Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | |||
| 01/12/2013 | 10250 | 1 | |
| While driving a 2008 dodge caliber se in a street between 40mph and 45 mph, the vehicle suddenly shutdown itself. five second later and after pulling over as close as i could to the curve of the road, the car died. i tried to restart the engine to move it out of the way of the traffic, but the vehicle did not start. smoke started coming out under the hood, and after further examination, i saw sparks and smoke coming out off the fuses' box. i disconnected the battery and waited for the smoke to clear up. using a flash light, i found out that that one of the circuit card in the totally integrated power module (tipm) shorted and melted part of the plastic cover. the vehicle couldn't be put in neutral, and the break pedal and steering wheel were inoperative. if this incident happened in a high way, i am sure that the incoming traffic could have hit my car with speed over 65mph due to suddenly deceleration and lack of vehicle's response to the driver's commands. my wife, three years old daughter and i could have been involved in a fatal crash. *tr | |||
| 01/12/2013 | 10250 | ||
| While driving a 2008 dodge caliber se in a street between 40mph and 45 mph, the vehicle suddenly shutdown itself. five second later and after pulling over as close as i could to the curve of the road, the car died. i tried to restart the engine to move it out of the way of the traffic, but the vehicle did not start. smoke started coming out under the hood, and after further examination, i saw sparks and smoke coming out off the fuses' box. i disconnected the battery and waited for the smoke to clear up. using a flash light, i found out that that one of the circuit card in the totally integrated power module (tipm) shorted and melted part of the plastic cover. the vehicle couldn't be put in neutral, and the break pedal and steering wheel were inoperative. if this incident happened in a high way, i am sure that the incoming traffic could have hit my car with speed over 65mph due to suddenly deceleration and lack of vehicle's response to the driver's commands. my wife, three years old daughter and i could have been involved in a fatal crash. | |||
| 11/17/2012 | 67000 | ||
| I was on my way to work, headlights and dash lights started to flicker, all the indicator light on the dash came on. smoke started coming in the vents into the vehicle went to stop, brakes grabbed for a second then went out completely, even shifting the vehicle to park did nothing. stopped the vehicle by hitting guard rail called police, within minutes the entire front end was in flames. | |||
| 09/19/2012 | 57000 | 1 | |
| 2008 dodge caliber. while driving at 60 mph the battery charging light came on. next day took car to auto store to have battery tested and they replaced the battery. next morning at 2:00 am while driving my husband to work, all lights on panel started coming on one at a time and car lost power and we coasted to the side of the freeway. the car is at the shop today and mechanics are trying to figure out what happened. they noted the battery was bad, but i just had a new battery put in and they stated the started was not bad. what is wrong so i can get it fixed. also change oil light always comes on even when i have just had the oil changed; which i do every 3,000 miles. the current mileage on vehicle is 57,000 miles. *tr | |||
| 07/15/2010 | 40000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2008 dodge caliber. the contact stated that while driving, the vehicle made a clucking noise. the vehicle was taken to the local mechanic. the failure was located at the rear tie rod and strut having defective material. the ignition also failed and could not be turned. the rear tie rod strut and ignition was replaced. the vehicle was repaired but continued exhibiting a noise from the rear. the approximate failure mileage was 40,000 and the current mileage was 74,176. kmj | |||
| 07/15/2010 | 40000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2008 dodge caliber. the contact stated that while driving the vehicle made a clucking noise. the vehicle was taken to the local mechanic. the failure was located at the rear tie rod and strut failed due to defective material. the ignition also failed. the ignition would not turn. the rear tie rod strut and ignition was replaced. the vehicle was repaired but the vehicle was making a noise in the rear. the vehicle will take back to the local mechanic for further inspection. the approximate failure mileage was 40,000 and the current mileage was 74,176. li | |||
| 09/01/2010 | 43000 | ||
| 2008 dodge caliber stopped accelerating normally in september 2010 at about 43,000 miles (and about 6 months after i bought it from a mazda dealership). i took it to several transmission shops who all said they couldn't help, but had heard of many similar problems with this vehicle. i finally took it to the dealership for a diagnosis and was told the whole transmission needed to be replaced (at about $4000). this diagnosis seems to be very different from the throttle issue that i've read about online. i was told it might hurt the powertrain further to continue driving it, so the car is still sitting in my drive way as a non-op. i don't understand how dodge is getting away with this, when so many similar complaints exist (most of which are within the warranty). | |||
| 10/04/2011 | |||
| I have 2 2008 vehicles the first one is a dodge avenger and the 2nd one is a caliber. i bought both of these cars from the same delalership new. i have issues with the tire persure sensors in all the tires. they are coroding causeing the tire pressure to drop, are they any current issues or recalls on these type of devices | |||
| 09/09/2011 | 60554 | ||
