1996 Dodge Grand Caravan problems
The 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan has 1,860 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (12%) concerns electrical system. Next are air bags (12%) and transmission (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 1,860 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 12% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 40 and 68
- Injuries and deaths
- 42 and 7
- Typical mileage
- 98,000 miles 178 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 | 16 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 3 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 8 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 15 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 52 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 23 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 26 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 13 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 14 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 5 |
| 200k+ miles | 3 |
What the data shows
Of the 178 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 98,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 95,000 miles (15 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 40 complaints mention a crash; 68 complaints mention a fire; 42 injuries reported; 7 deaths reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1996 ranks 1st most-complained-about out of 31 model years of the Dodge Grand Caravan with enough data (1,150 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 9 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.
The strut tower did not fail at this time and no person was killed or injured, also no damage has occured. But I would like to report that the strut tower is rusting thru on the front right side of the mini van. If this should rust completly through while the mini van is moving at highway speeds, the driver could experience total loss of control and that could lead to serious injury and property damage including death of up to seven occupants of the minivan.
The vehicle was involved in a collision yet the driver's side air bag failed to deploy. *nlm the passenger side air bag opened but was deflated. Consumer received letter regarding faulty air bags after accident.
Consumer was rear ended in which the middle rear seat became detached from the floorboard, resulting in the seat flying into the driver side seat. Consumer has contacted the dealer..et.
The meter read less than half a tank of gas, the van ran out of gas, then the engine stalled. The consumer started the vehicle and began to drive when soon after the check engine light illuminated. The consumer was told the problem was a misfired cylinder, the fuel fuel pump was buried inside the gas tank, and when the fuel level dropped below the fuel pump, the pump heated up and sucked in air instead of the gasoline. *scc
"air bag" light is illuminated (known problem), the cruise control will activate upon pushing the button, but the cancel button when pushed does not deactivate the cruise control...the deactivation of the cruise control requires the brake to be applied. Control of the vehicle on wet roads, using cruise control, and having to deactivate the cruise control via the brakes....can be a bit of a challenge...thanks!! - steve dowling.