2005 Dodge Grand Caravan Recalls

This defect petition evaluates July 7, 2014 allegations from an owner of a model year (MY) 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan minivan that engine stall occurs in these vehicles without warning after refueling.The petitioner's vehicle is a Chrysler RS platform minivan.The RS platform includes MY 2003 through 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan, Dodge Caravan, Chrysler Town and Country and Chrysler Voyager minivans.NHTSA evaluated the petition by analyzing consumer complaints submitted to the Agency, analyzing field data, reviewing technical information provided in Chrysler's response to an Agency information request and testing an RS minivan identified by its owner as experiencing post-refuel engine stalls.After completing this evaluation, NHTSA has concluded that further investigation is unlikely to result in a finding that a defect related to motor vehicle safety exists.The stalls occurring in these vehicles only occur immediately after filling up the fuel tank and happen at low engine speeds. The failure rate is low, even after 8 to 13 years of the vehicles being in service, and there are no reports of crashes or injuries resulting from the stall condition.In the Agency's view, additional investigation is unlikely to result in finding the existence of a safety-related defect in the subject vehicles.Given the need to allocate and prioritize NHTSA's limited resources to best accomplish the Agency's safety mission, the petition is denied.This action does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exist. The Agency will take further action if warranted by future circumstances. More details concerning our review can be found in the Federal Register Notice for this action.The following 161 VOQs are included in the petition evaluation: 10209242, 10229468, 10240708, 10260923, 10275939, 10276532, 10296487, 10298175, 10328669, 10330144, 10346517, 10349789, 10354758, 10363689, 10372112, 10372368, 10372514, 10378031, 10379764, 10382938, 10387448, 10394063, 10398877, 10413918, 10418652, 10420924, 10427063, 10437525, 10445392, 10446902, 10470028, 10471249, 10473733, 10502231, 10503114, 10504260, 10509862, 10511988, 10512120, 10512385, 10512650, 10513147, 10538154, 10549841, 10551763, 10555188, 10555418, 10556754, 10565367, 10574012, 10574398, 10586555, 10587212, 10587559, 10593433, 10607841, 10607913, 10608922, 10615810, 10622468, 10628141, 10632112, 10632128, 10632172, 10632175, 10632231, 10632262, 10632266, 10632270, 10632305, 10632316, 10632326, 10632370, 10632385, 10632399, 10632492, 10632542, 10632765, 10632833, 10632928, 10633197, 10633281, 10633409, 10633421, 10633483, 10633507, 10637752, 10637804, 10637950, 10637975, 10638032, 10638289, 10638290, 10638401, 10638968, 10639218, 10639623, 10641157, 10641603, 10641614, 10641836, 10644339, 10644705, 10649713, 10649895, 10649932, 10650313, 10652590, 10653147, 10653783, 10654533, 10655226, 10658900, 10659679, 10660320, 10662588, 10662645, 10662662, 10663473, 10667056, 10667437, 10668081, 10668094, 10668131, 10668612, 10668969, 10668970, 10669584, 10669678, 10669729, 10669775, 10669866, 10669895, 10669992, 10670422, 10670506, 10676348, 10676732, 10677120, 10679795, 10679934, 10680057, 10680290, 10680342, 10680714, 10681512, 10682584, 10682906, 10683022, 10683114, 10683549, 10683620, 10683697, 10683743, 10689898, 10690761, 10691284, 10691556, 10691751, 10693061, 10694300

The subject vehicle (SV) population includes MY 2005-2006 vehicles built between March 2004 and December 2005 manufactured with a TRW supplied headlight switch assembly (HSA).The HSA was the primary focus of the investigation; earlier and later vehicles utilized different HSAs.Consumers complain that the headlights in the subject vehicles do not illuminate when the HSA is turned on, or that the headlights extinguish while on (subject failure).No other driving lights are affected.The front marker, tail, and instrument lamps operate.Also, the high beams can be illuminated by holding the turn signal stalk in the up position.As reported by consumers, turning the HSA off and on typically corrects the failure.Initially the failures occur infrequently but they become progressively more frequent with age.Chrysler has indicated its intention to offer of an extended lifetime warranty on the HSA, so that consumers with this problem can have their HSA replaced at no charge when they begin experiencing the subject failure.Commencing sometime in early 2013, Chrysler will send letters to SV owners notifying them of the lifetime warranty.The SV headlight system design is essentially the same as that described in EA 05-009, which involved headlight anomalies in earlier model Chrysler minivans; refer to it to for additional information.The subject failure is caused by friction between the plastic cam and metal surfaces of the electrical contacts in the HSA, which results in the production of plastic particles (debris).Analysis shows that debris can collect on the electrical contact that controls the headlights, resulting in an open circuit and preventing the headlights from turning on.Subsequent operation of the HSA may temporarily displace the debris, at which time the headlights operate correctly.Lubricant was applied to the plastic cam beginning in December 2005, reducing debris production.Consequently, subsequent failure levels were lower.The report counts shown above include only those that involve the subject failure.Reports involving other failure modes which were identified have not been included either because they were not safety related, or if they were safety related, because there was no defect trend.The single crash event listed in the Failure Report Summary Table above involved a deer strike allegedly due to loss of headlights in February 2006.No injuries were reported in this crash.An April 2004 non-crash incident (?Other? above) involved a momentary loss of headlights.The consumer drove into a ditch, and one minor injury was alleged. The subject vehicles experienced a 2.2% warranty claim rate.While standing alone this would appear to be significant, a portion of these warranty claims likely involve other problems with the HSA unrelated to the subject failure.In view of the on road experience of drivers in rapidly restoring headlight illumination by turning the headlight switch off and on again, the rate and particularly the recent trend in problems with the switch, and Chrysler?s extended lifetime warranty coupled with the owner notification of that extended warranty, further investigation does not appear to be warranted.Accordingly, the investigation is closed.The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exist, and the agency reserves the right to take additional action if warranted by new circumstances.Details on Chrysler?s lifetime HSA warranty extension for the SV population will be available in the public file for this investigation.

