Strut, shock or spring failure on the 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan
1 crash 1 injury 1 death 3 of the 42 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When strut, shock or spring failure gets reported
Owners of the 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan report strut, shock or spring failure at a median of 115,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 90,000 miles and a quarter after 135,000 miles, from 25 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 105,000 miles. It is the 12th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 72,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 155,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 81,770 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72,230 miles | 90,000 miles | 114,328 miles | 135,000 miles | 154,000 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 1 a crash, 1 an injury and 1 a fatality are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $500–$2,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 5 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2000, at a median of 92,500 miles, and latest on the 1997 at 150,000 miles.
By volume the 2000 carries the most reports, with 63; the 1996 has 42. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
My 1996 dodge grand caravan has a left front strut tower that is cracked around the top where the spring sits. There isn't a spot of rust or structural damage on this vehicle except that strut tower. From my discussion with a chrysler body shop manager, it appears that they had a problem with these strut towers. I think this is a safety risk because if one of these lets go at highway speed, it will immediately impact steering and driveability potentially leading to a crash. I know my way around a car so I was able to spot this problem and recognize the potential danger. I think with most drivers this problem will go unrecognized and that is why I am writing you today. Please get the word out. I called chryster and registered a complaint, but I don't expect them to inform anyone.
The strut mounts thoroughly rusted and separated from the body which then caused a driving hazard. Several mechanics have stated that this has been a most common occurrence among the chrsyler/dodge mini-vans of 1996. Chrysler will not extend good will or assistance even though the fault lies with them in its poor design that was soon after revamped. What is really distressing is that chrysler raised the cost of the strut mounts recently, which are dealer parts only, by about 84% as they realize more and more consumers need to make this expensive repair. *ak
Car taken to dealership on two occasions for front end noise in the last 6 months. Dealership failed to properly diagnose problem. Upsold other service repair work as "needed" but not related to front end noise. Vehicle taken to outside service station for noise and told needed struts (previously done earlier in the year already) mechanic unable to perform repair due to rusting of both front strut towers. Vehicle brought back to dealer for further inquiry regarding rust of towers. Service manager acknowledged problem when I pointed it out. He had no explanation why his technicians failed to indentify on prior service visits. Chrysler contacted and willing to offer goodwill of 1/2 cost for body shop repairs. No loaner car provided. Waiting for adhesive needed to complete work, parts ordered 6/24/03, car left with dealership for 1 week. No repair done, no notification of delay. Car picked up unrepaired on 7/1/03 and forced to now drive an unsafe vehicle until such time they receive parts to do repairs. Unable to obtain whereabouts or shipping info on parts still needed as of 7/7/03. *ak consumer called on 7/21/2003 to say the…
Also reported on the 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Cruise control failure
Other engine problem
Other powertrain problem
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
Other body or interior problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 42 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does strut, shock or spring failure happen on the 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan?
Across 25 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 115,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 90,000 miles and a quarter after 135,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is strut, shock or spring failure on the 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan?
42 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed