Owners/service Manual problems of the 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan

The contact owns a 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan. The contact noticed that the alarm would remain on even when she manually turned it off. The failure prevented her from starting the vehicle. She took the vehicle to the dealer and they replaced the batteries in the remote. Several weeks after the repair, the failure recurred. The vehicle has not been properly repaired. The equipment information was unknown. The failure mileage was 100,000 and current mileage was 115,000.

Flat tire requiring need for use of compact spare tire. The instructions for the spare tire removal do not show a release mechanism that is critical for lowering of the spare tire. The release mechanism is required to lower a nylon fixture that secures the compact spare tire to the underside of the vehicle. Because the instructions did not mention the release mechanism, and the release mechanism was not visible, I had to cut the nylon fixture (suggested by the service department of a Dodge dealership I contacted), which then caused the spare tire to fall down. I was slightly injured but if someone had their head underneath the spare tire when it dropped down, they could be seriously injured. The nylon fixture is now ruined. The original design is poor and the instructions are clearly lacking in the use of the release mechanism.