Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan
Only 5 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure gets reported
There are 11 reports of control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan, 5 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 12th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 57,500 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 $700–$3,000 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 18 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2003, at a median of 35,000 miles, and latest on the 1996 at 90,000 miles.
By volume the 2005 carries the most reports, with 109; the 2011 has 11. 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.
Tl*the contact owns a 2011 dodge grand caravan. The contact stated that while driving 65 MPH the vehicle began to down shift and lunge forward. When the accelerator pedal was engaged the vehicle currently does not increase in speed. The contact had to quickly react because of the traffic behind the vehicle and drive onto the emergency lane and shut to the vehicle off. The contact restarted the vehicle and it began to function normally. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer who was unable to diagnosed the failure. Immediately after the contact drove away from the dealer the failure recurred. The contact drove onto the emergency lane over to the side of the road and the check engine light came on. The contact had the vehicle towed to a dealer. The dealer ran a diagnostic test and a faulty transmission control module is what's causing the vehicle to suddenly down shift and jerk. The failure mileage was 200.
While entering a interstate highway, our new 2011 dodge grand caravan (less than 100 miles) stalled and lost all power. After almost being rear ended due to lack of power and due to her skilled driving, my wife was able to get the car on the side of the road. The van was unable to restart and had to be towed to dealer where it had been purchased only 6 days earlier. According to the dealer, there was a failure of the powertrain control module (PCM). Due to this failure, there was no limp mode of reduced power to keep the vehicle running for better control. Due to the repair being a warranty repair, the dealership kept the defective part. *tr
I was traveling the speed limit of 70 MPH on the highway and had to slow down to 50-55 MPH for a merging vehicle. When I changed lanes and accelerated, the engine revved up to 4000 RPM and stuck there, and I was going over 80 very quickly. I took my foot off the accelerator and the van continued to accelerate. I put the van in neutral and braked, and was able to get over to the shoulder and stop and turn off the engine. Very dangerous situation. I started the van back up and the engine went right back to 4000 RPM - exactly where it was before. I turned the engine off and then repeated the process another 3 times - straight back to 4000 RPM. I verified that the accelerator was not stuck on anything. Since the van has the auto-manual transmission where I can shift manually, I started the van, and immediately put it in drive and shifted manually, and the engine kicked a few times and then began to run normally. Ran normally all the way home. Called a few dealers, none of which seemed too concerned and couldn't get my van in for over a week. When I finally got a dealer to look at it, they performed a recall for the powertrain control…
Also reported on the 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan
Other electrical problem
Fuel pump failure
No-start or intermittent start failure
Alternator or charging system failure
Other engine problem
Stalling while driving
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 11 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 11 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 control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure happen on the 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan?
Across 5 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 60,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure on the 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan?
11 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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