2001 CHRYSLER PT CRUISER — Complaint #619984
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about EXTERIOR LIGHTING:FOG LIGHTS:SWITCH filed April 10, 2007
NHTSA complaint #619984 (ODI reference 10187501) concerns a 2001 CHRYSLER PT CRUISER and was filed on April 10, 2007. The owner reports the failure occurred on April 9, 2007. The report was geocoded to Minnesota based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as exterior lighting:fog lights:switch, 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. 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 CHRYSLER PT CRUISER cohort independently describe similar exterior lighting:fog lights:switch 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 CHRYSLER PT CRUISER shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
THE FOG LAMPS ON THE 2001 PT CRUISER COME ON AND STAYED ON THEIR OWN ACCORD. THIS CAUSED A DEAD BATTERY 3 TIMES. WHEN I OPENED THE DOOR THE ALARM WENT OFF. SOMETIMES THE INSTRUMENT PANEL WORKED CORRECTLY, SOMETIMES IT DID NOT. SOMETIMES THE KEYLESS ENTRY WORKED AND SOMETIMES IT DID NOT. WHEN IT DID WORK, I COULD NOT GET THE DOOR TO UNLOCK WITH THE KEY, IT RELOCKED BY ITSELF, LEAVING ME LOCKED OUT OF MY OWN CAR AND STRANDED ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS. I COULD NOT LOCK THE DOOR ON DRIVER'S SIDE WITH ELECTRONIC DOOR LOCK. MUST INDIVIDUALLY LOCK ALL DOORS. SMOKE CAME FROM THE TOP OF THE STEERING COLUMN , THROUGH HAZARD LIGHT SWITCH ON TWO OCCASIONS. DEALER SUGGESTED $200. REPLACEMENT OF MULTI FUNCTION SWITCH - BUT RESEARCH SHOWED THISWAS NOT A REMEDY TO THE PROBLEM. I LIVE IN A REMOTE, RURAL AREA, AND DO NOT FEEL SAFE OR SECURE WITH THIS VEHICLE. *AK
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 619984 |
| ODI Number | 10187501 |
| Date Filed | April 10, 2007 |
| Failure Date | April 9, 2007 |
Similar EXTERIOR LIGHTING:FOG LIGHTS:SWITCH Complaints for 2001 CHRYSLER PT CRUISER
FOG LIGHTS STAY ON DRAINING BATTERY. INTERNET RESEARCH INDICATES PROBLEM WITH THE MULTI-FUNCTION SWITCH. ALSO INDICATES THAT HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE HAVE HAD THIS SAME PROBLEM - SOME MULTIPLE TIMES - REP
THE 2001 PT CRUISER FOG LIGHTS CAME ON BY THEMSELSVES WHEN THE SWITCH WERE IN THE OFF POSITION, DRAINING THE BATTERY WHEN THE CAR WAS PARKED. IF THE LEFT TURN SIGNAL WAS TURNED ON THE FOG LIGHTS
MY 2001 CHRYSLER PT CRUISER'S FOG LIGHTS WILL NOT GO OFF EVEN WHEN THE CAR IS NOT RUNNING UNLESS THE LEFT TURN SIGNAL IS TURNED ON. IF THE TURN SIGNAL SWITCH IS NOT TURNED ON THE FOG LIGHTS DRAIN THE
CONTROL SWITCH FOR 2001 PT CRUISER HEADLIGHTS AND FOGL IGHTS HAD INTERMITTENT SHORT, CAUSING REPEATED BATTERY DRAIN. EXACT SAME PROBLEM NOTED BY 20 OTHER PT CRUISER OWNERS THIS YEAR ON WWW.TOPIX.NET.
OVER THE PAST 6 MONTHS I HAVE HAD 50 PLUS TIMES WHERE I HAVE FOUND MY BATTERY DEAD AND THE FOG LAMPS ON. OVER THE LAST 3 YEARS I HAVE HAD FEWER , BUT , REGULAR TIMES WHEN THIS HAS ALSO HAPPENED. I C
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.