Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault on the 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan
When airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault gets reported
Owners of the 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan report airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault at a median of 90,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles, from 20 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 50,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 135,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 82,598 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52,402 miles | 62,750 miles | 88,400 miles | 95,763 miles | 135,000 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
Putting it right typically runs $300–$1,600 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 20 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2015, at a median of 45,000 miles, and latest on the 2003 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 1996 carries the most reports, with 238; the 1998 has 70. 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.
Air bag light flickered intermittently and later stayed on permanently. Horn works intermittently. Dealer diagnosed as faulty clock spring same as other daimler chrysler recalled minivans. This particular model & year was not recalled, but should be as identical problem is well documented. This is a highly dangerous problem and should be recalled. Dealer stated that many similar cars (not recalled and recalled) have same problem. Repair cost approximately $198 at dealer. *jb
My airbag deployed while pulling away from my children's school without any warning. The airbag light never came on and I never received a recall letter. It busted up my steering wheel and dash board. I let my insurance co. Look at it and an investigator from daimler-chrysler came out and took pictures of it. There was and is no damage to my vehicle. I was told that I would receive copies of everything, but instead was sent a letter from the manufacturer denying responsibility. The letter stated that my airbag light had been on for a long time. This is not true. I had just had my vehicle state inspected and all of those thing are checked. My car passed inspection. The manufacturer won't return my phone calls and I have never seen any proof to their claim. All that I want and wanted is my airbag fixed. I never claimed that I was hurt or any of my family members that were in the van at the time. Please help. *nlm
The air bag light illuminated, which caused the horn and cruise control to be inoperative. The dealer stated the clock spring failed. Related recall 02v293000, however the vehicle identification number was not included in the recall. *jb *ts *jb
Also reported on the 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan
Other engine problem
Strut, shock or spring failure
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
Overheating
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 70 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 airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault happen on the 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan?
Across 20 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 90,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault on the 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan?
70 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.7 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