| Components - Details | |
|---|---|
| NHTSA Complaint Number: 006079653 | Incident Date: Sep, 16 2006 |
| Consumer's City: HURST | Consumer's State: TX |
| Vehicle Transmission Type: AUTO | Manufacturers Name: Chrysler (FCA US, LLC) |
| Model Name: PLYMOUTH | Model Year: 1997 |
| Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No | Component's Description: Engine and engine cooling:engine:gasoline:belts and associated pulleys |
| Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No | Persons Injured: 0 |
| Vehicle's VIN#: 1P4GP44RXVB | Date added to File: May, 23 2021 |
| Date Complaint Received: Sep, 20 2006 | Complaint Type: IVOQ |
| Incident Reported To Police: No | Purchase Date: Jun, 19 1997 |
| Was Original Owner: Yes | Anti-lock Brakes: Yes |
| Number of Cylinders: 6 | Date of Manufacturer: - |
| Was Vehicle Towed: - | Description of the Complaints: On july 17, 2006 my belt tensioner broke on my 97 plymouth grand voyager se. i had it towed to an auto shop the next day where they replaced the tensioner and put on a new belt. on monday, september 5, 2006, (the first day driving car in the rain since replacing belt & tensioner), while driving car in the rain 5 minutes, the power steering was lost and the battery light comes on - the belt had come off. returned car to repair center. they put belt back on and could not find any reason why this happened, other than to say that belts can fall off more easily in wet weather. on sept. 17, it was not raining when i was driving car at the time, however, there was an average size puddle that i did drive into and as soon as i did i lost my power steering and the batter light came on. pulled over and had to have car towed. this time i took it to a dealer. they put the belt back on and could not find any reason why it would have come off, other than it getting wet. i told them that i had heard through a friend that chrysler vans have had this problem of the belt coming off in wet weather but they said they had not heard of it. the only 2 times i have driven my car in wet weather after replacing the belt tensioner, the belt has come off. after looking up some information on the internet (www.carsurvey.org), i found out that this is a very common problem with plymouth and dodge caravans. all it takes is getting it wet and the belt comes off very easily. there are over 100 emails on the website with comments and complaints on this very issue. this is an obvious flaw in the car design. i would appreciate someone looking into this and considering a recall. our family has 2 plymouth voyagers and have been very happy with them until now. we were considering replacing them in the near future but will definitely not buy another chrysler after finding out about this problem and realizing chrysler has not taken any steps to solve this dangerous problem. *nm |
