Owners have filed 3,773 complaints on the Chrysler Town and Country, covering 1990–2016. The system named most often is Electrical System (1,528 reports). Worst years by volume: 2011, 2013, 2014; cleanest: 1990, 1991, 2001. 84 reports describe a crash, 58 a fire, 4 a death. On average the car was 4.9 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Chrysler Town and Country
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 3,773 Town and Country complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Electrical System 1,528 Read
The contact owns a 2013 chrysler town and country. While driving approximately 15 mph downhill, the vehicle started smoking and slid on a patch of black ice. The vehicle crashed into a phone pole. The contact stated that the driver and the passengers exited the vehicle before the vehicle exploded. The fire was…
Crash test by the insurance institute for highway safety shows that fuel leak after an offset frontal crash resulted in a catastrophic fire
My wife was parked at a gas station 5 miles from our home and all outlets and lights began billowing smoke into the cabin. The fire department was called and they disconnected the battery. It has 30000 miles driven. She had to evacuate the children, and it was towed to a chrysler dealer (miller in lebanon, nh) we are…
Power Train 468 Read
Transmission failure
I rented the van. I was at a stop sign, when crossing the van was slow/ sluggish and I saw a car coming from my left speeding and I pressed on the gas to accelerate and the van did not accelerate as expected, I thought this was due to my experience with a minivan and weight of this type of vehicle, but later realized…
Vehicle's tipm module failed, causing the vehicle to stall to a stop on a busy street. Hazard lights did not work. Transmission shifter locked itself in park. All cluster instrument warning lights were on. Uconnect sound system off. Power windows and locks disabled. Sliding doors locked and disabled. Engine remained…
Engine 252 Read
Engine Leaked oil from oil filter housing, Thank goodness my boyfriend put the fire out. Very big problem he had to repair wires and replace lots of expensive parts because the small fire melted some of the intake and the valve cover. Im just thankful my boyfriend is a mechanic and could fix it for me. 800.00 in just…
The contact owned a 2013 Chrysler Town & Country. The contact stated that while driving approximately 25 MPH he started to smell an odor of something burning in the vehicle cabin. The contact stated that he parked at his residence and the burning smell was much stronger on the outside. The contact opened the hood and…
Alternator burned out at 60,850 miles sitting in parking lot
Air Bags 218 Read
Had minor frontal impact and no air bags were deployed but my van burst into flames/fire on the right(passenger) side engine compartment immediately after the minor impact.we saw red liquid running down the curb as we got out of the burning van. This van was totaled by the fire. There was no fixing this van by the…
Front end accident-airbags did not deploy
My grandparents were coming home from il monday night. My grandfather drove straight off a turn and hit the ditch into some trees. It had a frontal/roll over. My grandfather (driver) received face fractures, busted rib cage, and a broken leg. He is currently in icu. Grandmother was in the back laying down from just…
Seats 217 Read
While driving on the highway I detected a burning smell. I saw smoke coming from under my legs. I lifted my leg and saw a glowing heating coil in the seat. I turned off the heated seat switch and pulled to the curb to further check out the situation. I realized the smoke/fire had stopped and drove to a parking area…
The contact owned a 2014 chrysler town and country. While the contact's vehicle was stopped, another vehicle crashed into the rear of the vehicle. As a result, the front driver seat twisted towards the window, fell backwards, and fractured. A police report was filed. The contact sustained whiplash, a concussion, and…
Another vehicle was traveling at 45 mph and rear ended consumer.'s vehicle. Consumer driver's side seatback collapsed on impact. Consumer suffered from neck and leg injuries. Please provide any further information
Structure 170 Read
I was driving to the post office and as I was getting close, the vehicle suddenly veered to the right, going up on the curb and sidewalk, barely missed a telephone pole, crashing into a utility box. Vehicle was totaled, no injuries received, air bags did not deploy. Travel speed was at posted limit of 35. When my son…
The contact owned a 2014 chrysler town and country touring van. The contact stated that the vehicle was parked in the driveway of his home and vehicle suddenly burst into flames. The flames quickly engulfed the entire vehicle. The fire department was contacted and put out the flames. The contact did not receive either…
When I was driving in reverse after making a u turn the brake lock up on me causing the car to roll. It was so dangerous I had absolutely no control of the car. There are worse cases, when im driving up a hill imagine that...... I just rolled down the hiil, I thought it was over
Steering 148 Read
A used vehicle, 2014 town country, just got on the road from an inter change, speed limit was 70 mph, thus only going 65, put cruise control on, weather and pavment was dry and excellent conditions, passing gear kicked in causing spinning of front tires and veering off to the right, hitting a utility truck no damage…
Steering wheel did not properly function with the front wheel axel causing a accident on 8/23/2014, it was difficult steering on right turns and left and the vehicle would have wide turns
Engine completely shut off while in drive on the road, lost all power, brakes everything. Managed to coast into to a parking lot, where the vehicle kept turning on and off. The key didn't seem to connect to the van. The van died as soon as i coasted it off the road. Everything is electronic in the van. Even taking…
Service Brakes 101 Read
I got into the car which had been parked on a hill. The front of the vehicle faced upward. I turned on the engine and put my foot on the brake. (at that moment I didn't notice that the brake was stiff). I switched gears into drive and it slowly slid backward down the hill. My foot was on the brake the entire time. I…
Pulled into parking lot, brakes felt funny, made turn into parking space and brakes froze, resulting into my hitting side of store building - rushed to trauma center. Bags did not deploy, going very slow. Very frightening
The contact owns a 2011 Chrysler Town and Country. The contact stated that while merging at an undisclosed speed, he attempted to slow the vehicle by applying the brake pedal, which failed to slow the vehicle rapidly enough to avoid a collision. As a result, the contact collided with the vehicle in front of him. The…
Town and Country years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Air Bags | 12 | 1 | |
| 2015 | Air Bags | 13 | 1 | |
| 2014 | Air Bags | 18 | 16 | |
| 2013 | Air Bags | 13 | 9 | |
| 2012 | Air Bags | 6 | 13 | |
| 2011 | Air Bags | 8 | 11 | |
| 2001 | Air Bags | 12 | 7 | |
| 1991 | Air Bags | 2 | — | |
| 1990 | Fuel System, Gasoline | — | — |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 429 |
| Average complaints per series | 8.8 |
| Worst single series | 53 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 4.9 years |
A model average of 8.8 hides a worst series at 53. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
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How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Town and Country?
By complaint volume, 2011, 2013, 2014 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Town and Country years are the cleanest?
1990, 1991, 2001 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Chrysler Town and Country have?
3,773 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1990–2016. Of those, 84 describe a crash and 58 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.