Cruise Control problems of the 1998 Dodge Stratus

The contact stated cruise control would not go off. This happened on 8-26-05. She had the cruise control was set at 60 mph, but instead it kept climbing higher. The consumer did not have any problems with the cruise control prior to this occurrence. The service dealer had to cut the wires to get the cruise control to go off. The brakes were ruined because she had to ride the brakes for so long. The service repair shop said the module to the cruise control was bad. He disconnected the cruise control. He told her to call the NHTSA and report this because he had never seen anything like it. The consumer did not have the money to have the module replaced. The consumer felt that she should be reimbursed for the cost incurred. The consumer she is experiencing back pain from being jerked around in the vehicle.

The caller's son was driving and without warning the throttle stuck. He tried to pull the foot pedal up with his foot but it did not stop the vehicle. He went through a stop sign and almost lost control of vehicle, but finally got the vehicle to stop by turning off the ignition. The caller said the brakes were on fire. The fire department was not called. The vehicle reached the speed of 80 mph. Dealer has not been contacted yet. Will take vehicle to her own mechanic. Manufacturer said there was no recall and she should take the vehicle to dealer to get it repaired. The problem was the cruise control modulator.

Brakes failed to disengage the cruise control set at 70 mph. Consumer continued depressing brake pedal until he smelled rubber burning. When this occurred the ignition switch was immediately turned off. Vehicle started to slow down, but the failure continued when the ignition was turned back on. Ignition was then turned back off, and vehicle coasted to the median. When vehicle was at a complete stop consumer put the vehicle in park before restarting. Cruise control disengaged, and the failure had corrected itself. Dealership was not notified, the cause of the failure was undetermined. . . .

Consumer state that while driving on the NY state for about 2 1/2 hours, the cruise control was set at 65 mph, as consumer was pulling into a passing lane without accelerating to pass a slower vehicle, the speed jumped to 80 mph very rapidly, consumer then hit the accelerator two or three times without any results then turned off the cruise control and the slowed down back to normal.