general problems of the 2017 Dodge Grand Caravan - part 1

The driver's side sliding door lock has seized up and will not let you open the door at all. It won't open with a remote or manually it is solid as a rock. The passenger side sliding door motor makes a horrible sound every time it locks or unlock. It did get stuck at one point , but then it unlocked. This is very dangerous when you have small children in car seats that you cannot get to. And because the door locks on the Dodge Grand Caravans keep malfunctioning , you have to crawl through the back end of the vehicle , put the seats down to get to children in car seats to get them out of the vehicle. The cost to fix this is outrageous. Dodge Grand Caravan sliding door locks have thousands and thousands of complaints about malfunctioning, and not working. And needing to be replaced. Why are you not recalling this? this is a safety issue. Also , if this would have locked up when I was sitting in the back seat , I wouldn't have been able to get out because I am disabled. I would've been stuck in this Dodge Grand Caravan. This is a safety issue that Dodge needs to address immediately. When the door lock smell function and you can't get disabled adults out of a vehicle or small children out of a car seat that is a serious issue.

I am filing this complaint regarding the service department at vaden Dodge Chrysler Jeep ram. My complaint concerns a failure to properly diagnose a mechanical issue with my vehicle, misleading statements about the condition of the vehicle after repairs, and poor communication during the repair process. The vehicle is a 2017 Dodge Grand Caravan. Before bringing it to the dealership, the vehicle was jerking when slowing or coming to a stop. On February 19, 2026, a diagnostic scan showed code p0420 – catalyst system efficiency below threshold (bank 1). At that time the vehicle was still drivable. On March 2, 2026, I brought the vehicle to the dealership and reported the jerking issue. I also asked that the throttle body and transmission be inspected. The dealership stated that the technician could not determine the cause of the problem but recommended maintenance repairs including tires, brakes, and rotor service. Based on their professional recommendation, I approved the repairs. On March 6, 2026, I picked up the vehicle and paid $1,416. 21. I was told the vehicle passed inspection and a safety test drive. However, within approximately thirty minutes of leaving the dealership, the vehicle began jerking violently and shut off while I was driving. The vehicle had to be returned to the dealership. After the vehicle was returned, I was informed that the catalytic converter needed to be replaced. This was concerning because I had asked the dealership to check that component during the initial inspection. I was originally quoted about $2,800, and after discussions with management including jim fife, I paid $2,165 on March 14, 2026 for the catalytic converter repair. Despite paying a total of $3,581. 21, the vehicle continued to show drivability problems. A new diagnostic scan showed codes p0420 and p219b (air-fuel ratio imbalance), suggesting the underlying issue may not have been properly diagnosed before replacing the catalytic converter. I attempted to resolve the issue.

I believe my door actuator on the driver’s side has failed as of 2/23/26 the door will not unlock. I cannot open or close it. The court case that was open has closed as of September 2025 and the recall is no longer active.

The driver and passenger sliding door power lock actuator is not operating for my wife's 2017 Dodge Grand Caravan with about 44,000 miles. There is a warranty bulletin, number d-25-03, dated January 30, 2025 that extended the warranty to coverage to 10 years/ 100,000 miles. My wife's car should have been included in the cars with the problem and it is not included in the cars affected by the problem. Please include my wife's Dodge Grand Caravan in the recall for the extended warranty.

Check engine light codes match possible recall for vehicle now I'm having the same issues.

The contact owns 2017 Dodge Grand Caravan. The contact stated that upon reversing and shifting to drive(d), the vehicle lost motive power. The contact turned off the vehicle, and four bystanders assisted the contact in pushing the vehicle into a parking spot. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed that an unknown computer software chip needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact related the failure NHTSA campaign number: 18v524000(electrical system); however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the VIN was not included in the recall. The failure mileage was 115,000.

Door lock actuator on passenger sliding door beginning to make noise before it likely will fail and not automatically lock door as vehicle accelerates. This is a recall item on the two prior years of this same vehicle.

Driver side sliding door lock jammed shut! no way to use the door causing safety issue in an emergency. Lock will not release. There was no warning signs and dealer cannot get my car in for another month. Passenger side sliding door has done this intermittently.

Vehicle: 2017 Dodge Grand Caravan component/system: sliding door lock actuator is the part available for inspection upon request? yes description of the issue: the sliding door lock actuator failed, causing the door to remain locked at all times. The door cannot be opened manually or using the power door controls. This renders the door completely inoperable. Safety risk: this is a significant safety hazard. In the event of an emergency, passengers—especially children seated in the rear—cannot exit the vehicle through this door. It severely limits evacuation routes and could result in injury or death if occupants are trapped during an accident or fire. Has the issue been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or service center? not yet. Issue is ongoing and appointment is pending. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance, or others? no were there any warning lamps, messages, or symptoms before the failure? no warning lamps or messages appeared. The door simply stopped responding to manual or power lock/unlock commands. When did the issue occur? June 2025. The door has remained inoperable since. Assessment: based on consumer forums and other reports, this appears to be a known and widespread issue with this model, likely caused by a defective actuator design.

