Problems with 2001 Dodge Durango EQUIPMENT

A/c control panel burned out...smoke came through dash directly behind ac control unit. smell of burning wires..i pulled to the side of road and turned off vehicle.. pulled panel away from a/c control and unplugged the ac control unit..took to dealer had to replace ac control panel and fuse was blown in fuse box. *tr

I own a 2001 dodge durango. the horn has failed completely. the cruise control has failed completely. the airbag light remains illuminated on the dashboard (along with several other icons), and now i'm finding out that in the event of an accident, the driver's side air bag will also fail. i am told that this is due to a failed "clock spring" and it affects every control located within the steering wheel. this part is on nationwide backorder and i was told today that 1,400 are backordered. several dealers have told me they have no idea of when (or actually if) this part will be coming in. i understand that dodge dakotas were recalled for this very reason, however there was no recall on the dodge durango. i am now driving a car with no horn, no cruise control and no driver's side airbag. *tr

I had a recall completed on 2/20/09. prior to recall i was not experiencing any issues w/ my vehicle. since the recall i have noticed that my vehicle is doing the exact thing they were supposed to have corrected in the recall. the recall was for the shift interlock lever to keep the vehicle from being able to be taken out of park w/out the vehicle running. at this point the vehicle is easy to steal & presents a risk to anyone who might be in the area if it does come out of park when i am not in the vehicle. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2001 dodge durango, the contact stated that upon starting the vehicle and activating the air conditioner, only hot air would blow from the vents. the vehicle was taken to an independent repair shop and the contact was informed that the evaporator failed. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure but offered no assistance. the failure mileage was unknown. overheats when it is over 85 degrees and coolant evaporator keeps going out. updated 10/26/2011 *ln *tr

I have a 2001 dodge durango with 103,000 miles and the transmission has been replaced 3 times. again it's bad, the computer is bad again (replaced twice) and now the air bag light is flashing............ i ended up buying a cheap car to drive since i could not afford to fix this truck, not to mention 10 miles to gallon....... this truck is a complete piece of ?!@#$% and i would not recommend anyone buy a dodge, they should go out of business selling the cars they do... *tr

Every year when i go to get my 2001 dodge durango inspected i first have to replace two front tires due to excessive inside wear. then i get told all 4 ball joints are no good. i have had to replace all 4 ball joints three times in three years while putting only about 20000 miles on this vehicle yearly. it is a 500.00 a month car payment that i am afraid to take my three children in. why has this vehicle not been dealt with in a harsher manner. the complaints online are numerous and extremely serious in nature. how many people have to die from poor engineering. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2001 dodge durango. while driving approximately 65 mph the contact noticed the air conditioner would only function on high. the vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing. the contact inspected the blower motor resistor and noticed the wiring harness melted onto the resistor. the resistor was replaced ten times. the failure continued to occur. the vehicle was not repaired. the approximate failure mileage was 30,000.

The automatic shifter would slip out of gear. it states that it is in drive but when foot applied to gas vehicle doesn't move like in neutral gear. taken to dealership nothing done. the vehicle has only 45,000 and needs a new transmission which will cost 1,500 to 2,000 for a rebuilt. this is unbelievable for a vehicle with so few miles. not only did i pay over $30,000 for this vehicle now i have to spend money that i do not have to repair a transmission that should have done this in the first place and it seems like your dealers don't want to deal with the problem or at least help with fixing it in the first place. this vehicle was taken several times and all that was done was putting transmission fluid in and then when warranty was up i was told that there was a problem and that i would have to pay for it. i will never buy another dodge in my life time or will i ever refer anyone to a dodge dealer. *nm

I have a dodge durango 2001. i notice that the water pump is in the middle of the electric wires and when the water pump broke the water ruins the electric wires and they have to be changed because it starts to short circuit and the water can go to the motor and the motor can die. *ak

A/c failed - evaporator box needs to be replaced - labor costs are astronomical!! i have been told that this is a very common problem in this model as well as the dodge intrepid. *ak

After a tire blow out, i went to retrieve the spare only to find that it was gone. the spare in this vehicle is located under the rear of the vehicle, and is suspended by a cable that lowers from the trunk. when i check for the spare, i only found a 4 inch section of cable with a frayed end. it appears the cable had broken and the spare, with the alloy wheel, must have dropped to the ground at some point. i had no indication that this had happened, and could have caused an accident if someone behind me had hit the spare after it broke loose.

I have a 2001 dodge durango. after seeing a report on the ball joints on tv i took my vehicle in to be checked. good thing i did because the right ball joint was about to break and had to be replaced. the left ball joint has some wear but was not replaced at this time. there is a definite problem and it needs to be addressed. *jb

2001 durango r/t. second failure of transmission (11/26/03) @ 35000 miles. handled by different dealerships and no one knows exactly why or how transmission is failing. rpm tachometer races between 100 - 800 rpm during driving conditions including load, light load, flat terrain, and occasionally down hill when driving of speeds greater than 45 mph in drive and overdrive. excessively hard clung when shifting between 1st and 2nd and between 2nd and 1st. 1st failure (2/6/02) was before pcm and transmission flash recalls @ 20000 miles. service manager insisted that this was a normal thing and his jeep did the same thing. after much convincing that i would prefer the opinion of a tech instead did they take the vehicle for repair. vehicle was kept for an additional week than what was promised for delivery. vehicle was kept in garage for the 2 weeks and when picked up all personal items, electronics, tire jack, etc was missing (~ $2700 worth) and accusing me of leaving my doors unlocked (did not quite understand his point and aurguement since it sat in the dealerships garage for the 2 week duration). since ... transmission does not always go into park and occasionally drive, verbally told not a big deal by dealership service manager due to the transmission being flashed. noticed vehicle surging with rpm increase after driving a while. oh, by the way, yea, the ball joints needed replaced at ~18000 miles too (10/2002)!*ak

