2001 DODGE STRATUS — Complaint #533474
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STEERING:LINKAGES:DRAG:POWER ASSIST SYSTEM filed May 4, 2005
NHTSA complaint #533474 (ODI reference 10119785) concerns a 2001 DODGE STRATUS and was filed on May 4, 2005. The owner reports the failure occurred on March 3, 2005. The vehicle had 59,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Kansas based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as steering:linkages:drag:power assist system, 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: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. 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 STRATUS cohort independently describe similar steering:linkages:drag:power assist system 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 2001 DODGE STRATUS shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
THERE WAS A COMPLAINT I JUST READ BY [XXX] ODI CSE NUMBER[XXX], AND I AGREE WITH HIM ABOUT THIS COMPLAINT BE HANDLED AS A TOP PRIORITY INVESTIGATION. I BOUGHT THIS AS A USED CAR, I KNEW I'D END OF HAVING TO PUT SOME MONEY INTO IT SINCE I WAS NOT BUYING A BRAND NEW CAR. BUT I'VE ONLY HAD IT FOR 6 MONTHS AND HAVE TO PUT QUITE OF BIT INTO IT. IT HAS 59,000 MILES ON IT. I'VE HAD TO GET THE UPPER AND LOWER BALL JOINTS REPLACED. A MONTH LATER WE HEARD A NOISE WHEN WE STEERED. WE ADDED POWER STEERING FLUID CAUSE WE NOTICED IT WAS LOW. ONLY TWO DAYS AFTER WE HEARD THE NOISE WHICH GOT LOUDER WAS HARD TO STEER. I DRIVE MY TWO YOUNG KIDS WITH THIS CAR AND FELT UNSAFE IN IT. A FRIEND OF OURS WHO IS A MECHANIC LOOKED AT IT AND SAID THERE WAS A LEAK SINCE THE FLUID WAS ALMOST EMPTY AGAIN. I WAS TOLD IT WAS POWER STEERING LINE. IT WAS RUBBING AGAINST THE A/C LINE WHICH IS METAL AND WORE A HOLE IN THE LINE. MY MECHANIC SAID THIS LINE WAS IN BACK ORDER (OBVIOUSLY IN HIGH DEMAND). WHEN HE FIN
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 533474 |
| ODI Number | 10119785 |
| Date Filed | May 4, 2005 |
| Failure Date | March 3, 2005 |
| VIN | 1B3EJ46X11N |
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.