2005 DODGE CARAVAN — Complaint #500682
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about AIR BAGS:KNEE BOLSTER filed October 9, 2004
NHTSA complaint #500682 (ODI reference 10093853) concerns a 2005 DODGE CARAVAN and was filed on October 9, 2004. The owner reports the failure occurred on September 27, 2004. The report was geocoded to Michigan based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as air bags:knee bolster, 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. No VIN was supplied by the filer, so this complaint contributes to model-year trend data but cannot be tied to a specific vehicle.
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 air bags:knee bolster 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 2005 DODGE CARAVAN shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
MY MOTHER WAS INVOLVED IN AN ACCIDENT, DRIVING AT 23 MPH IN A CHRYSLER MINIVAN. SHE HIT A TELEPHONE POLE HEAD ON. THE AIR BAGS DEPLOYED, ALTHOUGH THEY DID NOT TOUCH MY MOTHER, SHE WAS WEARING HER SEATBELT. WHEN THE KNEE AIRBAG DEPLOYED HOWEVER, THE DOOR COVERING IT WAS WHAT HIT MY MOTHER IN BOTH HER SHINS WITH THE FORCE OF THE AIR BAG BEHIND IT! ALTHOUGH IT DID NOT BREAK ANY BONES, THE IMPACT CAUSED EXTENSIVE BLEEDING AND EDEMA UNDER THE SKIN. SHE SUFFERED A CRACKED RIB AND BREAST BONE IN THE ACCIDENT, WHICH WE ALL UNDERSTAND, BUT THE ADDED AGONY OF HAVING TWO EXTREMELY BRUISED AND SWOLLEN LEGS (PURPLE, GREEN, RED--WITH LIME SIZED CLOTS UNDER THE SKIN) FROM HER KNEES TO HER ANKLES CAUSED BY THIS "SAFETY DEVICE" IS INFURIATING!!! WHERE DO I GO FOR ANSWERS??? *NM
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 500682 |
| ODI Number | 10093853 |
| Date Filed | October 9, 2004 |
| Failure Date | September 27, 2004 |
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.