2005 Dodge Caravan
Complaints about this year name locks far more often than the model's other years — 34% of them, about 29× the usual rate of 1.1%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 537 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 78 |
| Involving a crash | 19 |
| Recalls | 9 |
| EPA combined | 19.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- locks — 33.5% of this year's complaints, against 1.8% across the model's other years (18.7×).
- door — 34.1% of this year's complaints, against 8.5% across the model's other years (4×).
- working — 27.2% of this year's complaints, against 6.5% across the model's other years (4.2×). Owners wrote it as: working, stopped working, safety issue, locks stopped.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- door locks — 23% of complaints, 58× usual
- door — 34% of complaints, 3× usual
- power door — 13% of complaints, 32× usual
What owners wrote
THE POWER DOOR LOCKS FAILED TO FUNCTION. THE VEHICLE HAD TO BE MANUALLY LOCKED AND UNLOCKED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO A DEALER WHO COULD NOT DIAGNOSED THE FAILURE. THE [VIN] WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE 131,000.
THE POWER DOOR LOCKS FAILED. THE KEYLESS ENTRY DID NOT WORK ON THE VEHICLE AND THE LOCKS WOULD NOT ENGAGE AUTOMATICALLY. THE CONTACT REPLACED A 20 AMP FUSE TO CORRECT THE FAILURE. THE VIN WAS NOT AVAILABLE. THE FAILURE AND THE CURRENT MILEAGE WAS 104,000.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 08E048000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 07E104000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 10E034000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 08E039000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING
- 06E022000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 10V008000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 06V067000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 07V192000 AIR BAGS
Showing 8 of 9. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Dodge Caravan was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2005 Dodge Caravan? What happened to yours?
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