximately 5 minutes. As I was making a left turn to approach the entrance of the exressway, the car starting swerving and screeching and during my manuvering and engaging of the brakes, it came to a holt. The left driver's side axle had snapped and the tire was side-ways. I had to get the car towed to my mechanic, who stated that in all his years in his profession he has never seen anything like that. The axle which is made of steel was broken in half. Thank god I was able to safely manuver it without crashing into something, it was quite a scary experience. If I would have experienced this occurrence on the highway, it would have been a fatal accident. This is not the only incident I have had with this car, please refer to my other submissions for this car.

After two sets of tires we were told the lower ball joints had to be replaced on front end. Had to park the car and wait a week before the parts came in. We were told it wasn't safe to drive and there should be a recall due to the many problems of this nature. Also the water pump had to be replaced two months prior to this problem. This vehicle was serviced each time at the Dodge dealer who informed us these problem should not have happen so soon.

Car swerved to the left suddenly and forcefully twice. First time was on a 3 lane road. If another vehichile were in the lane next to me there would have been a serioius collision. Second time nearly avoided a head on collision with oncoming traffic. Then when I pulled into my drive way, the u-joint on my front passender tire broke completely. Car became undrivable and had to be towed.

Excessive inner tire tread wear due to premature wear to lower ball joint, before 50,000 miles. Could result in tire failure (blow out) at any speed and especially dangerous at highway speeds.

I was on the highway on my way to work, and I went to change from the left to the middle lane and the car kept on going pass the middle lane and toward the wall in the right lane. Thank god the lanes had enough clearly between and I was able to gain control and straigtened out the wheels without crashing into other cars and before I hit the wall. I took it to my mechainic and he changed the tire rod on the driver left side wheel. This same tire rod was changed approximately six months prior to this incident. Another scary experience I have endured with this car, which could have been fatal for myself as well as others. I have had four incidents with this car already, I am very scared to drive it. I brought this car in August of 2009, I am still making payments on it, and still have to take out of pocket expense for its' faulty workmanship. Today is February 11, 2013 and I am ready to get rid of it. . . After this I will never buy another Dodge made car.

Noticed that the front tires on the vehicle were worn down to the steel radial only on the inside edge, all the way to the steel radial, even though the tires were only a year old. Took it to the shop and found out the ball joint and front control arms needed to be replaced. Auto shop said we were fortunate that we noticed the problem, and suggested not driving any further until it was fixed. Also told us they had two other Calibers this year with same problem. We took the car to the dealership and they confirmed the problem and want to charge $1400 to fix and replace our relatively new tires. Upon researching many owners have had this same problem. Just grateful that we found the problem while parked and before the tires blew on the highway or suspension became even looser.

3 out of 4 valve stem's had to be replace on my car due to material defect. . . Contacted Dodge due to product failure to see if this had been recalled as of yet. Had the same problem with my daughters 2009 Dodge avenger last July 2011.

Valve stems break and can cause tires to loose air. Valve stems often break near the cap so you cannot add air to the tire, and in some cases they break lower so the needle in the valve becomes loose. This happened with two valve stems when the vehicle was at about 35,500 miles, and now with about 39,000 miles, I have a third valve stem that cracked differently at a lower position so it was even harder to detect. Tires may loose air so the warning light comes but you may not be able to add air. It may be a slow leak or if the crack is near the needle it could cause a rapid loss of air. These defective stems which have pressure sensors cost almost $100 at the dealer. I understand people are replacing the defective stems with conventional rubber stems and just ignoring the warning light. This is a common well documented problem for may Chrysler vehicles.

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.

2008 Dodge Caliber sxt: bought the car from dealer in morehead city, nc. After 24k miles had to replace tires because they were already worn. When tires were replaced out of my pocket the service dept failed to do an alignment. Now 19k miles later my tires bridgestone turanza's p215/60r17 are already worn out again. Upon inspection by the dealership, they determined that it was air pressure problem that caused it to wear and also my inner tire rods were already worn. I told them I had seen complaints on the internet that the 2008 Caliber was having premature wearing of tire rods and they claimed they never heard of this. Of course now that my car is at 43k miles and out of warranty they don't want to take care of it, I have to. Also, the fact they missed doing an alignment the first time they did not find the tie rod wearing premature before my warranty was up or either they did know it and they didn't tell me. I don't trust the dealer or their service team now because they missed doing an alignment, they missed a rotation when they were supposed to, they missed finding the premature wearing of tie rods. These are dangerous issues when you are out driving on the road now I wonder every time I get out there are my tires going to blow or are my tie rods going to break. Shame on the dealership and shame on bridgestone for not wanting to stand behind their products. What will it take, loss of life. The only thing the dealership will offer to do is pay for 2 tires and I have to pay for everything else.

The contact owns a 2009 Dodge Caliber. The contact stated that she attempted to add air to the front driver's tire and the valve stem detached. The vehicle was taken to an independent repair shop and the tire pressure monitoring system for the front driver's tire was replaced. Approximately one year later, the same failure was experienced on the front passenger side. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 40,000.