| While operating the 2008 dodge caliber 2.0l engine at approximately 45mph, the car instantly stopped without applying the brakes. then the car would go from 7mph to 50mph in a rapid acceleration and then back down to 7mph. this was rather dangerous as i was almost rear ended numerous times despite having my emergency signal flashing lights on as well as driving in the far right lane. the car also experienced excessive back firing and one loud explosion sounded as if it occurred in the catalytic converter directly underneath the car. i was lucky enough to find an auto parts store last night and was able to have the tech there use the odbii reader and it indicated the error p0132 which is the oxygen sensor as the failing unit. the failure of the oxygen sensor nearly resulted in an accident as the dodge caliber was almost impacted by other cars in traffic as the other cars were not prepared for the dodge caliber to rapidly decelerate from 45mph to 7mph. the part was replaced asap the next day with bosch part # 15124 and upon testing for 20 minutes the car operated without error. i called dodge to inquire about a recall or warranty work and they declined both. in regard to public safety, i request that a case be opened to investigate this situation and others like it. the desired outcome is to have dodge recall the o2 sensors as this type of failure can be catastrophic when traveling on the highway at higher speeds with traffic. | |||
| 07/29/2011 | 60000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2008 dodge caliber. the contact stated that she depressed the horn, but the horn did not sound. the vehicle was inspected by an authorized dealer and they informed the contact that she needed a new horn. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure mileage was approximately 60,000. sm. | |||
| 07/29/2011 | 60000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2008 dodge caliber. the contact stated that when trying to depress the horn there was no noise. the vehicle was inspected by a dealer and they advised her that she needed a new horn. the vehicle has not been reaired. the failure mileage was approximately 60,000. tb | |||
| 07/10/2010 | 52306 | ||
| Horn defect on 2008 dodge calibern. horn does not work despite 3 attempts to repair by deealer. purchased at heritage ford in corydon, indiana and repaired by gerdon chrysler/dodge in corydon. horn sounds on first push, then will not sound for several hours or days when pushed. | |||
| 05/11/2011 | 50000 | ||
| Tl*the contact owns a 2008 dodge caliber. while driving approximately 55 mph the vehicle lost power and the electric throttle control warning light illuminated on the instrument panel. the vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing and the technicians informed the contact that the computer and the throttle body needed to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the vin was not available. the approximate failure mileage was 50,000. | |||
| 05/11/2011 | 50000 | ||
| Tl- the contact owns a 2008 dodge caliber. while driving approximately 55 mph the vehicle lost power and the electric throttle control warning light illuminated on the instrument panel. the vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnostics. the technicians informed the contact the computer and the throttle body needed to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the approximate failure mileage was 50,000. ds | |||
| 12/26/2010 | 57750 | ||
| Went shoping came out from shopping my car left me stranded had it towed to the dealer i bought it from after being straned for over 3 hours they had to sent it to a dodge dealer they said the issue was from a static lock which cased my module to have to be rest but then they told me if it happens again i just need to unplug the positive cable to the battery and it should work which it does but they said they had to reset my key to it so i was charged for them to do nothing and the car is still not fixed it happened again on january 7 2011 and so i called the dealer i bought if from and they told me to bring in and they would look at some componets and install a ground wire well i did that but then the they told me the car couldn't be working so in other words they were not going to do anything to fix this problem i bought it from jerrery kia i need a reliable car to drive and i don't have one and i too will never buy a dodge again | |||
| 03/03/2010 | 44200 | ||
| Had car in park. started vehicle and starter kept trying to turn over. stopped car and took key out, starter kept going. started car again and drove 30 feet while starter is turning over and smoke was coming into vehicle. vehicle then stopped and engine died. the vehicle ended up stopped in the middle of a four lane main road. lights were on and battery was still working. could not start car. police were called due to vehicle being inoperative. towed to dealer, where they ran tests on new starter after it was replaced. was told all tests passed and the original was a bad starter. on march 18, 2010 engine was starting to make similar sounds and vehicle tried starting without a key in ignition. the only way to stop this, was to pull wire off the battery. | |||
| 02/20/2008 | 1 | ||
| After purchasing my dodge caliber in february or 2008 i noticed the gas gauge was not consistently accurate. it took a total of 6 months for schaefer and strohminger to fix it. i called them afterwards to tell them it was better but not completely correct and they put me off several times. they said they would call the engineer and follow up with me. that never happened even after the ceo of the vehicle maintenance department told me i met the lemon law requirements. during this time the car began to hesitate from time to time when starting. i also asked them about that problem. they could not figure out the problem after having it in the shop twice. about a year later the car wouldn't start and left me stranded at work. it was towed to the nearest dealership. i called ahead to talk to the mechanic who knew exactly what my problem was because he'd had several others need to be replaced already in the caliber. it was the wireless control module. while still under warranty they replaced it. it's been a few months now and the car has hesitated while starting 4 times already. obviously there is a fault in the wireless control module unit they are using. finally, i'm taking it back to have them check the water in the driver's side tail light and wet carpet behind the driver's side seat. i'm very dissatisfied with this car and do not plan on buying from dodge or schaefer and strohminger again. *tr | |||