Rear Suspension problems of the 2002 Dodge Stratus

I was driving about 15 miles per hour and hit a slight indentation in the road where it have been newly paved. I heard a loud "thud" in the trunk of my car from the back driver's side. I pulled over and uncovered the wheel well and saw a hole where the strut mount should have been. I decided to take the car home and call a certified mechanic to fix this problem. While taking the car to the mechanic a couple days later, the passenger side made the same loud "thud". Within a few miles my car started filling up with smoke that smelled like burning rubber. While going around a small curve my shock came out and tore open my new tire. I had to get my car towed to the mechanic to get it fixed. What we found was a corroded piece of metal, which I later found out was my "strut mounts". I was also told that with my struts being almost nonexistent, and the tire blowing out that the actual frame of my car could very well be messed up too. The car is still being fixed due to the fact that the part that was needed was discontinued or something of that nature. (I did keep the corroded piece of metal that was once my strut mount. ).

2002 Dodge Stratus rear strut mounting plates. Turning to powder seemed to be made of pre-cast aluminum, unpainted. Heard clanking sound thought the spare was loose after further investigation discovered driver side and passenger side mounting brackets were disintegrating this definitely should be a recall .

Mopar agrees recall should be done on this part failure. 02 Dodge Stratus rear strut mounts. Strut mounting plates on vehicle are made of aluminum or some type of white metal and they have disintegrated into a powder like dust and the strut was detached. Mopar confirmed about 8553 backorders on 7/8/08 dealers and 8607 backorders as of 7/9/08 - I replaced part from a junkyard car, as this is the quickest way to get a car back on the road until supply is adequate on new parts with new design. Vehicles can be expected to be out of commission as this is a safety issue. Possibly for months with the current situation.

2002 Dodge Stratus rear strut mounts. The top, rear, strut mounting plates on this vehicle are made of aluminum or some type of pot metal and they have completely corroded to the point of the struts not being attached to the body of the vehicle. As my wife was driving home from work the vehicle suddenly swerved to the left and she proceeded home at a very slow speed. Upon inspection the left rear strut mounting plate had completely disintegrated and the strut was not attached at all to the vehicle. I believe this is what caused the swerve. Upon checking with dealers and people on the internet I've found that this part has failed on thousands of cars. No parts are available and we were told by a dealer that, on average, there are 1800 requests per week for this part and a total of almost 8,000 on backorder this seems to me to be a safety defect and it is made worse by the fact that no parts are available. I would think there should be a safety recall on these as they could easily cause a wreck when they break free.