2011 Dodge Caravan problems
Owners have filed 112 complaints with NHTSA about the 2011 Dodge Caravan. Electrical system is the most reported problem area, at 48% of complaints. After that come engine (12%) and fuel system (12%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 112 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 48% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 1 and 3
- Injuries and deaths
- 3 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 65,000 miles 75 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 | 6 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 2 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 15 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 29 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 13 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 4 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 4 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 2 |
What the data shows
Among the 75 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 65,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 64,000 miles (30 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 1 complaint mentions a crash; 3 complaints mention a fire; 3 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2011 ranks 20th most-complained-about out of 26 model years of the Dodge Caravan with enough data (87 complaints in that window).
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.
At 7:40am, thursday 3/5/ 15 I was driving my vehicle to go drop my son off at school the wiper blade started going on and off by themselves and then smoke started coming from underneath the horn on the steering wheel and then the airbag deployed hitting my hand and burning my left hand it filled my van full of smoked where we couldn't see I almost got into an accident I pulled the vehicle over roll the windows down clear it out all the smoke then I dropped my son off at school drove the vehicle to the closest…
Starting just after a year of having this van it would randomly not start. This has happened easily 50 times. Sometimes after 10 minutes it starts and then 2 times it has had to be towed. Have brought it in to the dodge dealer we purchased it from approximately 5 times. Besides being told that they were finding nothing wrong, we were also told it was the battery. That was replaced and the problem still continued. We have a 2011 dodge caravan.
The engine would only start after multiple attempts. I took it to the dealer and was advised that the tipm would need to be replaced. The tipm controls many of the systems -including the starting system and other safety systems. We were fortunate not to have the engine/power systems fail while the vehicle was being driven. This is a design/manufacturing issue that should be recalled. The vehicle no longer starts. We are waiting on the tipm to be backordered.