Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault on the 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan
When airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault gets reported
Owners of the 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan report airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault at a median of 60,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 65,000 miles, from 8 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 11th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 25,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 90,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 63,497 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.
38% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24,503 miles | 24,503 miles | 58,000 miles | 65,500 miles | 88,000 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 2016 has 12. 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.
We bought a 2016 dodge caravan and had a "remote" start installed through the dealership. The van would shut off when the remote start was used, sometimes. When it shut off in neutral, before I could even make it into the van, the electrical acted like it was disconnected from the battery, (the clock would be flashing, radio stations un-programmed, airbag light on.) the dealership had our van for 2 weeks (no rental), and they never could duplicate or fix the problem. We picked up our van and did not receive paperwork. @three months later, the van died again. But this time while in drive-at a complete stop, while at a drive thru bank atm. When it shut off, the electrical acted like it was disconnected from the battery, (the clock would be flashing, radio stations un-programmed, airbag light on-same as before) I took the van to the dealership. They estimated it would take 3 days to repair and gave me a rental. In less than one day they did a computer "update." on my way home from picking up the "repaired" van, it shut off again, this time in drive-at a complete stop, in a fast food drive thru. I took it back on the same day, and was…
We bought a 2016 dodge caravan and had a "remote" start installed through the dealership. The van would shut off when the remote start was used, sometimes. When it shut off in neutral, before I could even make it into the van, the electrical acted like it was disconnected from the battery, (the clock would be flashing, radio stations un-programmed, airbag light on.) the dealership had our van for 2 weeks (no rental), and they never could duplicate or fix the problem. We picked up our van and did not receive paperwork. @three months later, the van died again. But this time while in drive-at a complete stop, while at a drive thru bank atm. When it shut off, the electrical acted like it was disconnected from the battery, (the clock would be flashing, radio stations un-programmed, airbag light on-same as before) I took the van to the dealership. They estimated it would take 3 days to repair and gave me a rental. In less than one day they did a computer "update." on my way home from picking up the "repaired" van, it shut off again, this time in drive-at a complete stop, in a fast food drive thru. I took it back on the same day, and was…
We bought a 2016 dodge caravan and had a "remote" start installed through the dealership. The van would shut off when the remote start was used, sometimes. When it shut off in neutral, before I could even make it into the van, the electrical acted like it was disconnected from the battery, (the clock would be flashing, radio stations un-programmed, airbag light on.) the dealership had our van for 2 weeks (no rental), and they never could duplicate or fix the problem. We picked up our van and did not receive paperwork. @three months later, the van died again. But this time while in drive-at a complete stop, while at a drive thru bank atm. When it shut off, the electrical acted like it was disconnected from the battery, (the clock would be flashing, radio stations un-programmed, airbag light on-same as before) I took the van to the dealership. They estimated it would take 3 days to repair and gave me a rental. In less than one day they did a computer "update." on my way home from picking up the "repaired" van, it shut off again, this time in drive-at a complete stop, in a fast food drive thru. I took it back on the same day, and was…
Also reported on the 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
Other powertrain problem
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
Door latch or handle failure
Other engine problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 12 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 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan?
Across 8 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 60,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 65,000 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 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan?
12 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 2.7 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