A few weeks ago, our passenger side rear sliding door stopped locking. Yesterday when I unlocked the doors, a very loud noise came from the door. It has happened every time I have unlocked the doors since & it scares my kids every time. I assumed the issue was with the locking mechanism, also known as the actuator. Upon doing some more research I found that mopar had actually issued an extended warranty on this part but my VIN is not included in the extended warranty.

I first had this happen months ago and now I found another place to post about it. The locking and unlocking motor on the passenger sliding door is making a horrible noise and buzzing sound. This happens every time you lock or unlock it. It also happens when it locks automatically when you drive. It is horribly loud that it wakes up the baby and toddler every time. My mechanic has looked at it and knew exactly what was wrong right away. The motor is just and needs replaced. He said it's very common for the Dodge motor in the sliding doors to need replacing. He's shocked it hasn't been recalled yet. He's also had many people have kids locked in the vans due to the motor basically burning out. He said it definitely needs replaced and should've been recalled by now. Also be prepared to climb over seats to get the baby and toddler out when they finally stop working all together. The fact that my small mechanics shop has seen many issues with the locking motor definitely tells me Dodge isn't putting safety first at all.

The contact owns a 2017 Dodge Grand Caravan. The contact stated while coming to a complete stop on an incline or on a leveled roadway, the vehicle stalled. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact was able to restart the vehicle. Additionally, the contact stated that the vehicle jerked intermittently while depressing the brake pedal. The vehicle was taken to triple a, where the radiator was replaced; however, the failure persisted. Additionally, the contact stated that the message "oil change" was displayed while there was sufficient oil in the vehicle. The dealer was contacted and informed the contact that the VIN was not included in a recall. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 95,500.

Sliding door lock actuator.

While stopped at red lights, stopped in traffic or drive-thru services the vehicle to stall out and must be restarted to drive again. I took the vehicle to the auto repair shop, the kar shop in rogers, ar. The board certified mechanic tried to diagnose the reason for the stall and stop and could not find a reason for the problem. The mechanic informed me of a recall on the make, model and year of the same I own. When I called the Dodge dealership they ran my VIN and informed me my particular caravan is not part of the electrical system:wiring: front underhood recall that may be equipped with a voltage regulator chip in the circuit board that may fail, causing a stall or no start condition. Even though my specific vehicle is not part of the recall, the same description of defect is happening to mine.

The issue is with the door locking system making a very loud buzzing noise when the doors either automatically lock/unlock or the lock/unlock buttons on the key fob are pressed. Not only is it irritating, but it is incredibly distracting as the loud noise is unexpected. This can be dangerous because the driver can be startled should someone accidentally press the button on the door while the vehicle is in motion, or when the doors automatically lock as the vehicle is starting to move. Sometimes not all of the doors lock or unlock and the buttons have to be pressed several times before all doors are locked or unlocked. This is also a safety issue.

The driver’s side sliding door is stuck in the locked position. It can not be manually unlocked or unlocked using the fob or unlock button. There was no indication the system was failing.

The contact owns a 2017 Dodge Grand Caravan. The contact stated that while driving at various highway speeds, the vehicle intermittently shifted into neutral(n) without warning. In addition, the contact stated that the instrument panel failed to provide correct gear selection. The contact stated that the gear indicator would show that the transmission was in reverse(r) while the transmission was in drive(d). The vehicle was taken to a dealer and the contact was referred to the manufacturer for assistance. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA hotline to report the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 112,000.

Hello, my van is having a pcm issue that some vins have that theres a recall is on. U87. While driving the vechile will randomly shut off and turn back on. This has almost cause a accident with my kids in the car. My VIN isn't covered by this recall but I would like it to be covered.

The driver side sliding door lock actuator has failed. I found mopar warranty bulletin number d-21-15, dated November 10, 2021 that indicates Dodge has extended the warranty for this part to 2015-2017 year Grand Caravans because this part commonly fails. However, Dodge is refusing to cover the replacement of this part for my vehicle. Mileage is 72,000.

Unable to open rear left sliding door, lock actuator is failed. Burning smell from left sliding door 1 year ago. Right sliding door make buzzing noice from the lock actuator area, sometimes unable to open sliding door.

