2009 Dodge Caravan
This year drew an ordinary 118 complaints for a Dodge Caravan — the model's median is 78. What they were about is the unusual part: 36.4% of them mention electrical system, against 9.6% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 118 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 78 |
| Involving a crash | 3 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| EPA combined | 19 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- electrical system — 36.4% of this year's complaints, against 9.6% across the model's other years (3.8×).
- amount time — 33.1% of this year's complaints, against 8.4% across the model's other years (3.9×). Owners wrote it as: amount time, time recall, aware issue, bags electrical.
- bags — 22.9% of this year's complaints, against 3.7% across the model's other years (6.2×). Owners wrote it as: bags, air bags, struck, perform.
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.
What owners wrote
NOTIFICATION OF NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 14V373000 (AIR BAGS, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM), HOWEVER, THE PART TO DO THE REPAIR WAS UNAVAILABLE. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE [VIN] EXCEEDED A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME FOR THE RECALL REPAIR. THE [VIN] WAS NOT MADE AWARE OF TH…
A NOTIFICATION OF NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 14V373000 (AIR BAGS, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM); HOWEVER, THE PART FOR THE RECALL REPAIR WAS NOT AVAILABLE. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE [VIN] EXCEEDED A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME FOR THE RECALL REPAIR. THE [VIN] WAS NOT NOTIFIE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 10V148000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 10V164000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
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 2009 Dodge Caravan? What happened to yours?
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