Steering Tie Rod Assembly Problems of Dodge Stratus

My daughter was driving through a parking lot and the car suddenly stopped. She got out and looked at the front and discovered the both front wheels were turned out in opposite directions. The tie rod had broke and came apart. This could have been disastrous at highway speeds. I was able to fix it at home, but as a father, I worry about just this thing happening!.

See all problems of the 2005 Dodge Stratus 🔎.

As I pulled into the car lot where I am buying the car I heard a kind of clunk but was unsure what it was. I went in and made my car payment upon starting my car and putting in reverse to leave my car would not turn in any direction. I put the car in park and shut it off went back into the car salesman and asked him if he could help figure out what was going on . He jacked the car up and checked to see the problem but was unable to see anything until he removed the drivers side front tire . Here he immediately noticed that the rack and pinion had broke free from the tie rod end and was unable to get back together as the bolts that held these parts together were stripped completely out and there was no way to fix . .

One day I went to back out, I turned the wheel and hear this crunching, clunking sound which sounded like a huge rock scrapping on metal. I immediately stopped and walked around the car and saw nothing. It started again as soon as I started the car back up. Anytime I turn the steering wheel, I heard this sound. I took it to a mechanic who told me it was the tie-rod ends. He said a lot of people have this issue but there was no recall yet. I called the dealer to see if they would fix it since there were a lot of complaints. Nope ! the dealer said they could not fix it for free without an official recall. It's a costly repair $900-$1100 b/c it requires many different services - tie rod ends, tires, balance, alignment, but they would not drop the price by a single penny. Now they are doing a piecemeal recall beginning with the trucks. Why not force them to recall them all ? I have been on multiple sites and I have seen complaints from as far back as 2003 to as recently as 2014. I wish the government was a hard on the dealers as the dealers are on the buyers.

My 2006 Dodge Stratus rear strut mount plates are disintegrated. Have only had this car a year and I took it in for inspection and the garage said I was very lucky I hadn't been in an accident due to the tie rod was falling apart. I am a single mother of 2 children and I am very fortunate that nothing happened. After being told by the garage about this I did research on the internet to find that there are many complaints about the rear strut mounts falling apart and literally crumbling. Yet I can not find it on a recall list. Dodge needs to recall this problem. I hope this is taken seriously and an investigation into this issue is pursued by the safety commission since there are so many complaints on the internet. I only had the money to fix the tie rod. Now some how soon I have to come up with the money for the strut mount plates, need to be replaced so I can drive this car safely with my 2 children.

See all problems of the 2006 Dodge Stratus 🔎.

Front passenger tie rod on 2000 Dodge keeps breaking. Have replaced tie rod 4 times, but 2 separate mechanics are telling us that the only reason that tie rods would break repeatedly is because of a defective ball joint. Tie rod has snapped next to ball joint every time. It is already cracked and about to break again. It has resulted in several near accidents for us and once being stranded at a gas station an hour from home. The last time it broke was November 2009. The ball joint is the original that came on the car.

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The contact owns a 2006 Dodge Stratus. While driving 50 mph, the vehicle lowered itself and a screeching noise was heard from the front end. The contact pulled into her driveway and noticed that the front passenger side tire was completely diverted. The vehicle was towed to a repair shop and the mechanic stated that the tie rod on the front passenger side tire was completely destroyed. He further stated that the tie rod on the front driver's side was almost completely destroyed as well. In addition, the ball joints on both rear tires failed. The mechanic repaired both tie rods and both rear ball joints. Through research, the contact discovered that these were very common failures for her type of vehicle. She believes that a recall should be issued. The current and failure mileages were 73,600.

The contact owns a 2003 Dodge Stratus. While driving 35 mph heard a noise in the tire area and the vehicle started pulling to the left. The mechanic stated that the left front upper ball joint broke. Also, the front and rear upper and lower ball joints had excessive play. The mechanic stated that the left and right front sway bar links were worn out, and the left and right inner, and outer tire rods needed to be replaced. The mechanic repaired the left front upper ball joint. Since the replacement the vehicle has not been driven. The current and failure mileage were 92,000.

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While backing into a parking lot, a loud snapping noise was heard from the driver side front wheel. Upon hearing this noise, the vehicle was unable to move more than a few feet, but was able to be partially parked in the parking spot. Once parked and investigated, the tie rod assembly detached from the driver side front wheel. Car had to be towed; tow truck driver was able to move/drag vehicle approximately 10 feet onto flatbed tow truck. Left outer tie rod was replaced and vehicle front end was realigned.

The front tie rod ends are both defective on my 2002 Dodge Stratus. The car has only 53000 miles on the odometer, all of which were normal driving miles. I do not feel that this part should fail after such a short amount of time.