The vehicle on this occasion started knocking and the check gauges light appeared. it stated i needed oil when i recently had an oil change. it then cut off. i took the vehicle to the dealer to find out that i needed a new engine supposedly due to sludge build up. i have had all oil changes and services performed. i even went as far as to have the 30,000 mile service done. previous problems include replacement of an air bag, rear window problems, air conditioner not working, noises while in reverse when parking, all in all also getting stuck in 4-hi. all in all they told me they would not replace my engine even with my chrysler warranty. the vehicle only has 42,000 miles. also had new ignition switch installed due to speedometer failure. *la

We purchased our 2001 dodge durango in dec. 2000. in march 2001, my husband returned to the fullerton dealership in ca to have the vehicle looked at due to prob. with the steering wheel on the freeway, when he hit bumps. they could not find a problem wtih the vehicle, advised him that it was just due to the los angeles freeways. we have taken the car in on several occasions due to it feeling wobly and unstable, we have been told time and time that we need wheel alingments. also, we were experiencing a prob. with the brakes reverbrating, only to be informed that it was part of the anti-lock brake system. yesterday, i was driving home and nearly hit a pedestrian and several vehichles because i lost control of the vehicle, the steering wheel was "off-center" and i was not able to control it. when i made a turn, specifically, left the steering wheel felt like it was skidding or hydroplanning. i recently had tires put ont he vehicle and a wheel alignment. it feels like my wheel on the left (driver's) side is going to fall off. i am having the vehicle towed to the dealer today. *ak

Durango orginal started stalling and then check engine light came on and stayed on steady. went to dealer an was suggested pcm was bad no parts available (power control module). parts ordered. new parts installed same problem when leaving dealership. on closer inspection technican found rear heat inline pump had failed internally and had pumped antifreeze through wiring harness which inturn wrecked cruise control, pcm, heating and cooling controls. antifreeze is corrsive to copper wiring and we do not know how far the antifreeze traveled in the different wiring harness modules. dodge has offered to replace original failed inline rear heat pump but will not pay labor $216.00 district manager has offered to give 12 month or 12,000 mile warranty but will not give a longer warranty on electricall harness even though he has determined this will fix problem. but not removed the corrosive from the electrical harness. tech working problem has see the same problem before at same dealership on durango's

Transmission tends to slip, blowers for the front panel air and heat have not worked for almost a year. i went to a local tire store to have rims put on my durango and to get an alignment. the dealer would not let me leave unless i agreed to leave the suv there for immediate repairs to the bearings ball joint to the driver side front tire. he stated he had never seen a case that bad i he was surprised the suv had not flip over and the whole wheel had not come off. they are a good dependable company. a lady that works there was going to get a durango, but after i came in she change her mind and got a ford. now my suv is known as the infamous durango that would not make it home. they made bets that i would not make it home that afternoon without the bearing going out. i had them replaced myself the next day and an alignment still does help the pulling to the right. i have had 2 alignment within 3 months. *cb

Failure on dodge durango 2001 air conditioning. i have talked to 4 other people who own a dodge durango older models and i noticed that all of our problems are the same; the air conditioning is not working properly. i myself brought my 2001 dodge durango to the dealer many times more then 10 times. every time is the same story nothing is wrong with the air .the air conditioning doesn't work when the car is not in motion or if it is i have to go faster than 50 miles per hour just to get a nice breeze. *jb

My ball joints and right contol arm have gone out again. on 12-6-02 i took my car into the dealership and they replaced my ignition switch and right control arm and hub bearings. no i have the same problem again and they do not want to help me with my problem. i just drive in the city. my ro # is 262789. it was a done at valencia dodge.*ak

The air condition blow out hot air not cold air causing problem. dealership is aware of problem. ts

A/c failed three times w/i first 90 days of ownership. dealer states they have replaced all parts, but failure returns. they have other vehicles presenting with same problem. dealer states this is manufacturing problem.*ak

We purchased the car on december 1 2000 and it was back at the dealer on dec 2 2000, for over heating. then again on 4-05-01 for over heating, and again on 8-30-01 for the same, and again on 10-16-01 for the same. then 12 more times after the last date listed. there has been 2 new engines put into this car. the dealer has paid for the repairs every time but one. the last time this happened i was crossing two lanes of on comming traffic when my car died, i had my 3 kids in the car. we were able to role out of the intersection before being hit. we are trying to get a buy back from chrysler. please help. if you have any info that will help in this process we would love to know about it. thanks for your help.*ak

I have been with this vehicle in the shop every time you turn around. currently we were driving down the road and smoke came from the vents. it was a fire which they are still trying to find where the short is. also the convertor for the air conditioner is bad and had to be replaced. because of the short the battery was replaced two times because of the burning it up, the spring broke when i hit a bump and my daughters neck was wrenched. every other day the vehicle won't start, the locks won't work after having them redone by clio chrysler, the windows won't go up and down, the car has a bad steering rack which we reported to you quite some time ago (2 different dealerships evaluated and reported this), the ball joints were bad, the car creaks currently underneath as though it is going to fall in to pieces. the alternator had to be replaced, the sensors all were going bad at different times, so every other day the car won't run. the one cost us a mint in gasoline because the car would just drink the gas and shoot out black smoke. this is a 2000 vehicle from problems dating from day one of purchase. the vehicle. *nm