2008 Dodge Grand Caravan: Service, Much Service

"Operating same as like equipped vehicle"

Well, as long as they all don't work correctly then that is fine.....

it's working as designed.
obviously people who buy Chrysler products are people into gambling. Sometimes it may crank, sometimes it may not.
Kind of like how sometimes it may decide to throw your kid out or sometimes not let you retrive your luggage.

There's no challenge or fun to life if everything monotonously works right every day. That's like... robotic.

tmanz-- that from this post gave me a chuckle.

In my SRT-4, within the first year of ownership (I bought it brand new off of the showroom floor, literally), the side bolster on the Viper seats had the leather completely worn through all the way through to the little metal bar to keep the integrity of the seat. http://images.sportcompactcarweb.com/roadtests/012_12+2003_Dodge_SRT_4+Driver_Side_Seat_View.jpg

I've been to Dodge dealerships in Florida, Texas, and Massachusetts and complained about it. All dealerships said that was, "typical wear." So apparently it's okay to have Dodge vehicles generally suck because all of them do. That's one of the big reasons I'm selling the car and will never buy a car from the Chrysler Corporation ever again. So don't worry, all Dodges have a low quality level, so just ignore that this one is just particularly worse.

That photo rivals "The Scream" painting for despair and hopelessness.

"Sullen girl views recently shuttered Starbucks from window of terribly conceived and constructed domestic minivan which exists despite decades of intense Japanese competition while record-priced gasoline is slowly pumped into its tank"

This van was designed while Chrysler was still a part of Daimler right? I'm trying to just blame the Germans and hope that future products are actually competitive. A long hope, but a hope nonetheless.

FWIW, the same two things happen with our Honda Odyssey from time to time.

Try letting the key rest in Position 2 for a few seconds before firing up the engine. If I turn the key immediately, sometimes it will not start, as I suppose the fuel hasn't been fully circulated yet. Playing with the throttle pedal helps, too.

The difficulty moving the gear lever from Park may have to do with the power sliders. My neighbor's Ody had a faulty power door switch, which made the shift interlock go haywire.

The only repair I've had on my 70k Sienna was a blown rear strut at 57k miles, and that was covered under an extended warranty. And it drives like a beauty (for a minivan, at least). This is just embarrassing for a <1year old car with 12k miles.

I have to say, it seems Dealer Repair facilities on the whole have become plug-and-play diagnosis centers. In other words, if the problem isn't uncovered through an OBD port scan and the prescribed solution for that error doesn't work, the default answer always seems to be "operating as designed" or some other useless verbage. It's actually gotten to the point where I found myself in my dealer's garage helping the mechanic.

stovt001, but it has "German Engineering" so it has to be good. Um, right?

brn - i think stovt001, is saying that alot of the problems Dodge/Chysrler has right now, come for that great leadership the germans gave it, rather then from american failure

I've never had any problems moving from drive to park or vice versa. Maybe its the way you hold your mouth. I have noticed that there are real gates between each position and they are very stiff. I wonder if that improves with age. There has been a TSB on the doors I think. As for the crank problem, this new van has the new starting system. It will crank for up to 15 seconds on its own. You turn the key to start and then release it. Holding the key in that position seems to confuse the starting system. They call it "Tip Start." It was designed specifically for the new style keys, remote starting systems, and security systems.

On another subject, where can I find a car seat like that? I'm a foster parent and I need different kinds of car seats all the time and that one strikes me as pretty cool.

opfreak, I agree. It seems you missed the facial expressions I had while typing.

skierz420 - The Recaro car seat is awesome. My daughter has used several different types of seats from infant to boosters, and this is definitely her favorite.

http://www.recarochildseats.com/

I dont like mini-vans, lets get that out of the way. I read this post because I have actually entertained the idea of buying an American car. I just dont get it. Have the Chryslers, Fords, and Chevrolets completely lost site of the fact that in order to improve the business of selling cars, a quality product might be a good place to start?

The rear bumper cover is indeed a quality control issue and hopefully the new cover didn't come from the same supplier as the original. Unless the supplier fixed thier plastics, you're going to have the same issue once it gets out in the sun.

Don't know if the shifter issue is related to the slider door closing or not? You didn't mention when the shifter is "often difficult" to move or if you noticed whether it was related to anything like a door being open, but I would think that this would get better with time? Although I can remember previous gen Chrysler vans (and everything else) had really loose shifters. It was often difficult to tell which gear you were moving into without looking at the gear indicator. So maybe they overcomensated on this one? You might do a test and see if it will let you move out of Park with the slider door open. Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to defend the poor vehicle as I am not really impressed with it, nor with Chrysler's build quality of late, but before casting stones, I would want to make sure the stones are just. :D :D

Our car (a GM product) also has a twist and release ignition. Once the starter is engaged, you release the key and the starter keeps cranking until the motor fires. How long it will keep cranking I don't know since the car always starts on one or two cranks, but maybe holding the key in the start position is confusing the system somehow?

deutschcarny,

Where do you get this from? I admit Chrysler has some quality control issues. They're right down there with Nissan and VW (seriously). Ford and GM are along side with Honda and Toyota. The problem isn't the quality of the vehicles. The problem is people's perception.

wobbly_ears -- I think you should go back and read those Kia Sedona posts again. Most of them are pretty complimentary, with hardly a nitpicking fault-finder in the group. I took it myself a couple times and only had one minor complaint that would rarely come up in daily driving.

(brn). I base it on the evidence. Reading buyers experiences, recalls, forums and Edmunds of course. You think the problem with transmissions in Silverados is an isolated incident? You think secretly the Ford Explorer/Expedition/Focus are "quality products"? I dont. Look, all the manufactures have some issues, some a LOT of issues. VW, Toyota, Honda, arent immune. Read about the issues with the Tundra? Yikes! Of the Big 3, I think Ford is actually starting to get it. Its not for me, but the Flex seems pretty nice. I would have bought a Euro Ford Focus RS, but they apparently only sell the good stuff overseas. Seen the S-Max? Now thats a Mini-van even I would consider. At least we will start getting them in a year or two (if they are still in business).

You have all the same issues I have except I havent noticed the shifter issue other than it feeling like its in park and going to get the key and it wont come out. The door thing I had addressed a couple months ago and the dealer said almost the same thing yours did. "I have heard of this on earlier models not this one though". Apparently the same engineers worked on this project too.
Problems to date:
Doors (resolved)
Sat/Nav Radio (replaced)
A/C (leaking from the factory - twice in before they found it)
Rear Bumper warp(just starting to happen now)
Front Bumper (watch the upper corners near the headlights the clips might fail)
Windshield whistling at 65 -70 mph (Sounds like a recorder..you know, that musical instrument that kids play with- not yet fixed)
Keep an eye on your transmission too...I have had mine downshift a couple times going around a corner and braking where it feels like someone rear ended me. Had the same issue in my 2005 grand cherokee.
Glad mine is a lease.