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Contact owns a 2000 Dodge Stratus. The incident happened on September 28, 2005. Front end tie rod ends came apart from the wheel. Had no warnings signs that anything was wrong with the vehicle. Contact's 171/2 year old daughter went to pick up a friend, while pulling out from driveway the tie rod ends broke . As she was pulling out a friend's father heard the noise of the tie rod end breaking . He checked the vehicle, and told her what was wrong with it. Vehicle was towed to contact's home. In the meantime contact found part available at advance automobile, and contact's husband fixed the tie rod ends. No crashes. No police reports. No fires.

I was driving along the road and the rear drivers side upper ball joint separated and the car started swaying. Luckily I was on a side road where the speed limit was 30 mph and nothing serious happened, but if I had been traveling down the interstate or other major highway my family and I could have been seriously hurt or even killed. I had the car repaired at darlings auto sales in ellsworth maine they have the exact date it happened and repair info if you need it. They contacted Chrysler to see if it was covered or not. I am not sure if they did or not as I purchased extended warranty when I purchased the car ( it is a 2002 Dodge Stratus) the car had just over 36000 miles when this happened. I wouldn't have thought much about it but I was watching tv and they was showing the Dodge durango and dakota having the same thing happening.

While turning a corner at 10 mph consumer felt the steering wheel tightened severely. Consumer made another turn, and the steering wheel tightened again. Vehicle would not proceed any further, and consumer called a tow truck. The vehicle was towed to a garage, were the consumer learned that the left tie rod broke.

See all problems of the 1998 Dodge Stratus 🔎.

While driving, heard a "screeching" noise and noticed smoke coming from vehicle. Dealer diagnosed that the rear upper ball joints had failed and the lower ball joints were ready to fail. Dealer also discovered that the tie rods were loose. Related investigation pe03-032.

See all problems of the 2001 Dodge Stratus 🔎.

Since July 2003, I have had to replace left and right tie rods and right wheel bearing. 7/2003-left tie rod, 8/2003 right wheel bearing, 1/2004 right tie rod.

Consumer states that the front right tie rod snapped. The vehicle was driven all that day. It was parked in the garage until later on. Consumer's husband attempted to back up but didn't have no control of the front end. Vehicle was towed for repairs the following morning.

See all problems of the 1997 Dodge Stratus 🔎.

I purchased a 2003 Dodge Stratus and since then it has been in the repair shop 5 times there is a popping and creaking noise in the front end the dealership has replaced tie rods,sway bars,rivets on the strut plates, and struts and the problem is still not fixed I cannot believe that Chrysler makes a car that is not repairable I called Chrysler and they logged the complaint but would do nothing more and of course I am stuck with a car that they cannot repair .

While driving front tires locked up. Contacted dealer. Tie rod came undone. This was common problem.

See all problems of the 1996 Dodge Stratus 🔎.

My wife called me to report that she was experiencing some binding in the steering as she was leaving the parking lot of a shopping mall, and had decided to return to the parking lot. I went to the lot to investigate the matter and drove the car in the lot, turning both left and right frequently, and the steering seemed to be alright. I decided to drive the car home, and then noticed that a slight clunking noise could be heard when driving over rough spots in the pavement. I decided to jack up the right front wheel to try and determine what might be loose. While manuvering the car into position in my garage, the right tie rod end ball stud separated from its socket, which of course is the connection to the right side steering knuckle. The socket and ball were very rusty and there was no lubrication present, although it is supposed to be a sealed, lubricated for life joint which does not have a grease fitting.

While pulling into a parking lot outer tie rod broke and fell off causing the consumer to loose control of the vehicle, the manufacturer was contacted but refused to do anthing about the problem.

While driving the 2 outer tie rod pins fell out, almost lost control of steering.

While backing out tie rod end fell apart, and consumer lost control of vehicle.

While pulling out of the parking lot, notice difficulty in steering. Tie rod broked and had to be replaced, there was no grease fitting on the part, the stud was missing, rubber boot destoryed after stud fell out, catastrophic failure.

There was a noise when making turns in both directions. Vehicle taken to repair shop. Tie rod: inner was cracked, and had to be replaced.

Tie rod failure resulted in total loss of steering. Front wheels were oriented at 90 degrees relative to one another. Likely fatal accident avoided only through circumstance of part failing at low speed in a parking lot.

Clunk in the left front revealed failed tie rod end. Upon removal is was found that the left tie rod end had separated at the ball stud. The ball stud was only being held in place by the rubber boot. We also replaced the right tie rod end and found that it too was failing. It was showing signs of binding. Failure was imminent.

While driving on highway vehicle started drifting from lane to lane. Took vehicle to dealer & mechanic checked it. Had noticed right tie rod had came loose. Had no problem with the left. Later, was backing out of parking space & vehicle completely stalled out. Vehicle towed home. Husband noticed left tie rod had came apart, causing wheels to face one another. Both tie rod ends were replaced.

While driving out of driveway lost control of vehicle due to broken tie rod end.

While coming off the highway at 70mph the steering inner tie rod came apart and steering was lost. Dealer has not seen.