NHTSA Complaint #11546384 — 2016 DODGE GRAND CARAVAN

The sliding door power locks are stuck locked closed. I can’t open the sliding doors with anything. The key fob, the internal electric push buttons in van, and the manual unlock tabs won’t unlock them. So if we had an accident, people in the back two rows would be unable to open the sliding doors to get out. If that’s not a safety issue, I don’t know what is. NHTSA has already closed their investigation of this issue after Chrysler issued extended warranty D21-15 (x98) which supposedly will fix this safety problem at no cost to the owner. There are a multitude of internet discussions of this issue, with many owners reporting that Dodge dealerships are now charging them for the repairs based on an amendment Chrysler made to the initial Service Bulletin TSB 23-017-20. I called a local dealership and they said that their understanding of Extended warranty D21-15 (amended TSB 23-036-21) is that it will not cover the repairs to my vehicle because the sliding door locks are not “buzzing” when I attempt to lock or unlock them. That asterisked verbiage was included in an amended TSB after Dodge initially approved a warranty extension, effectively excluding a large percentage of costly repairs to a known safety issue. I called the FCA US LLC customer Service at 1-800-423-6343, and the call center REP told me I should just try calling different dealerships to see if I can get a different answer. I got the same answer from another dealership. How this bait and switch passed muster at NHTSA is simply astonishing. So a multitude of 2016 Dodge Grand Caravans have sliding doors that fail locked closed. Some are failing due to power lock actuators failing and some may be due to door latches failing. All of these failures are a known safety issue that Dodge should be fixing at no cost to owner. I will be filing a lawsuit claim regarding this unresolved safety issue.