NHTSA Complaint #11461905 — 2019 DODGE GRAND CARAVAN

The passenger door interior handle cracked off on July 3, 2021. I was exiting the vehicle normally and did not use much force to try to open the door. The lack of an operational handle made it impossible for me as the passenger to open the door myself from the inside. What if there was an accident or the vehicle ended up in the water? I would not be able to exit from my side. I would be trapped. I felt very unsafe. There was no warning of imminent part failure. We ordered a replacement part on July 5th and performed the repair ourselves. The broken part was never inspected or documented. We noticed the part was offered for sale in pairs, which was disconcerting. We ordered a pair a few days later as a precaution. Within a week's time, the driver's side interior door handle also broke off. The handles appear to be shiny, silver, and metallic but in reality are incredibly cheap plastic. Both front interior door handles lasted less than 3 years under normal use. A main concern is that in the event of any emergency, in a panic, a person inside the minivan may use a lot of force to attempt to rapidly exit the vehicle. But you can't pull hard on these interior door handles because they obviously are not very strong and break easily. After the driver's side handle broke, we bought an additional replacement part so that we have a pair in reserve for the next time either one cracks and breaks. Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.