Comments: 1-15, 16-25
There have been numerous problems with the electrical system. The power windows all stopped working the same month, cost me almost 400.00 to replace all of the motors.
Power drivers seat stopped working a month after I bought it.
Air bag light came on after two months.
Rear suspension had to be completely replaced.
Radio stopped working after six months.
Front right suspension began making clanking noises whenever I hit a bump.
Repeatedly turned off while driving down the highway for no evident reason.
I have owned this vehicle for one year and have already dumped twice as much as I had paid for it into maintaining it.
I used to own a 1993 ford mustang, it never had to be taken into the shop once, and I bought it brand new. I wanted an suv for the safety features, and all of the quirks that come with it. I looked at many suvs, and I limited it to the chevrolet blazer, and the dodge durango. The blazer was nice, looked great inside, but had a lot of body lean in turns, and was not as large as the durango. The durango was not as nice inside, and didn't ride as well as the blazer, but was larger, and I needed space. The durango was a complete nightmare starting after the first month I bought it. Many electrical problems, and it would not start if the temperature was under 40 degrees. It would turn itself off in the middle of the highway, but the dealer could not locate the problem. So it continued happening, and one day as I was driving my usual highway route to work, I heard a loud popping noise coming form the engine. I ignored it, by now I was accustomed to strange noises. Well, ten minutes later I smelled smoke, and all of the sudden, my hood is covered in flames, and I pull over to the side of the highway and get out right away and the whole thing just blew up. The steering wheel and dash were melted, and the seats, what seats? Everything was gone. I did not find out why the fire started, but I do know I am never going to buy a dodge again. I now own the chevy blazer I wanted from the beginning, and it has not given me any problems at all during the 5 months I've had it. DO NO BUY A DURANGO- IT IS A SAFETY HAZARD!
If you paid twice as much in repairing things you listed as you paid for the vehicle you apparently bought a very very used Durango and you get what you pay for when buying used vehicles. I don't see how the whole thing blew up from a fire in the engine compartment I think that was a bit of an exaggeration don't you? Good luck with the transmission and the electrical system not to mention the heating and cooling system on your new blazer!!!!
Anyone who spends twice as much in one year repairing things as they paid for the vehicle does not sound too bright to begin with!
I have a 2001 Dodge Durango SLT with over 190,000 miles on it and drive it pretty dang hard. The only trouble I have had with it was that I needed to replace the ball joints b/c I wanted ones that could be greased and that had a better lifetime. Other than that, my Dodge is perfect and ready to roll over 200,000 miles. You had to have bought a Dodge in horrible condition b/c I don't know one dodge owner that had anything remotely as bad as your exaggeration.
I have experienced the same problem. Our 2001 Durango also caught fire on the highway! We smelled smoke, pulled over, and lifted the hood, just then the Dodge did literally blow up in flames! No one was hurt, but the truck is beyond repair. I am having trouble getting anyone to help me on this. I am being shifted from the dealer to the maker and I am afraid they are waiting for my warranty to expire.
In response to 31st Jan 2006, 07:24 comment about warranty expiration, if you can prove it happened before the warranty expired, they still have to fix it. That's probably going to be easier than getting them to agree a warranty related problem caused the fire.
I have not had a good experience with Chrysler Corp in relation to warranties. Both Ford and Chevy are better than that in my experience. Oh, and I almost forgot about a Mitsubishi truck I had in the 80's. That dealership was very responsive to any problems.
There is no way that half of that stuff happened. If it did, then it was because of you. That is the biggest load of crap. I bought a 2001 Dodge Durango new and still own it and at 80,000 miles it has only had very minor problems. I pull trailors, do a lot of off roading and city driving so you'd think it would have fallen apart by now if your comments were true, but strangely it hasn't. Maybe its because I actually take care of it!!! I have never heard, seen, or read about all four window motors going out in the same month in my life. You obviously ran this car into the ground and did little or no maintenance work to it. You can't just buy a car and expect it to run forever with any maintenance. Also, just a quick tip, IF YOUR CAR MAKES A LOUD POPPING SOUND, YOU PROBABLY SHOULDN'T IGNORE IT!!! Cars also don't just blow up, they might overheat and catch on fire because the driver never changed or refilled the coolant in its lifetime. Any car you ever buy from a Hyundai to a Ferrari must be maintained regularly. If you do this you have a very slim chance of anything serious happening. Finally, if all these problems actually occured, half of them would have caused one of the warning lights to come on. And it seems that most of these problems are unrelated which makes you very hard to believe.
I also bought a 2001 durango, the heater for the floor is weak, but works, I just lost both regulators for the front windows, it was only about 12 degrees and it had rained for about three days, I think it got water and froze the regulators, the bill was 588.00 but had the extended warranty, no hassle paid my 100.00 ded and was on my way, other than that I love it, just hit 61,000 miles.
I have a 2001 Durango. Anyone out there have the cruise control, the radio hand controls and the horn in the steering wheel only work sporadically, then quit working? The controls started to work sporadically, but any two would not work at one time. Now only one of the three sets of controls will work occasionally. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Yes,both cruise control and horn have ceased to work in my 2001 durango. I was told it is a broken clock spring in the horn about $350 to fix. Nothing yet on the cruise control.
