1999 DODGE CARAVAN — Complaint #388550
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SERVICE BRAKES, AIR:CONTROLS:FOOT CONTROL/VALVE filed January 9, 2003
NHTSA complaint #388550 (ODI reference 10000876) concerns a 1999 DODGE CARAVAN and was filed on January 9, 2003. The owner reports the failure occurred on September 21, 2002. The vehicle had 34,581 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Pennsylvania based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as service brakes, air:controls:foot control/valve, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: yes, fire: no, injuries: 1, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same DODGE CARAVAN cohort independently describe similar service brakes, air:controls:foot control/valve failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 1999 DODGE CARAVAN shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
I NOTIFIED THE FIRST INCIDENT TO THE DEALER ABOUT ITS SPEED SENSOR, OVER THE PHONE, WHICH BLEW AWAY JUST AFTER THE TWO WEEKS OF BUYING THIS CAR FROM HIS SHOWROOM. LAST MONTH, THE BREAK WENT BAD AND WERE NOT COVERED UNDER THE WARRANTY, I HAD TO END UP REPLACING THE ROTOR AND COMPLETE BRAKE SET, PAYING AROUND $300 FROM MY POCKET, FROM A MIDAS IN PENNSYLVANIA. THE THIRD INCIDENT WAS MOST DANGEROUS, AND DON'T KNOW HOW I SAVED THE LIFE OF MY TWO LITTLE KIDS INCLUDING THE ONE WITH 11MONTHS INFANT BABY, THE AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION BLEW AWAY WHILE DRIVING NORMALLY AND LOST CONTROL ON THE DOWNHILL, IN THE CITY OF NORRISTOWN, SINCE ITS BREAK AND THE ENTIRE SYSTEM WENT OFF DUE TO THE FAILURE OF AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION AND I EVENTUALLY TOOK A GREAT RISK OF PULLING THE CAR ALL BE MYSELF ON THE SIDEWALK AND SOMEHOW PROTECTED EACH OF MY FAMILY MEMBERS. THIS CAR IS PROVEN TO BE VERY UNSAFE AND DOES NOT WORTH THE LIFE OF MY KIDS AND MY FAMILY. I SINCERELY REQUEST TO HELP ME HAVE MY MONEY BACK A
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 388550 |
| ODI Number | 10000876 |
| Date Filed | January 9, 2003 |
| Failure Date | September 21, 2002 |
| VIN | 2B4GP25GXXR |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.