Owners have filed 7,498 complaints on the Dodge Caravan, covering 1984–2010. The system named most often is Air Bags (611 reports). Worst years by volume: 1996, 1993, 1992; cleanest: 1984, 1986, 1985. 488 reports describe a crash, 183 a fire, 26 a death. On average the car was 4.6 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Dodge Caravan
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 7,498 Caravan complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Air Bags 611 Read
Consumer states that while driving at highway speed , vehicle was involved in a frontal collision . The front end of vehicle was totaled and the airbags did not deploy. The manufacturer has been notified
The contact owns a 2010 dodge caravan. While driving at 55 mph, the contact t-boned the preceding vehicle on the driver side. The air bags failed to deploy. A police report was filed and there were no injuries sustained. The vehicle was towed to the impound lot. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The…
I hit a moose calf driving my 2010 dodge grand caravan at about 65 mph. I barely had time to hit the brakes so I was going quite fast when I hit and killed the animal. The front end of my van crumpled up and the radiator, etc was destroyed, the windshield smashed, hood buckled, driver's door unable to open. While the…
Electrical System 502 Read
While driving in snow in st louis mo there was smoke started to come from the window switch for the rear windows we have 4 of the 2010 dodge caravan in our fleet and 2 of them have now have smoked or got on fire due to the switch for the window I have looked at the switch and the switch is melted and the wires are…
There is a recall on the rear quarter window switch that may overheat . I received the letter on thursday and by sunday my door caught on fire, now not only the switch must be replaced and I suppose all wiring and rest of the switches and the door interior panel should be change because of damage. I called the recall…
Tipm electrical fire while van was parked. Started after pushing the door lock on my key fob. Chrysler sent an independent adjuster out on 2/2/16. Have not heard from chrysler yet. This is the 2nd time my van has had an electrical fire. 1st time was october 2014 - had to replace entire electrical system in the van. I…
Engine And Engine Cooling 413 Read
The contact owns a 2010 dodge caravan. The contact stated that while driving approximately 55 mph she noticed that the vehicle would over heat and she smelled a burning odor. The vehicle was inspected by a dealer who advised her that it would wear off in a couple of weeks; however, it has been three months and the…
I have a 2006 dodge caravan; it too shut down on me while going down the hwy at 70mph and all three of my children were in the van. Thank the lord that no one was hurt. This was the first time that my van had ever done this but was not the last; this van had shut down on me a couple more times. I took the van to a…
The contact owns a 2005 doge grand caravan. The contact stated that while driving approximately 15 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact was unable to control the vehicle as it proceeded to crash into a cement post. The contact was not injured but the passenger received minor injuries. The passenger…
Power Train 402 Read
The contact owns a 2010 dodge caravan. The contact stated that the vehicle was started and left idle with the engine running and the air conditioner activated. The vehicle rolled backward and crashed into a tree. The driver was able to enter the vehicle and shifted to drive. The vehicle resumed with normal operation.…
The contact owns a 2007 dodge caravan. While the contact was walking towards the liftgate area of the vehicle, she was alerted that the vehicle was rolling away. The contact attempted to depress the brake pedal, but applied the accelerator pedal in error. The incident LED to a crash that resulted in one fatality. The…
The contact owns a 2006 dodge caravan. While parked on a small incline with the parking brake engaged, the vehicle rolled backwards and struck another vehicle. There were no injuries. The contact feels that this is very unsafe because his children could have been in the vehicle and injured. The current mileage was…
Service Brakes 319 Read
The contact owns a 2008 dodge caravan. The contact stated that when he attempted to stop the vehicle, both the front and rear brakes made a loud noise. There was also a smell and smoke coming from the braking system. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and repaired twice, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was…
