NHTSA Complaint #10241055 — 1999 DODGE DURANGO

MY WIFE HAS A 99 DURANGO 5.9L 4X4 WITH 175,000 MILES. ABOUT THREE WEEKS AGO IMMEDIATELY AFTER A STANDARD TUNE-UP THE VEHICLE BEGAN READING MULTIPLE MISFIRES AND A "P1391" ERROR CODE. I RECHECK EVERYTHING AND USE THE SCANNER TO RESET ALL OF THE TROUBLE CODES ON THE TRUCK. NEXT THING YOU KNOW - EVERYTHING IS RUNNING FINE AND THERE WEREN'T ANY ERROR CODES REGISTERING. NEXT DAY MY WIFE DRIVES THE TRUCK AND CALLS ME LATER IN THE DAY AND SAYS JUST SUDDENLY STOPPED WORKING WHILE SHE WAS DRIVING THE TRUCK DOWN THE ROAD ' NO STEERING, NO BRAKES, NOTHING. SHE WAS ' FORTUNATELY ' ABLE TO COAST IT TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND RE-START IT WERE IT FIRED RIGHT BACK UP AND WAS DRIVING FINE. THEN IT HAPPENS AGAIN THE NEXT DAY ' AGAIN WHILE SHE'S DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD IN TRAFFIC AND WITH NO WARNING. SO, I HOOKUP THE HANDHELD AGAIN AND THIS TIME I ONLY READ THE P1391 ERROR CODE. SO I REPLACE THE CAMSHAFT POSITION SENSOR AND THE CRANKSHAFT POSITION SENSOR. SO NOW I'M SEARCHING THE INTERNET FORUMS AND FIND OUT THAT THIS IS A KNOWN BUT UNACKNOWLEDGED PROBLEM BY DODGE. NO RHYME OR REASON ' IT APPEARS TO HAVE HAPPENED ACROSS ALL MILEAGE RANGES AND IN ALL PARTS OF THE COUNTRY AND IN PARTICULAR WITH THE 1998 ' 2003 DODGE DURANGOS. SO KNOW WE'RE FACED WITH THE PROSPECT THAT A NEW VEHICLE COMPUTER ($690.00 DEALER INSTALLED) MIGHT FIX THE PROBLEM BUT THAT WE MAY (BECAUSE NO ONE SEEMS TO KNOW FOR SURE) HAVE TO ADDITIONALLY REPLACE SEVERAL OTHER SENSORS THAT, IF NOT REPLACED, MAY BLOW OUT THE NEW VEHICLE COMPUTER. OBVIOUSLY, IF THIS A KNOWN DESIGN FLAW (PLACEMENT OF VEHICLE COMPUTER ' PCM ' IN ENGINE COMPARTMENT UNNECESSARILY EXPOSES THE UNIT TO HIGH TEMPERATURES THEREBY CAUSING THE UNIT TO FAIL) WITH POTENTIALLY FATAL RESULTS (SUDDEN AND COMPLETE LOSS OF POWER IN THE MIDDLE OF TRAFFIC OR WHILE ROUNDING A CORNER, ETC.) THEN DODGE NEEDS TO ISSUE A RECALL AND/OR BY SOME OTHER MEANS REPLACE THOSE UNITS THAT ARE DEFECTIVE AS A RESULT AND REDESIGN THE PLACEMENT OF THE UNIT IN ANOTHER AREA. *TR