I own a 2000 Durango 5.9 v-8 4x4 SLT. It has 225,000 miles on it. The engine is a workhorse.
The electronic door locks failed on 3 doors and had to be replaced. However, I lock and unlock my doors 11 time or more a day that 19,800 times since I bought this truck.
I had some problems with the suspension, but that was fixed from Dodge for free.
I had and pully get stuck at 56,000 miles and it fried my cruise control and other electronics. Ouch that was expensive. 4,800 dollars. I was partially my falt. I knew something was wrong whe I tried to set the cruise control and I drove it 80 miles to get back home. Lucky for me I purchased a warranty. It only cost me 1000 dollars. But that was really the only big expense I had.
It has worked without question and has provided me with dependable service everyday.
Other than the typical tire, battery and break replacements, it is great SUV. I expect to get another 200,000 miles out of it.
To the 31st Jul 2006, 12:24 comment: 3 of the 4 window motors have gone out on my 2001 Durango, and we've had probably 10 other fairly serious problems. I'll list a few. The entire cooling system had to be replaced for about $2000 after the heater core began to leak, and some parts that should never be harmed were completely eroded. The entire speaker system began making incredibly loud booming/cracking noises whenever the car hit hit a bump. This may not have been a dodge specific problem, but was a problem nonetheless (An expensive problem as well. $300). The Airbag light came on in our Durango, just like some previous comments, AND our horn failed. Every time the steering wheel moved, the horn would honk uncontrollably. We have yet to fix this problem, and have disconnected the horn so we don't irritate someone every left turn. The last problem I'm going to list, for times sake, is the car getting stuck in 4 Lo. We do a lot of camping with the family, and one day when we were driving down from a the mountains, the car wouldn't switch out of 4 Lo. We figured out that we had to put the car in neutral and rock it back and forth until we could pop it into 4 hi. This is a very tedious process, especially when it happens sometimes once a month.
One one final note, I'd like to make it well known that we maintained the car very well, and did everything we could to keep it in tip-top shape. We did not neglect any scheduled maintenance or drive the vehicle too hard (mainly used for city driving, seldom for camping), and our vehicle SHOULD be running fine, but instead, is falling apart. Wish it would've fallen apart when it was under warranty ;).
I too own a 2001 Dodge Durango. Bought it used 4 months ago and tomorrow marks the third trip to the shop for it. I also bought an extended warranty that cost me $1200 and has yet to cover anything that has went wrong with my vehicle. Its not driven "hard" and is very well taken care of since its my baby. The first incident it just died (turned off) when I was braking at a stop sign. I was able to restart and get home with it continually dying each time I hit the brakes. That shop visit cost me $500 not too bad, but considering it happened exactly ONE day past my 30 days I was HIGHLY upset. The second time (which still isn't resolved) is it idles high. When I start my Durango it revs like you are stepping on the gas pedal. RPMs are hitting the 3!!! Dealership can't figure it out. Now my latest problem is I hit the brake and lose all my dash lights and it has progressed to no tail lights. Anyone have this problem? Its not the fuses or relay switches those have already been checked. No lights such as the check engine light is coming on either. I have to say I have wanted a Durango since they came out. Have always loved them, but I am ready to go back to driving my 94 Dodge grand Caravan. It may be old, but it has always been dependable and I have never had a single issue with it all these years.
B. Moore.
Reply for the last message, I have heard that those electrical problems that you r having can be fixed this way, on the passengers side by the feet you have to take the plastic cover off, (right side), under there is a bolt that holds the dashboard that has 2 wires, you want to make sure those wires are connected right and not touching what they are not suppose to.
I have a 2000 Durango SLT, it is true about the door lock problems, but every car has problems so it's not too bad considering I have 135 k on it and it runs like new, the problem that I wish I didn't have is that it only blows heat on vent (face), not by the feet or by windshield and when you live in Michigan and drive with heat blowing on your face and freezing feet and foggy/frozen windshield its not too enjoyable, so please, does anyone know how do I fix this problem?
Thanks, Mr Lulanaj
I bought my 2001 Dodge Durango used 15 months ago. I too had an extended warranty that I paid $2000 for and which I thought was good, but in fact turned out to be pretty worthless. I have had the front steering ties replaced and a rear joint.
My big problem now is this electrical short problem. It started off with a very occasional extra tone when my fuel was low. I took it in twice to my dealer (who was not a dodge dealer). At first they said they didn’t see anything. 5 weeks later I took it in again – it was blinking more – the running lights, the dash lights, the interior lights. They said they had no idea and take it to Dodge. It has reached the critical point – I can’t drive it at night. My lights flash like they are doing a rapid Morris code. I also lost a window regulator 3 months ago – and the brakes are going out.
It has been well maintained since I have had it. This really is too bad. I really liked the idea of having this big SUV for all of my boys, but it doesn’t feel safe. I won’t get one of these again. If they find out what is wrong I will post that information.