Equipment Problems of Dodge Grand Caravan - part 2

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).

See all problems of the 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan 🔎.

My rear passenger sliding door lock is stuck in the unlock position. My concern is my van is at all times unlocked. Also since it won’t lock at all even when I’m driving is that anyone could approach my van while I’m at a light or a parking lot and get inside. My biggest fear is that since it won’t lock it will just pop open one day while I’m driving. My grandchildren or my dogs could be severely injured if this happened. I’ve read online about this being an issue with the Dodge gcv. People suggested writing to you and try to get a recall done for this issue. The dealer wants around $1100 to fix problem. I don’t have that kind of money to spend. My other issue is if I disconnect the cable so I can lock the door is what if my passengers or animals need to get out of back of van in a emergency their going to be trapped back there. Also unrelated to the lock issues. My van is having a hard time shifting and has cut out multiple times on me. And when I turn on my blinkers it turns on the wipers. So possible electrical issue there.

See all problems of the 2017 Dodge Grand Caravan 🔎.

The lock actuators on my 2017 Dodge Grand Caravan sliding passenger doors are both frozen, so the doors are not able to be opened at all. The doors for the backseat are unusable, and passengers must climb in through the back hatch door of the van. My car began smoking from the engine (visible from the hood), and I had to pull my vehicle over. My children were unable to exit the vehicle in a swift manner, because they had to leave through the rear hatch of the vehicle instead of opening the doors next to their seats. This is extremely unsafe and seems to be a widespread safety risk with this vehicle. The company issued an extended warranty in 2025, but because my vehicle was purchased in 2018 and I commuted to my job, my vehicle is over the 100,000 mile qualifier now. It wasn't at 100,000 miles when the doors seized up. Dodge/Chrysler should recall this lock actuator part, because passenger safely should come first. An extended warranty that excludes drivers now over 100,000 miles is not acceptable. This defect could have caused my children to become trapped in a burning vehicle.

The rear sliding door lock actuator on the passenger stopped working. The door will not open or unlock.

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.

Driver side rear sliding door is stuck closed. Cannot be operated manually, will not lock or unlock with the other car door locks which work fine. My children’s safety is at risk. I bought a van because I have 3 children, and in the event of an accident could delay their rescue. One of my children is a type 1 diabetic and in event of an accident he’s in even more danger if rescue teams cannot get to him. The problem has not been confirmed by a mechanic, as both Dodge dealerships I have reached out to told me I would have to pay a diagnostic fee, but it’s a known problem with their vehicles. The vehicle has not been inspected by police, or insurance. There was no warning to the part malfunctioning, just stopped opening and noticed when my children tried to use the door to get out at school. My car currently has 109,000 miles on it but there are is a recall for up to 100,000 miles but Dodge states it cannot extend the warranty although I’ve see ln that mopar extended the warranty for this exact issue but Dodge says it’s misinformation and “good luck”.

While driving my van it will randomly shut off, it starts back up right away after I get to a safe location to do so but this is very dangerous. I've taken it to shops and they cannot replicate it and there are no codes on the reader to indicate any issues.

See all problems of the 2013 Dodge Grand Caravan 🔎.

Both sliding side doors buzz when locking and unlocking. A couple of times the left door has not locked while driving.

See all problems of the 2018 Dodge Grand Caravan 🔎.

The driver's side sliding door would not open. It was like the door was stuck in the lock position. Unable to get my child out of the vehicle from that side. There were no warnings or symptoms indicating there was any issue at all prior to this occurring. Randomly a few days later it started to work like normal again, however now the door will not lock. When the other doors auto lock a loud noise comes from that door, but it does not lock. It does open when prompted. I have not had anyone inspect the problem as of yet.

When I pump gas in the tank. It keeps stopping and it will not allow me to put more gas in the tank. Also the gas hand on the dashboard stays at half full. I don’t know how much gas is really in the tank. And electrical the passenger window will not let down on the driver side. I can’t let the window down from the driver side.

The vehicle was running on idle parked after being driven and on for less than 20 minutes. I started the van at 8:35. Drove away at 8:41, let it run on idle for 5 minutes, drove away, let it idle for 2 minutes at 9:04, drove away, let it idle at 9:06 and was smoking and had flames by 9:23 when we noticed it. The heat gauge didn't change, there was no indication that my engine was on fire or there was any issue. It drove fine, no smell, nothing. We have zero idea what happened other than it started in the engine compartment. Is it currently still sitting in the parking lot that it was pushed to away from the building as to not cause more damage to the building. It was sitting outside a building, so everyone inside and outside were in the area of smoke and flames. There is not a police report, but there is a fire report. I can email that over if needed. I'm still waiting for the fire marshalls final report. I also have active videos of it with flames shooting out of the engine and from under the hood if needed that I can email over.

See all problems of the 2019 Dodge Grand Caravan 🔎.

I was driving in town when the active head restraint deployed. There was no accident. Just driving and I heard it pop.

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.

