2006 Dodge Caravan
This year drew an ordinary 173 complaints for a Dodge Caravan — the model's median is 78. What they were about is the unusual part: 22.5% of them mention power steering, against 7% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 173 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 78 |
| Involving a crash | 12 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| EPA combined | 20 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- power steering — 22.5% of this year's complaints, against 7% across the model's other years (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: power steering, fluid, rack, steering fluid.
- leaking — 10.4% of this year's complaints, against 1.1% across the model's other years (9.4×). Owners wrote it as: leaking, steering rack, own 2006, stand.
- tank — 9.2% of this year's complaints, against 0.8% across the model's other years (11.5×). Owners wrote it as: tank, gas tank, filling, after filling.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
EVERY TIME I FILL THE GAS TANK, IT WILL ONLY TAKE A FEW GALLONS BEFORE CLICKING THE PUMP OFF. AFTER FILLING TANK, WHILE DRIVING, THE ENGINE CUTS OFF, THEREBY CUTTING POWER STEERING AND BRAKES. CHECK ENGINE LIGHT COMES ON AND WHEN CHECKED IT SAYS EVAP SYSTEM.
A LOUD NOISE EMITTED FROM THE VEHICLE UPON STARTING AND POWER STEERING FLUID WAS LEAKING. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER. THE DEALER STATED THAT THE POWER STEERING PUMP NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE WAS REPAIRED. THE FAILURE CONTINUED. THE [VIN] WAS…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 08E048000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 07E104000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 10E034000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 08E039000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING
- 10V008000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 06V067000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Dodge Caravan was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2006 Dodge Caravan? What happened to yours?
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