2002 Dodge Caravan problems
Owners have filed 326 complaints with NHTSA about the 2002 Dodge Caravan. Air bags is the most reported problem area, at 19% of complaints. After that come steering (13%) and electrical system (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 326 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 19% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 26 and 11
- Injuries and deaths
- 15 and 2
- Typical mileage
- 52,000 miles 209 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 43 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 31 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 47 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 37 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 21 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 7 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 12 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 3 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 7 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Among the 209 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 52,000 miles. For air bags specifically, the median reported mileage is about 50,000 miles (44 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 26 complaints mention a crash; 11 complaints mention a fire; 15 injuries reported; 2 deaths reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2002 ranks 12th most-complained-about out of 26 model years of the Dodge Caravan with enough data (244 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 4 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
2002 dodge caravan. Consumer writes in regards to air bags malfunction. *smd the consumer stated he was involved in an accident on august 9, 2013. The air bags failed to deploy even after the impact, and there were possible seat belt issues, as well. Because of the failure, his wife was ejected from the passenger side of the vehicle, and died two days later. Had the air bags deployed, she would have remained in the vehicle and had a greater chance of living.
The reason I'm writing this is because 'm trying to find out the proper steps to take to have an investigation on the failure of the seatbelts and seats. On the 16th of march 2003 my family and I were in a terrible accident in corpus christi texas. We were heading home to new braunfels texas when I ran into construction and the flow of traffic came to a stop and a full size van rear ended my minivan at about 30MPH. In the car I had my pregnant wife, mother, dad and 2 year old daughter.
2002 dodge caravan will stall at high rate of speed - usually without warning. No engine lights come on indicating engine has turned off. Realize engine off when no response occurs with pressing throttle. Must coast to side of road to stop. Vehicle will often not start for at least 20 minutes - engine will not turn over, no check engine light will appear. Vehicle has stalled at 62 MPH and even at lower speeds on all types of ground elevation. Very intermittent stalling.
I heard a "banging" noise while driving on the highway at 50 MPH. So I called my dealer to schedule an appt for multiple of reasons and they found the following issues again with my car; my front brakes (shoe pades, rotor's turned) needed to be replaced again since I've had this car and the car only has 45,000 miles on it and previous to that, the dealer replaced the shoe pades again at 19,000 miles??