At around 35000 miles is when this started: when I would slow down I would notice that it felt like my driver front tire would wobble, this went on for a while, and no one could figure out what it was, blamed it on bad tires. I even took it to my dealership because my warranty was going to be up soon and asked them to look over everything and they never found anything. So I got new tires and it would still sometimes seem to wobble but it wasn't consistent. Fast forward to this summer (2011) I start to notice that it is really bad pulling out of my works driveway turning left so I think my shocks are going bad. Also I start to notice that when I start moving again from a stop it seems like the car has a little jerk. So I go to get my oil changed and tires rotated (different places) and at the dealership for the oil they fill out a little inspection sheet, only thing marked is a bad air filter. Shocks are good they said. Time to change the brakes too, so I buy some with the air filter and tell my husband when he is changing them to please look good because something is not right. Well, he finds out that he can completely move the whole wheel assembly on its own! so I take it to a local shop and both lower ball joints are bad and maybe a tire rod! at approx 48,000 miles (current) this is ridiculous!!! so call Dodge dealership and out of warranty so. . . Unless we bring it down and all these other instructions they might be able to pay for some of it. Not driving the vehicle 45 miles when the wheels might snap off and for them to most likely say "too bad"! after seeing how many people have the same problem something is obliviously wrong with the design of the Caliber, and for Dodge to do nothing, we will never even consider a Dodge, or maybe even a Chrysler (never had issues with past jeeps) again!.

The first indication of the problem was as I was driving at higher speeds (above 50 mph). I noticed a definite shaking which I took to mean that the tires were not balanced properly. I had the vehicle checked and was told that the front ball joints, control arms and tie rods were worn out. I replaced these parts and the tires as they had begun to wear badly. I am now about to replace the same parts for the fourth time! there are also major problems with the rear suspension. I am replacing the rear control arms and lateral links for the third time! I drive a lot and at first put the problem down to the number of miles I drive. The vehicle is now at approximately 211,000 miles, but this is ridiculous! the last time the front suspension wore out, the right front wheel nearly fell off! the vehicle began to shake severely and as I was a mile or two to my destination, I slowed to a crawl and when I arrived I was nearly sick when I saw how bad it was. Now the front and the rear are bad at the same time. Help me out please! I'm at my wits end as I still owe someone money I had to borrow the last time I needed this fixed. I really don't want a car payment now as my wife lost her job recently.

When driving in the winter, snow has a tendency to build up on the inside of all the wheels. The inside diameter surface of the wheel is flat not allowing any build up of snow to work its way out causing the wheel assembly to become extremely unbalanced. Clearing the snow is difficult at best. The wheel should have been designed with some sort of taper to allow the snow to come out or when melting in the warmer part of the day to fall out, not build up on the bottom of the wheel. This is a constant occurrence that I have to deal with every winter, many times a week. ## VIN failed ##.

My 2007 Dodge caliper se was equipped factory with 15 in steel wheels. Shortly after purchase I noticed a extreme vibration from 60-70mph. I returned it to the dealership multiple times and had the wheels balanced and rotated several times, test to make sure the wheels were not out of round, and finally the tires replaced. I had the factory tires inspected at one of the dunlop retailers and they were to be fine and that the issue was with the wheels. All of the wheels. Replacing the tires did not resolve the issue or make it any better. None of the repairs did. After much research on this I found that the vibration is not apparent in the aluminum wheels so I opted to pay out of pocket to have them placed on my vehicle. The issue has since been resolved with the purchase of the new wheels plus tires with and expense of $600. 00+. I did attempt to report this issue to Dodge directly but have only received the response of "no recall".

I've had numerous issues with the vehicle suspension since I purchased this vehicle brand new (a 2007( around thanksgiving 2006. The first issue involved the steering and was told that both front struts, control arms and outer tie rod ends would require replacement - at 6k miles! this repair also involved replacing the rear brake shoes. The steering was making a grinding noise when parking or parallel parking at very low speeds. I had this repair performed using parts I purchased myself and a local mechanic I found on craigslist who was willing to do the labor for about $300 including the necessary 4 wheel alignment. The parts cost about $500 or so. Another issue that has been present since I brought the car home has been this rattle and clunk in the rear suspension. It seems that nobody has been able to pinpoint what the exact problem may be. I replaced the rear shocks myself thinking that might be the problem, but it still makes this annoying noise. The car has no rear sway bar. I was told it's not a control issue and have "lived with it" as annoying as it is all these years. It seems it has not affected the vehicle control, but it's a nuissance. I'm getting ready to fix this problem myself as it must be the rear control arms or toe links. This always occurs while driving over an uneven surface like a gravel driveway or a very bumpy road. It also seems that the front tie rods appear to be in need of replacement yet again as I inpsected these myself and noted theres no boot on them and getting some steering noises again, including a clunk while steering or braking at very low speeds. Might need another set of control arms (not sure yet) really feel as if Dodge should address and acknowledge this as a defect and pay for these repairs - as I've been reading here and on plenty of Caliber forums I'm definitely not the only one who's had these exact problems.