NHTSA Complaint #11586544 — 2019 DODGE GRAND CARAVAN

I put my 18 month old into the van and closed the door with no issue using the button above the front center console. We drove to the elementary school to pick up my daughter and back. The car stayed on the entire time, and the trip there and back took about 20 minutes. When we returned I pressed both buttons for both sliding doors, and only the right side opened. When I went to open the door manually it wouldn’t budge. When I tried to move the lock manually to unlocked it felt as if there was something preventing it from moving all the way to unlocked. I googled the issue and discovered that this is a common problem and that the lock actuator needs to be replaced. A costly and time consuming repair is necessary, but what is worse is the safety issue. It’s not unheard of for cars to be hit, ind tipped over to one side. If that door was the only side that was accessible it could pose a significant safety risk to anyone in the back seat as it is completely jammed and cannot even be manually opened. Upon researching the issue further, it appears earlier models had a recall due to this door issue, but later models are not covered for this recall.