general problems of the 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan - part 1

While driving the engine light came on within 10 minutes the car started jumping in place and then within 5 minutes completely would not go in any direction forward reverse or neutral and just revved the torque locked up the transmission quit completely did not even give me time to pull over and access the issue was 7 min from home when completely quit.

The sliding passenger door will not open with remote or manually. I have heard that there is a recall out for this. I need help finding it.

It seems as though the transmission is failing. I read somewhere that 2016 Dodge Grand Caravans have been recalled for transmission issues. I'd like for my VIN be added to that recall list.

Dear fca 06/30/2025 as a Dodge owner I have to tell you about my situation, I’m a 2016 Dodge caravan owner and love the van, love the stow and go seating and both sides sliding doors and the room. We bought this van because our other vehicles didn’t fit all our grandkids in, so it’s our 3rd vehicle for that use. It was used gingerly and kept in our garage. Well maintained “all oil change, tires and brake record’s” as well as any recalls! and recommended services when recommended like the 2023 tranny flush and filter. Which we had to hunt for a dealership that did . We never had any symptoms or warning lights with the exception of low tire light. In late January 2025 we transferred ownership to my son and daughter in law who just welcomed another baby, boy number 4, so you can imagine they needed the room. At this time the van was around 76,000 for mileage. My daughter in law still on maternity leave takes the boys to the movies in April,2025 comes out and the van won’t move! mileage 80,686! this is just crazy and she has to get it towed and guess what they say the transmission is no good and here we are $6000. 00 later. I have since talked with several mechanics and fb people who have been in this very situation with Dodge products, Dodge has transmission issues! I have contacted Dodge no response! and the fca no response! please respond with what else I can do to further push for some kind of investigation into this! [xxx] [xxx] [xxx] [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Driver side sliding door stuck locked. Not able to open the door. Extreme safety issue. Passenger is not able to exit the car in emergency situation.

Both back doors have failed lock actuators. I’ve gotten a repair quote of over $1400 per door to get fixed. Both doors buzz and one has actually locked shut. Extremely inconvenient with children.

Transmission started shifting hard at 98k miles. It died at red lights on occasion. Took to shop and they replaced the transmission solenoid. That fixed it from dying at red lights but vehicle transmission is about to fully go out right at 100k miles. I will never buy another Dodge vehicle.

Closed the driver side sliding door and the headrest on the driver seat exploded open. Car was not in motion. Door shut and head rest adjacent to it just popped apart and hit the head of the person in the driver seat.

The back door on my 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan on the driver side will not open from the inside or the outside I can't get my infant out if there was a fire or an accident vehicle only has 47,000 miles on it.

When leaving for a family outing on Saturday, I noticed the driver headrest did not look right. It was separated in 2 pieces and would not go back together. When trying to find a resolution I learned that this unexpected deployment is a common problem that apparently Dodge is not yet willing to fix. I called the dealer where the van was purchased and they confirmed that there are no recalls for this vehicle and the repair would be out of my pocket. They would not even quote a price without bringing the vehicle to the dealer to diagnose (for $119). I am willing to provide photos for anyone that needs it to confirm this separation to include drivers door label and VIN number. It should not take $119 for anyone to confirm this ahs deployment. Frankly, I am appalled that the manufacturer is not choosing to recall vehicles with this complaint or that there is an active investigation about this matter but no recall. How are these vehicles considered safe? and how long will we have to drive a vehicle that cannot protect us because safety mechanism has already activated (without a crash until there is one)?!.

My car started making a loud buzzing sound after starting it up and driving. The sound startled me and I was scared to drive. It stopped so I continued on with my day. Every time I started it up and drove it did the same thing. Finally after getting home and hitting the lock on my remote, it did the same noise locking the car. I realized it is an issue with a motor on the automatic locking mechanism. I don’t know what it means or if it’s a safety issue but it really frightened me because it’s so loud. I don’t have a picture but I do have a video of the noise.

Sliding door latch mechanism failed on the right rear passenger door. Part number 68030380ae. The right rear passenger door was locked in the closed position. No amount of effort would open the door. I feel this is a severe safety issue. If there was an accident, especially involving the vehicle catching fire, the passenger would not be able to exit the vehicle. Please help. There should be a manual override for this latch mechanism.

Passenger's sliding door will not unlock electronically or manually making an obvious safety hazard for my children gran children. All other doors are working at this time. Problem started approximately 04/01/24. My research has shown many complaints of this safety hazard for this year/ make/model 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan. Should be recalled if not already. Unique.

Sliding door got stuck shut and buzzes every time doors are locked.

2016 Dodge Grand Caravan, sliding passenger door on driver side will not unlock or open. Per local mechanic the lock actuator has failed. Should I end up in an accident someone could be trapped in the vehicle. I also transport a mobile wheelchair and can only load it from side doors. Should the other latch fail it will be impossible to load or remove wheelchair. This should be a safety issue.

Transmission.

Rear door locks malfunction and fail resulting in doors locking. They then cannot be unlocked and opened either with key fob or manually. This is a major safety issue.

My drivers side sliding door actuator was replaced several years ago under warranty due to buzzing noise. Now it will not allow that same door to release the lock to open it up.

The sliding doors does not unlock on its own. Needs to be manually unlocked and makes a buzzing sound when pushing the lock button.

