2013 CHRYSLER TOWN AND COUNTRY Complaints

The passenger front seat head rest deployed on its own. It looks like a plastic pin inside the headrest broke and popped open by itself!!!! This is very dangerous. I should not have to pay for this dangerous manufacture defect!!! The vehicle was never in a accident!!!!

While I was driving, the head rest popped apart making an extremely loud noise and hitting me in the back of the head with a great amount of force. I thought I had been rear ended it was so hard. I’m in pain and lucky I had just pulled off the highway because I would have wrecked. Chrysler needs to do something about this. It was bad. Consumer had sore head and neck injuries. Case number [XXX] from Chrysler. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).”

Over a year ago, we began to have a problem in which the vehicle would, on occasion, not start. The “check engine” light would come on, along with another icon that looked like a lightning bolt between two inverted parentheses. Sometimes it started up on the first try, other times it would take a few attempts, and sometimes it would not start at all. Then a new wrinkle emerged: the van conked out on us a few times while on the road -- once while merging onto a highway. We now had a serious (and potentially dangerous) problem on our hands. We had the fuel pump replaced, but the problem persisted. I took the van to our local Chrysler dealership to have them figure it out. They replaced the throttle body and cleaned the fuel injectors and fuel system. I drove the car home without incident, but the following morning, I tried to start it, and the same old situation emerged — the engine cranked but never turned over. I then had it towed back to the dealer for another round of diagnostics. I mentioned that I had seen on the Internet about a possible faulty Totally Integrated Power Module (TIPM), an issue in various Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep/Ram products. Later they called saying the battery was the problem (even though they earlier reported that the battery was okay), and had nothing to do with the TIPM. For about a week, the van is started up without a hitch, but then same old hesitating-before-starting situation reared its ugly head, albeit briefly. It is only a matter of time before it stalls out again in traffic. These vehicles should be recalled and the TIPM needs to be replaced.

My Chrysler Town and Country has serious electrical issues. It started with the radio shutting off and restarting by itself, which is not a serious issue at all. But yesterday, at a red light, the radio shut off and so did the car. The engine stopped working, the accelerator pedal would not respond. It was terrifying. Thankfully we were at a red light, but if this were to happen on a busy highway, or even just on a regular street with traffic, it could be a life threatening situation. From what I have researched online, this is a common problem with Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge cars. Legal action has been taken and class action lawsuits were filed to address this matter. The Center for Auto Safety (CAS) asked this very own NHTSA to open an investigation into faulty TIPM, which seem to be the problem that causes these cars to very dangerously completely shut off even while driving, causing drivers to lose control of the steering and of the brakes. The CAS estimated 7 million Chrysler vehicles have power issues related to the TIPM. One month after receiving a class action lawsuit, Chrysler issued a recall for 189.000 Dodge Durango and Jeep Grand Cherokee with bad TIPMS. 189.000. Out of SEVEN MILLION. This is absurd. It seems as if Chrysler is waiting for someone to be killed due to this issue so they can take it seriously and actually issue the recall to all the cars that have this problem, not a tiny fraction of them and not only because it is directly related to a lawsuit. Unfortunately, despite multiple claims throughout the years that not only this is a common problem with Chrysler, but that the corporation is well aware of it and negligently refuses to address the issues, the NHTSA rejected the CAS petition to investigate this problem. Proof is definitely not amiss, as a quick internet research will produce thousands upon thousands of reports of the same problem on the same car. This needs to be a recall URGENTLY, and not only after someone dies.

The contact owns 2013 Chrysler Town & Country. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact managed to coast the vehicle to the shoulder of the roadway and turn the ignition switch to the off position and waited for approximately 20 minutes before restarting the vehicle and the vehicle resumed normal functionality. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed however, the mechanic was unable to duplicate the issue. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure recurred. The vehicle was then taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The mechanic was unable to retrieve a fault code. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 114,200.

The rear passenger sliding door lock actuator has failed. There is a loud buzzing noise when the door unlocks. I was told eventually the lock will fail entirely which is a huge safety risk. There would be the potential for someone to steal the car or worse.

Passenger side headrest airbag deployed into back of passenger’s head while the vehicle was moving at a slow rate of speed, approximately 25 mph on school/residential street.

Passenger seat headrest blew open while driving to work today. No accident involved. Just bam! Looks like the plastic pieces holding a pin in place gave out.

The active headrest restraint of the front passenger seat deployed, while the van was parked in our driveway. The plastic brackets were broken, so there was no way to reset the headrest. The vehicle was not in any type of collision when the headrest safety feature was activated.

I have written an email today to: [email protected]; [email protected], [email protected] about the following issue on my 2013 Town and Country Touring. I am hoping they will respond to my request asap. Here is the note (minus the personal details): On July 27, 2021, I went to my driveway and saw that something was amiss with the driver’s headrest. It seemed to have deployed for no reason. I Googled this and learned that it is a defective Active Head Restraint (AHR) system in many Chrysler vehicles, where the plastic breaks off and the headrest deploys unexpectedly when the car is not involved in an accident. I went to have a closer look and sure enough, the plastic piece in the headrest had broken off, causing the headrest to deploy. Because the plastic is broken, I cannot get the headrest to go back into place. This is definitely a defective part in the manufacturing of the vehicle. I am lucky that I was not driving at the time as I am sure it would have given me whiplash on top of the shock of having something like that explode behind my head which could have caused an accident. I read online that there are several class action suits in process for this exact issue against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. I don’t necessarily want to take part in the law suit -- I just want to get this headrest fixed so that the car is safe to drive again. How can such an important component of the car just give away like that, time and time again, and not be a recall? There have been other recall issues on this car regarding the airbag -- but not this headrest, although I believe that Fiat Chrysler is well aware of the issue. In any case, since it is not a recall issue, I am asking that you kindly extend my warranty to 10 years/unlimited mileage to cover this faulty headrest, and I will get it fixed as soon as possible. I am attaching pictures to show you the headrest, VIN, and odometer. Please rectify this situation. Thank you