Unknown problem with door closed sensor, causes sporadic cabin lights to come on upon hard braking. Dealer unable to reproduce problem (in the shop, they didn't feel the need to do a road test)
Factory brake pads on drivers side failed at 5000 miles!
Transmission sensor failure caused over-acceleratingof engine. Had to be towed for warranty repair.
Factory battery failed at under two years.
And finally, most recently, only 41,000 miles, the serpentine belt simply slipped off. luckily I was inspecting the squealing at the time and was pulled off the interstate. Had to be towed a second time.
The failure of the serpentine, at only 41,000 miles is ridiculous. To simply "slip off" is a serious design flaw in the system. I read another comment from a 1999 Grand Caravan owner, stating his failed the same way. I think the odds of two of these events, with only a few comments on this site, should have Dodge re-examine their product. I will be writing their customer support, since the local dealer blew off my complaint!!
The belt failed again (simply popped off) at 44K miles last month.. only 4 months since the original belt came off.. had to get towed again. Guess what.. I traded this piece of crap for a 2003 Honda Odyssey two weeks later and WE LOVE IT. I complained to Dodge.. no concern from them. I do not and will not recommend a Caravan to anyone... BEWARE!!
As owner of a 1998 Grand Caravan, bought new for the safety of my wife and kids, I have had to re-install the serpentine belt 6 times due to it slipping off during heavy rains. After the first incident, I now keep an emergency side-of-the-road repair kit consisting of a flashlight, extra belt, a 15 mm wrench for the tensioner pulley, a towel (it's always raining when I have to fix it) and some Orange Go-Jo hand cleaner for when I'm done. (rain washes it off) I've already taken it to the dealer to be looked at and they gave us a new belt, now that warranty is up, it's happened three times in two weeks. After reading your comment on no concern from Dodge, I think it's time to check out a Honda or Toyota. I've always owned American, but I'm tired of all the repairs!!
I just wanted to say that I bought a 2000 Grand Caravan in 2001 it has 79,000 miles as of right now and I've never had a thing go wrong with it. This thing about honda/Toyota I think that all these car makers are out to get our money in repairs if you go and look at the Sienna van and the Honda van reviews on this site you will see that there are quiet a few unpleasant things to be said about those vans as well. I used to think that Honda/Toyota was the best thing and they used to be in the late 80's early 90's, but now they are just like the rest of the pack, make it as cheap as you can and sell it as much as you can, good luck with your vans.
I own a 1999 Dodge Caravan and we love it. I think that you can run into trouble no matter what you buy. This is the second Dodge Caravan I have owned and haven't had any trouble with either of them. Sorry you didn't have good luck with yours.
I bought my 1992 Dodge Caravan with 50,000 miles on it. It has 150,000+ miles on it now. It had just had a new transmission put in it when we purchased it at approx 3 years old. We had to have the transmission replaced under extended warranty. Since the extended warranty ran out we have had the transmission re-built and it is slipping badly now. We constantly have to replace the brakes and have had the ABS pump replaced twice under warranty and it is again showing signs of trouble. It developed a wobble in the front end and after many changes of tire types and brands and the replacing of the constant velocity joints (tie rod ends?) it still has a severe wobble in the front end. Just yesterday the bearing went out of the airconditioning motor. I love driving my van, but will not replace it with another Chrysler van if at all possible.
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