The sliding door power locks are stuck locked closed. I can’t open the sliding doors with anything. The key fob, the internal electric push buttons in van, and the manual unlock tabs won’t unlock them. So if we had an accident, people in the back two rows would be unable to open the sliding doors to get out. If that’s not a safety issue, I don’t know what is. Nhtsa has already closed their investigation of this issue after Chrysler issued extended warranty d21-15 (x98) which supposedly will fix this safety problem at no cost to the owner. There are a multitude of internet discussions of this issue, with many owners reporting that Dodge dealerships are now charging them for the repairs based on an amendment Chrysler made to the initial service bulletin TSB 23-017-20. I called a local dealership and they said that their understanding of extended warranty d21-15 (amended TSB 23-036-21) is that it will not cover the repairs to my vehicle because the sliding door locks are not “buzzing” when I attempt to lock or unlock them. That asterisked verbiage was included in an amended TSB after Dodge initially approved a warranty extension, effectively excluding a large percentage of costly repairs to a known safety issue. I called the fca us llc customer service at 1-800-423-6343, and the call center rep told me I should just try calling different dealerships to see if I can get a different answer. I got the same answer from another dealership. How this bait and switch passed muster at NHTSA is simply astonishing. So a multitude of 2016 Dodge Grand Caravans have sliding doors that fail locked closed. Some are failing due to power lock actuators failing and some may be due to door latches failing. All of these failures are a known safety issue that Dodge should be fixing at no cost to owner. I will be filing a lawsuit claim regarding this unresolved safety issue.

The rear passanger door on 2016 Grand Caravan se plus will not lock or unlock. The door actuator is stuck in unlock position as it causes concern for break ins and the safty of my children if some one walks up to the door and opens it. I saw there is an extended warranty for the rt models not sure why other models that have the same issue are not included.

Drivers side passenger door stuck shut(locked) and buzzing sound when lock button is used.

Van started fine and as I was driving the engine started revering hard and felt like it was having a hard time sifting lucky I was near my mechanic and they did that plug in and test it because the engine light came on right when I pulled in and said the transmission is gone they where able to find a rebuilt engine for my van and replaced old with a compatible engine now when this happened I had 60,000 miles. He did tell me that unfortunately they have seen this issue alot with the Dodge caravan transmission just cuts out like this with no warning at all and I googled this issue and it seems to happened to alot of other van owners. There is another issue going on that every time I get in my van before putting the key in the ignition there's a humming sound and when I park and pull out my key after car is off it makes a humming noise I have no clue what is going on but when I google this issue it seems to be a escalator I don't know why there's not a recall on what is causing this to go on but it seems to be a Dodge grand van issue.

Actuators on sliding doors fail and doors become stuck in the locked position. Rear passengers become stuck.

Passenger side active headrest deployed on its own while driving. No accident or collision involved. 16 year old son was seated in the passenger side seat when the headrest deployed on its own. Luckily no injury to my son. Want to report this issue to prevent any possible injuries that may arise due to malfunction deployment of active headrest. Researched online and discovered that this is an ongoing issue with Chrysler/Dodge vehicles and is not covered under warranty. Will have to search for a used replacement part since dealership cost for repair is too costly.

The door locks on the driver side rear sliding door became inoperable the door was unable to be opened at all, trapping passengers in an accident or an emergency.

Transmission. Available for inspection no it has not been reproduced or confirmed by anyone no it has not been inspected check engine around 8 months ago.

The rear driver's side sliding door lock has started buzzing loudly when I lock the vehicle. At times the door will not open and my kids and other passengers have to exit through the other sliding door. Upon further research it sounds like this is a somewhat common situation with 2016 Grand Caravans. I am concerned for the safety of myself and passengers if we're unable to exit the vehicle quickly in case of the accident. I have had the vehicle diagnosed with faulty door-lock actuator from a mechanic, but have not brought it in for repairs. There were no warning lamps or lights or alarms. The week prior to the buzzing sound I did notice a strange "clicking" noise coming from the driver's side sliding door.

Driver's side rear sliding door stuck shut. It won't lock or unlock electronically or manually.

Actuator in left sliding door went out so now the door will not close or latch unless it’s unplugged… however still will not lock. Now the right side is doing the same.

Hood latch bolts fell out while driving and the hood flew up and broke the windshield. I was going down a hwy 60mph raining at night.

Dealer edited the carfax to make no accident reported car but when I ran carfax it has 2 accidents. Dealer this fraud might be consider as fraud. Detail: bought the car on April 2023. Fairfax motor provided me no accident carfax but when I ran my own carfax found that car had 2 accident. Accident no. 1: first accident reported on may-2018 but fairfax motor gave me carfax had no accident. This people tempered carfax report. I have original copy with my sign on it with purchase deal document. Uploaded the dealer fraud copy of the carfax report. Accident no. 2: 2nd accident reported on 04/26/2023 but I purchase the car on 04/22/203 and got delivered my home by (sales person) on 04/27/2023. I have delivery text massaged confirmation for proof. How can they had accident before delivery and not informed me at all? I did email couple of time to (sales person) for justification and ask me to connect (owner or manager) but she ignored my email.

The passenger side sliding door lock actuator seized, forcing the door to be stuck closed in a locked position. I tried unlocking via the key fob, the door power lock controls, and manually unlocking the lever on the door. None worked. If I had gotten into an accident or had another emergency when this failed, I would not have been able to get the door open to get my toddler out of his car seat. When I looked online, I saw that this was a common issue, but no recall has been issued.

Door buzzes when unlocking it, all the time. .

Loud buzzing sound on passenger side when locking or unlocking doors front and side door very loud buzzing sound afraid if I have my grandbabies in back seat is the door going to fly open or worse what is the noise and is this a recall that can be fixed never happened before now it is all the time buzzing when you lock and unlock doors.