The driver's side sliding door is stuck in the locked position and the passenger side sliding door is making a loud buzzing noise when unlocked which means that one is next to go out from what I read. If both of them get locked this poses a major safety issue getting small passengers out of the back in case of emergency. There have been many instances of this reported on these vehicles and even extended warranties issued but only for a select amount of vans even though it seems to happen on every one ever made.

We found a warranty extension for Dodge caravan driver and passenger sliding door power lock actuators, but when I searched for our VIN, it is not included, but we are having the same problem. All of a sudden, our driver side sliding door was stuck shut, and would not open manually or with the key fob. I found a workaround from an online forum to hold the manual lock to open position, while pressing the unlock button either on the driver door or the key fob. Since then, when the sliding door shuts and wouldn't open, this is what we do. And then shortly after that, we noticed a loud buzzing sound coming from the same door when accelerating and the automatic lock activates.

The contact owns a 2017 Dodge Grand Caravan. The contact stated that the rear driver's and passenger's side sliding doors failed to unlock as needed. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where an unknown assessment was made, and the contact was provided an estimate for the repair. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact related the failure to an unknown recall. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

The automatic sliding rear door is stuck in the lock position causing it to not be able to open automatically or manually. This poses a huge risk of there was a vehicle fire or other incident that wouldn't allow my back seat passengers to get out of the car. The door will not lock or unlock.

There appears to be an electrical problem when locking/unlocking the doors, and a loud buzz occurs and at times, the doors hesitate to lock or unlock, which in my opinion, is a safety hazard.

Both electrical doors don't want to open.

The drivers side door remained locked when all other door are set to unlock. The drivers side door will not come unlocked whether by remote or manually pushing unlock. This happened on its own. A mechanic looked at it and said he would not mess with it because he was scared he we break the door and suggested going to a dealer. The car manufacturer issued a recall (mopar x98) for this very same issue but it didn't include my car serial number. So, they don't want to honor the recall on my car. This is a serious safety concern on this vehicle as it is used for the transportation of several children and should an accident happen the chance of being trapped is very high since the door will not open at all. I located a service bulletin 23-036-21 that was issued and a mopar warranty extension bulletin which states it includes this model year but Dodge has stated this particular VIN is not part of it. How does a VIN determine whether the actuator is going to go bad?.

The contact owns a 2017 Dodge Grand Caravan. The contact stated when she attempted to start the vehicle there was no sound of the starter motor and the instrument cluster remained black when she turned the ignition on. The contact had attempted to jump start the vehicle and had to have the vehicle towed to an independent mechanic. The mechanic diagnosed the vehicle and determined that the tipm panel had failed. The vehicle had not been repaired. The contact had researched online and related the failure to NHTSA campaign number: 19v813000 (electrical system). The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 46,000.

When locking and unlocking the doors or using the automatic lock when the car is in drive, the driver side sliding door either will not unlock at all (even manually) or when it automatically locks and unlocks it makes an aggressive vibration sound and does not work. I have to go through the passenger side sliding door to take the car seat out of the van. If it were an emergency and I needed to open the rear door it would cause a serious safety issue.

The drivers side door remained locked when all other door are set to unlock. The drivers side door will not come unlocked whether by remote or manually pushing unlock. This happened on its own. A mechanic looked at it and said he would not mess with it because he was scared he we break the door and suggested going to a dealer.

The rear drivers side slider door has locked shut and no amount of tries to release the lock will work. This is a major safety concern being that we cannot open the door manually or otherwise in case of emergency.

The passenger's side sliding door lock switch is stuck in the locked position, so I can't open that door. There is a huge safety issue because the passengers can't open that door to exit, in case of an emergency. The car manufacturer issued a recall (mopar x98) for this very same issue but it didn't include my car serial number, because my car is newer by about a month. So, they don't want to honor the recall on my car.

The rear drivers side door is locked shut. This is is serious safety issue in an emergency. Especially with small children. This needs to be recalled immediately.

The front passenger door started to not unlock when using the fob. Now it won't lock or unlock at all. Starting this week the front driver-side door started to have the same issue. Will not lock or unlock when using the fob.

This appears to be a known problem in these but my vehicle was built after the period Chrysler acknowledged a problem for. My van was built in June 2017 whereas the settlement states vehicles built until January of 2017. I paid $400 to have the dealer replace the lock actuator in the passenger sliding door in July 2021. The door would not lock or unlock without manually moving the switch. Since the "fix" that door seems to rattle and has gotten worse over time but it does lock now. In the recent weeks, the driver side now no longer works. I have just contacted Chrysler about this and am awaiting a response. But a) I should not have paid for the first repair and b) I shouldn't have to for the second considering this is a known issue. I use this vehicle for my family and having doors that don't lock or unlock is a huge concern for me.