My airbag light goes on intermittently. I have no idea why. I took it to an independent repair shop and they said that they could not help me, I needed to check with the dealer to see if there was a recall. I checked for recalls, and there was no recall. Additionally, the tire pressure sensors also turn on intermittently even when tire pressure is correct.

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.

Cylinder 2 misfire code p0302. I replaced the spark plugs, coil, and injector. Code still remains. Vehicle seems to run fine.

It won’t start right away,takes a lot of attempts to start and worse part is vehicle is running and suddenly turns off totally or die and it scares me and my family. That way it’s really hard what to do because steering is out of balance and just stop wherever you at. This happens many times.

My two side doors make a buzzing sound when I try to lock and unlock doors. The doors are not locking when I push the lock button. This is a safety hazard for my children.

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.

While driving around 30mph, the van completely shut down. With nowhere to pull over on the right, and to avoid an accident, I turned left onto a side road. I quickly realized I had no power steering or brakes. I had 2 children in the vehicle and school had just let out. Luckily there was no accident. With no brakes, I just coasted until I came to a stop on the side of the road. I wasn’t able to move the shifter into park. After a few minutes, everything came back to life. I was able to shift to park, start it up and drive away. No warning lights came on. No check engine light. This situation could have become really bad, really quick.

See all problems of the 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan 🔎.

I have a 2018 Dodge Grand Caravan whose door lock actuators are failing in the rear sliding doors. This is accompanied by loud buzzing. Sometimes they don’t unlock which causes some problems for backseat passengers. After looking online, I found there is a recall for this same problem in model years 2016-2017. I’m having the same issue but my vehicle is not covered under the recall. I just want you to know that the problem is still happening.

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)?!.

The sliding door locks/actuators on the rear sliding doors do not engage allowing the doors to open even when the doors are locked leaving the risk of the doors opening while the vehicle is moving or allowing someone to break into the vehicle since the doors won't lock and can be opened, even when the rest of the doors on the vehicle are locked.

The lock mechanism on the driver side sliding door is stuck in the lock position. From what I’m reading online this is a very common issue. It seems to me that being unable to open the door could be a huge safety concern.

My back passenger sliding door buzzes loudly when it unlocks or locks. It just started 3 days ago and I've had the van since early this year. Normal usage, never misused. I take good care of the van.

See all problems of the 2015 Dodge Grand Caravan 🔎.

The sliding door on the back passenger side will not unlock. A lot of times we carry grandchildren still in car seats and in case of an emergency, this can be a safety hazard.

This morning the headrest on the passenger side was deployed the van was parked in driveway overnight. Not sure how this happened. I feel this is a safety issue. If I was driving and someone was sitting in that sit that could have hurt them. This is a default on your vehicle . Please contact me.

Sliding door actuator failed causing the door to remain in the locked position and no way to unlock. The actuator arm broke off due to inaffective connection and therefor without cutting a hole in the door it cannot be opened.

See all problems of the 2014 Dodge Grand Caravan 🔎.

The head rest popped out for no reason. I noticed it when I got into the car.

Sliding door lock stuck. Door will not open in emergency.

This is the third time I am filing a complaint. My 2013 Dodge Grand Caravan completely dies and looses all power going over 50 miles per hour. No warning, no codes appear, nothing. Looses all power, power steering, brakes, etc. Have to get to side of road, wait 20 minutes, then car will start. This has happened now over 16 times. The latest time with my grandchild in the car, the vehicle behind me almost crashed into me. This continues to be a safety issue and it is unclear as to why Dodge is doing nothing about this despite multiple complaints by hundreds of drivers. I have spent over $3000 so far trying to fix this to no avail, new battery, fuel pump, fuel filter, tpm relay, new keys, new programming, still happens. Will never buy another Dodge/Chrysler again, and have told family and friends the same potential hazard of this brand.

As I was driving home on a city street, the entire car locked. I had no steering control. My brakes didn’t work the entire vehicle locked. In the middle of the street. I turned the ignition off, put it in park and restarted the car only then did it work properly. This is the second time this vehicle has locked. This is very dangerous as I had a child in the car with me and I was in traffic. My brakes didn’t work, I had to use two feet really hard then I was able to stop the vehicle. The steering wheel didn’t work. Nothing worked. I don’t know what’s the problem. The very first time this happened, while dropping the child off at school, I put the car in park, I was not able to get the shifter out of park. The car locked. I sat in my car, wondering what to do decided to go on the web and check out problems with this particular vehicle, then I noticed there is a little door leading to the shifter to change it manually. But when you are in traffic, there is no time to look for a screwdriver to open the door to do anything manually. This is a safety hazard and I really don’t know why there is not a recall on this vehicle.

When you are driving all of a sudden it just won't go forward and it has slipped into neutral. You have to find a place to coast so you can shut it off and restart it then it will go again. You never know when it's going to do it so it's very dangerous because there is not always a place to pull over. I have to put my flashers on and hope everyone goes around. I took it to repair place and they were unfamiliar with this happening. It does this from 1 to 4 times a day.

See all problems of the 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan 🔎.