NHTSA Complaint #10640565 — 2008 DODGE AVENGER

SHORTLY AFTER I PURCHASED MY '08 DODGE AVENGER I STARTED HAVING TROUBLE W/THE ETC. IT FELT LIKE THE VEHICLE WAS JOLTING ON ACCELERATION OR IF I WAS AT A STEADY HIGH RATE OF SPEED (75-80 MPH). THE ETC INDICATOR CAME ON. I CONTACTED THE DEALER & INFORMED THEM OF THE ISSUE & MY CONCERN ABOUT THE RELIABILITY OF THE VEHICLE. IT WAS IN & OUT OF THE SHOP 3 TIMES IN THE 1ST MONTH OF PURCHASE FOR THE ETC. I WAS TOLD IT WAS A SPEED SENSOR YET MY ETC LIGHT WAS ON AFTER REPLACEMENT. AFTER HAVING ETC SENSOR CLEANED & ETC SOFTWARE FLASHED THE PROBLEM APPEARED TO GO AWAY. ALMOST 2 YEARS LATER THE PROBLEM IS BACK & WORSE. MY ETC INDICATOR CAME ON, VEHICLE STALLED WHILE IDLING, STARTED JOLTING WHILE ACCELERATING & WHILE MAINTAINING A STEADY SPEED. IT BEGAN REVVING AT A COMPLETE STOP W/FULL PRESSURE APPLIED TO THE BREAK (VEHICLE WOULD JUMP FORWARD; I FEARED IT WOULD RUN ITSELF INTO ANOTHER VEHICLE). WHILE SLOWING DOWN IT WOULD REV & ACCELERATE (CREATING THE POSSIBILITY OF HITTING ANOTHER VEHICLE) W/OUT PRESSURE ON THE GAS PEDAL. IT DIED WHILE DRIVING & WOULDN'T START RESTART. WHEN IT DID START THE ETC WAS ON & IT WOULDN'T GET PAST 1000RPM OR ABOVE 20MPH & HAD A VERY ROUGH IDLE. A TUNE-UP WAS DONE, ETC SENSOR CLEANED, AIR-INTAKE SYSTEM CLEANED, & LOAD TEST DONE TO SEE IF THE BATTERY WAS GOING BAD. THIS VEHICLE IS INCREDIBLE UNSAFE TO DRIVE, AFTER RESEARCHING IT APPEARS THAT I AM NOT THE FIRST PERSON W/THIS ISSUE. DODGE NEEDS TO RECALL THIS THROTTLE BODY, IT'S EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. THE REPAIRS ON THIS VEHICLE ARE EXTENSIVE & THE PROBLEM ISN'T FIXED. ADVISED REPLACING THROTTLE BODY IS THE NEXT STEP. TOLD IT WOULDN'T BE A GUARANTEED FIXED BECAUSE THE THROTTLE BODY FOR THIS MODEL APPEARS A FAULTY & I WOULD LIKELY BE DEALING W/THIS PROBLEM FOR THE LENGTH OF OWNERSHIP. RECORDED VEHICLE DURING SOME OF INCIDENTS SINCE I WAS TOLD 1ST TIME I WAS TOLD "UNABLE TO DUPLICATE, FLASHED SOFTWARE." *TR