On November 18, 2010, NHTSA's Recall Management Division (RMD) opened an audit query (AQ10-001) to investigate recall remedy completion by rental car companies on safety recall campaigns.It was expected to provide the agency an indication of how completely and how quickly rental car fleets perform necessary recall-related remedies on the vehicles owned and then rented/leased for use on the roadways.RMD queried three (3) major motor vehicle manufacturers (Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors) and requested data regarding completion figures for fifteen (15) discreet safety recalls.Analysis of this data demonstrated that rental car recalls completion was neither complete nor consistent.The rental car companies representing the largest market share in the industry were then queried as to their respective policies for the rental, lease, and sale of vehicles with open recalls.The data and responses from the manufacturers and the rental car companies can be found in the document repository by accessing the ?Associated Documents link above.In December 2015, Congress enacted the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.One section of the Act prohibits rental car companies from renting, leasing, or selling motor vehicles subject to open safety recalls.With the passage of the FAST Act and its prohibition, there is no continuing need for the agency to investigate rental car recall completions.Accordingly, this investigation is closed.The agency reserves the right to open any future investigations, including audits of individual recalls, or groups of recalls, or rental car companies, to examine more closely safety recalls performance and completion issues in this area.

To date, ODI has interviewed several complainants who confirmed that the headlights fully extinguish, and remain extinguished, on an intermittent basis.In most cases this occurred while the vehicle was in motion.The occurrences do not show a repeatable pattern, and the problem occurs at a low frequency, typically one or more weeks between failures.For this reason most complainants have not attempted diagnosis or repair of the problem, so the cause is unknown, and the problem continues to occur.In the cases where repairs have been attempted, which consisted mainly of headlight switch and body control module replacements, mixed success is reported.In interviews complainants advised ODI that they can usually toggle the headlight switch, or turn on the high beams by actuating the column stalk (pulling it upward), when the headlights unexpectedly turn off.Complainants report that toggling the switch is usually effective, and the high beams have always been available when the column is used.During the course of the interviews ODI was able to obtain a few suspect headlamp switches for further evaluation.No verifiable crashes or injuries have been identified in the vehicle owner complaints (VOQs).Chrysler notes that its complaints also include allegations of dimming or flickering of the headlights in addition to loss of headlamps, and that their analysis of available data indicates a declining trend occurring in the field.Chrysler data reports two alleged crash incidents; one where a consumers vehicle lost forward lighting and struck a deer, and one where a consumer alleged their lighting stopped working, causing them to depart the roadway and drive into a ditch.A minor injury is alleged in this second incident.Both incidents occurred several years ago, and neither allegation has been confirmed by ODI.ODI is upgrading this investigation to an Engineering Analysis (EA11-010) to continue its analysis of the alleged defect and its consequences, which will include additional analysis of consumer reports, their frequency and trend, and Chrysler's technical information for the headlight system and its components.Additionally testing will be conducted to evaluate possible root cause(s) of the alleged defect, and will include analysis of suspect components collected from the field, and/or assessment of subject vehicles that have reportedly experienced the condition.

