general problems of the 1999 Dodge Caravan

Preparing to exit a parking lot, the gear shift was accidentally caught by my sleeve and pulled down to the "drive" position. The vehicle was not running, but it began to move forward. Being on somewhat of a slope, the vehicle pulled onto a busy street. I grabbed the wheel to turn the van away from traffic, but it hit and scraped against a high curb, flattening 2 tires, damaging the wheels/rims of those tires, bending a strut and other damage to the suspension (I got a repair estimate from firestone, which totaled over $1,900. 00). I didn't think it was possible for the gear shift to move without having my foot on the brake, but move it did and so did the van. Other than being frightened and shaken, we were fortunate that no physical injuries occurred. However, had I not had that split second reaction to turn the steering wheel, there would have been a very bad collision with at least two vehicles driving down the busy street. Wondering why the gear shift was able to move without the car running and without my foot on the brake, I did some research and found that Chrysler knows about this grievous omission and did not want to spend the extra $9. 00 per van to install a brake shift interlock. I'm incredulous! I intend to write to Chrysler in hopes of being reimbursed for the damages sustained to my vehicle, but first wanted to report this incident to the appropriate agency.

While driving the vehicle, the instrument panel shuts off without warning and for no known reason. Dodge told us that it was a short in the wiring in the dash that caused the computer to shut down. The technicians insisted that the problem would be impossible to find, especially since it could not be replicated on demand. This has continued to happen periodically, most recently in January 2014, when the computer went out, shutting down the instrument panel and the wheels on the passenger side of the vehicle. The driver's side continued forward, which pushed the vehicle into a curb, flattening two tires and damaging those respective rims. Although no one was injured, had there been a vehicle next to the van, as opposed to a high curb, the defect in the vehicles wiring and computer would have caused a collision. There is never any warning prior to the electrical and instrument panel going out. There is no known trigger that causes this problem. It is not triggered by going over a bump, driving at any particular speed, stopping or accelerating. I wanted to report this, because a witness (who happened to be a police officer) to the most recent incident advised us that this is a known and common issue in Dodge Caravans built in the late 1990s/early 2000s.