2002 Dodge Grand Caravan problems
The 2002 Dodge Grand Caravan has 417 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (15%) concerns air bags. Next are steering (13%) and brakes (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 417 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 15% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 16 and 24
- Injuries and deaths
- 21 and 4
- Typical mileage
- 50,000 miles 273 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 | 54 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 49 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 52 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 48 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 18 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 10 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 14 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 9 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 7 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 4 |
| 200k+ miles | 8 |
What the data shows
Of the 273 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 50,000 miles. For air bags specifically, the median reported mileage is about 54,000 miles (45 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 16 complaints mention a crash; 24 complaints mention a fire; 21 injuries reported; 4 deaths reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2002 ranks 15th most-complained-about out of 31 model years of the Dodge Grand Caravan with enough data (292 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 5 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.
On july 4, 2002 my 2002 dodge grand caravan was involved in a low speed rollover in which the vehicle came to rest upside down. In the minutes following the rollover the vehicle caught on fire and burned completely up. My wife and 3 children were traveling in the vehicle when this happened and all 3 by the grace of god were pulled to safety by persons near the accident.
Vehicle was moving at approximately 5 MPH and hit a pole. The impact from the pole damaged the frame of the vehicle. Consumer has a conversion van to accomodate a wheel chair passenger. Both the driver and the passenger were injured. Consumer took the van to the dealer when the consumer was informed thast there was cosmetic damage to the van.
During a 40 MPH front end vehicle collision front air bags did not deploy. Consumer sustained injuries. Vehicle was towed. Dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem.
Dt: while driving on a highway the back end of the transmission mounting dropped. Causing vehicle to become inoperable. It was the first time this occurred on the vehicle. The consumer was en route to an event when the parking lot attendant thought the transmission was out because the way the car was pulling in a jerking motion. Upon inspection there was no transmission fluid at that time. Later that evening there was a large amount of fluid that turned out to be the transmission fluid.
Vehicle is rusting under the paint as well as rusting quite quickly on the leaf spring mounts as well as most metal parts under the vehicle.