The van accelerated when pulling into an angled parking space at walmart, villa rica, georgia and impacted a parked car in the adjacent row, causing that vehicle to roll backward for approximately 20 feet before impacting a third car. Our van was stopped in the parking space previously occupied by the 2nd vehicle.…
100 % brake failure 2005 dodge caravan, customer complained of lower than normal brake pedal, after core brake inspection (pads rotors lines etc) I determined will need new master cylinder (no local stock) customer took vehicle and returned another day with one last stop, then total master cylinder failure , with me…
Steering 289 Read
Driving on interstate using cruise control. Steering column refused to respond when attempting to steer the van with the curve in the road. Van drove off road onto embankment and flipped over. The van was totaled. Suffered a concussion and damage to back and elbow from impact. Eye glasses were broken. Eye witness…
On the way home from a nice vacation (until this happened)with son and grandkids we were getting back onto the highway (thank god it happen before entering highway the right front axle fell apart caused a fire as well. There was no warning at all. A lady that saw this happened was blowing horn to make us stop. I saw…
Direction asiste( power steering)
Fuel System 182 Read
Vehicle was sluggish on take off quite often..could smell fuel odor in and around vehicle . After cranking vehicle ,,the vehicle caught on fire.burning itself and during ,there were several explosions that came from the vehicle..both from the engine compartment and in passenger area.all within approximately 45 minutes…
1998 dodge caravan, VIN [xxx]. I was driving in town and started to smell gasoline. I pulled over to a gas station and the van caught fire. I called the fire dept and they put it out. The van is still sitting at my house. The plastic, hoses, and belts are melted. I have called daimler/chrysler and logged a complaint.…
While driving at 25 mph consumer noticed white smoke coming from tail pipe. Then, white smoke and flames were coming from under the hood. Consumer stopped car and turned ignition off. Consumer exited the car, and vehicle caught on fire. Consumer feels this may related to recall for fuel leakage. *ak consumer states…
Latches/locks/linkages 171 Read
Center seat came unlatched from the floor attachment and rear door latch came loose and the door came open during impact. Tt
During rear side-impact collision at 15-20ph, rear tailgate latch failed, causing tailgate door to fly open and belongings inside of vehicle fell out
Rear hatch latch become open on impact. Tt
Caravan 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Air Bags | 7 | 6 | |
| 2008 | Air Bags | 6 | 5 | |
| 2007 | Air Bags | 4 | 1 | |
| 2006 | Air Bags | 8 | 1 | |
| 2005 | Air Bags | 16 | — | |
| 2004 | Air Bags | 1 | 1 | |
| 2003 | Air Bags | 11 | 4 | |
| 2002 | Air Bags | 7 | 7 | |
| 2001 | Air Bags | 6 | 3 | |
| 2000 | Air Bags | 41 | 5 | |
| 1999 | Air Bags | 31 | 10 | |
| 1998 | Air Bags | 30 | 16 | |
| 1997 | Air Bags | 33 | 31 | |
| 1996 | Air Bags | 43 | 36 | |
| 1995 | Air Bags | 42 | 6 | |
| 1994 | Air Bags | 65 | 6 | |
| 1993 | Air Bags | 46 | 4 | |
| 1992 | Air Bags | 35 | 6 | |
| 1991 | Air Bags | 26 | 12 | |
| 1990 | Electrical System | 8 | 4 | |
| 1989 | Electrical System | 8 | 9 | |
| 1988 | Electrical System | 2 | 3 | |
| 1987 | Electrical System | 5 | 5 | |
| 1986 | Electrical System | 1 | 2 | |
| 1985 | Electrical System | 5 | — | |
| 1984 | Fuel System, Gasoline | 1 | — |
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 | 2,832 |
| Average complaints per series | 2.6 |
| Worst single series | 27 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 4.6 years |
A model average of 2.6 hides a worst series at 27. 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
- No ads, on every page
- No ads, no tracking — and much more
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 Caravan?
By complaint volume, 1996, 1993, 1992 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 Caravan years are the cleanest?
1984, 1986, 1985 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Dodge Caravan have?
7,498 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1984–2010. Of those, 488 describe a crash and 183 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.