CHRYSLER WILL REPLACE THE FRAME RAIL-MOUNTED FRONT AIR BAG CRASH SENSORS IN APPROXIMATELY 312,442 MODEL YEAR (MY) 2005 AND 2006 CHRYSLER MINIVANS (RECALL 10V-008).THESE VEHICLES ARE EQUIPPED WITH FRONT CRASH SENSORS WITH ULTRADUR BRAND PLASTIC HOUSINGS AND STEEL BUSHINGS AND WERE BUILT BETWEEN JANUARY 19, 2005 AND APRIL 5, 2006.THIS ACTION COVERS VEHICLES ORIGINALLY SOLD, OR CURRENTLY REGISTERED, IN 27 STATES (ALASKA, CONNECTICUT, DELAWARE, ILLINOIS, INDIANA, IOWA, KANSAS, KENTUCKY, MAINE, MARYLAND, MASSACHUSETTS, MICHIGAN, MINNESOTA, MISSOURI, NEBRASKA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, NEW JERSEY, NEW YORK, NORTH DAKOTA, OHIO, PENNSYLVANIA, RHODE ISLAND, SOUTH DAKOTA, UTAH, VERMONT, WEST VIRGINIA AND WISCONSIN) AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.VEHICLES SOLD OR CURRENTLY REGISTERED OUTSIDE OF THESE STATES, APPROXIMATELY 185,000 MY 2005-2006 MINIVANS, ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THE RECALL.ALTHOUGH THESE VEHICLES USE THE SAME CRASH SENSORS AND WERE BUILT DURING THE SAME PERIOD AS THE ONES DESCRIBED ABOVE, THEY EXPERIENCE SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER FAILURE RATES BECAUSE OF REDUCED ROAD SALT EXPOSURE.ALSO, MY 2006-2007 MINIVANS BUILT AFTER APRIL 5, 2006, ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THE RECALL.THESE VEHICLES ARE EQUIPPED WITH FRONT CRASH SENSORS WITH CRASTIN BRAND PLASTIC HOUSINGS AND STEEL BUSHINGS AND EXPERIENCE SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER FAILURE RATES COMPARED TO THE RECALLED VEHICLES.NHTSA AND CHRYSLER DIFFER REGARDING THE SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE DEFECT, BUT IN THE INTEREST OF REMEDYING THE AFFECTED VEHICLES EXPEDITIOUSLY AND TO AVOID A PROTRACTED DISPUTE, CHRYSLER IS IMPLEMENTING STEPS TO REPLACE THE FRONT CRASH SENSORS.BASED ON THESE ACTIONS, THE AGENCY HAS DECIDED THAT FURTHER USE OF ITS RESOURCES DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE WARRANTED.ACCORDINGLY, THIS INVESTIGATION IS CLOSED.THE CLOSING OF THIS INVESTIGATION DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FINDING BY NHTSA THAT NO SAFETY-RELATED DEFECT EXISTS IN THE SUBJECT VEHICLES.THE AGENCY WILL MONITOR THE ISSUE AND RESERVES THE RIGHT TO TAKE FURTHER ACTION IF WARRANTED BY THE CIRCUMSTANCES.SELECT DOCUMENT SEARCH FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.

DAIMLERCHRYSLER (DCC) WILL REPLACE THE FRAME RAIL-MOUNTED FRONT AIR BAG CRASH SENSORS IN APPROXIMATELY 270,958 MY 2005 DAIMLERCHRYSLER MINIVANS (NHTSA RECALL NO. 07V-192).THESE VEHICLES ARE EQUIPPED WITH FRONT CRASH SENSORS WITH BRASS BUSHINGS AND WERE BUILT BETWEEN APRIL 24, 2003 AND FEBRUARY 2, 2005.THIS ACTION COVERS VEHICLES ORIGINALLY SOLD, OR CURRENTLY REGISTERED, IN 27 STATES (ALASKA, CONNECTICUT, DELAWARE, ILLINOIS, INDIANA, IOWA, KANSAS, KENTUCKY, MAINE, MARYLAND, MASSACHUSETTS, MICHIGAN, MINNESOTA, MISSOURI, NEBRASKA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, NEW JERSEY, NEW YORK, NORTH DAKOTA, OHIO, PENNSYLVANIA, RHODE ISLAND, SOUTH DAKOTA, UTAH, VERMONT, WEST VIRGINIA AND WISCONSIN) AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.VEHICLES SOLD OR CURRENTLY REGISTERED OUTSIDE OF THESE STATES, APPROXIMATELY 133,128 MY 2005 MINIVANS, WILL RECEIVE A LIFETIME WARRANTY ON THE FRONT CRASH SENSORS.ALTHOUGH THESE VEHICLES USE THE SAME BRASS BUSHING SENSORS AND WERE BUILT DURING THE SAME PERIOD AS THE ONES DESCRIBED ABOVE, THEY EXPERIENCE SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER FAILURE RATES BECAUSE OF REDUCED ROAD SALT EXPOSURE.DCC WILL ALSO PROVIDE WRITTEN NOTIFICATION TO ALL AFFECTED VEHICLE OWNERS.NHTSA AND DCC DIFFER REGARDING THE SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE DEFECT, BUT IN THE INTEREST OF REMEDYING THE AFFECTED VEHICLES EXPEDITIOUSLY AND TO AVOID A PROTRACTED DISPUTE, DCC IS IMPLEMENTING STEPS TO REPLACE THE SUBJECT COMPONENTS.BASED ON THESE ACTIONS, THE AGENCY HAS DECIDED THAT FURTHER USE OF ITS RESOURCES DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE WARRANTED.ACCORDINGLY, THIS INVESTIGATION IS CLOSED.THE CLOSING OF THIS INVESTIGATION DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FINDING BY NHTSA THAT NO SAFETY-RELATED DEFECT EXISTS IN THE SUBJECT VEHICLES.THE AGENCY WILL MONITOR THE ISSUE AND RESERVES THE RIGHT TO TAKE FURTHER ACTION IF WARRANTED BY THE CIRCUMSTANCES.SELECT DOCUMENT SEARCH FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.