Six problems related to side/window air bag have been reported for the 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Consumer states while driving hit a bump in road and both driver and passenger side airbags deployed. Consumer states as a result vehicle was totalled. Please provide any further information.
Consumer states that the air bag light comes and and stays on and the horn is inopertive. Dealer contacted had the clock spring replaced. This is a common problem. Ts.
The clockspring failure caused several components to stop functioning including the driver side airbag, horn and cruise control. I understand this is a fairly common problem among Dodge vehicles and am upset that they first charge a sizable diagnostic fee only to determine that this common problem has occurred rather than offering a free part replacement which would render the diagnostic uncessary. The air bag and horn should be considered by Dodge to be safety components and if this clockspring assembly is a commonly defective part, it should be replaced as part of a recall program.
Clockspring assembly in the steering column that carries power to the driver side airbag installed in the steering wheel is broken and thus there is no electric connection to the airbag. The failure is due to the way the connecting wire, consisting of a foil on a flexible belt, is wound into "clockspring". The belt makes two bends which causes stretching pressure to the foil and in the long run wears the foil and breaks the connection. The same configration carries also the signal horn connection and when the parallel running foils break also horn fails to work.
Air bag disabled drivers side, horn disabled, cruise control disabled.
Was driving, and was about to make a turn, when vehicle lost power. Driver lost control of vehicle. Applied brakes to stop. Had checked vehicle & noticed pulley belt had came off. Tension bracket had failed (serpentine belt). Also, driver's side air bag did not deploy.