Dodge Stratus

My husband and I bought a 2004 Dodge Stratus for our daughter. This car has been trouble ever since. First, the transmission went out. Then, we have had rear axle replaced. It has overheated. Now we have replaced the battery, the alternator 6 times. It still won't run at night because now it has a short somewhere and mechanics want 50 dollars an hour to find it. We still owe on the car about 3000 dollars and it is not running. This car has been a nightmare and we would never purchase a Dodge ever again.

I have a 2003 Dodge Stratus RT. I bought it brand new in 2002. I have not had any mechanical problems with this car. My only two complaints are that the dashboard has warped and it looks horrible. My other complaint is that the topcoat of my paint has started to peel off. These two complaints make my car look horrible and the resale has plummeted.

The dashboard of 2004 Dodge Stratus has warped and came loose around the vents. I am not the only person with this problem, but there's no recall or company assistance with fixing it. It has cost me in the resale value of my car. I cannot sell it without fixing it, which means replacing the dash.

I bought a 2006 Dodge Stratus XT. After 50,000 miles, it started leaking oil real bad. The garage said gaskets were pretty much shot, and would cost hundreds to repair. Well, they did the best they could to patch it up since I couldn't not afford a new one But the mechanic said it may run 75,000 miles, or may not. He didn't know. He recommended I trade or sell it when I can. Dodge knew of this ** but said if the vehicle had more then 35K mileage, they would not repair it.

Never buy a Dodge Stratus from the dealership from any where. The Dodge Stratus is the worst car I have ever had. I bought my car in 2002 from the Nissan place. Ever since then, I have been replacing parts. The transmission is terrible. I have had it replaced twice. The Dodge cars are truly lemons.

On 2-19-10, my '01 Dodge Stratus R/T went up in smoke. I parked the car at my mother-in-law's home in order to accompany my father to purchase tires. The parked, off vehicle began billowing smoke from under the hood shortly after I left. My mother-in-law called the fire department and my husband who managed to get there and put the fire out before the fire dept. showed up. The department stated an initial belief that the fire was electrical.

A quick Google of "Stratus engine fire" turned up a whole host of sites that listed countless similar complaints. There was no indication that anything was wrong on the ride to my mother-in-law's home. I have had the general problems with my Stratus that many owners have had: the dashboard cracking from the compass to the defrost vent, insufficiently sized air conditioner drain holes that caused significant driver floorboard flooding, high idling not fixable by replacing related parts and having several adjustments, overly excessive fading of paint, oil sludge and leaking, seat sliding while driving. This, however, is above and beyond.

This was the only means of transportation for my family of 5 (including children ranging in ages from 5 to 10). The emotional impact of being a low income family in this position is staggering, as is the implication of no longer having a vehicle. This vehicle got my husband to and from work and job bids--it used to anyway. Poor manufacturing and the limits of depreciation mean that I will likely have the loan balance paid off, but I will not be able to replace the vehicle. That said, my children will ultimately be the ones paying the price for the abhorrent construction of the Dodge Stratus.

I have a 2006 Dodge Stratus, has 57,000 miles on it. It has blown the front seal 4 times, I have a 100,000 mile warranty. This was the only problem with the car, they put a new crank and bearing in it. Now the locks, radio and inside lights do not work, and the engine is misfiring. They say this is my problem, that this is not under warranty. The car did not have these problems when it was taken in.

Now my family and I are borrowing others' vehicles to get to and from places, such as work. We are also still making $391.53 payments on a car that has been in the dealership's shop for over a month, this has put a hardship on our entire family and daily life experiences, since we are without that car. They told us we could make a trade-in but only with a high dollar car, so the rebate will pay off this car. We are trying our best, but we truely do need this car back in working order.

I have a 2006 Dodge Stratus, have 57,000 miles on it. It blowed the front seal 4 times, I have the 100,000 miles warranty. This was the only problem with the car, they put a new crank and bearing in it. Now the radio don't work, and the back doors won't unlock, and the engine is misfiring. They say this my problem, yet it didn't have these problems when it was taken in.

Now I'm making payments on a car sitting in their shop. Having to borrow others' cars to get around.

My husband and I own a 1999 Dodge Stratus. We had been at a restaurant for about 5 minutes when I looked out and saw the car smoking. When we got out there, the fire department had already been called. Everything under the hood burned up before the fire could be put out. Thankfully no one was inside the car when it happened.

I bought a 2006 dodge stratus and at 17000 miles I had to totally replace the bottom end of the motor. Then, at 46000 miles the same exact thing that happened to it at 17000 miles has happened again. And dodge refuses to pay to have it fixed again. And now I'm looking at around 5000.00 dollars to get it fixed and still having to make payments on it. The person that I spoke to at the dodge dealership says that even if I get my car fixed again that it will probally mess back up again in another 20,000 miles. I am looking at paying out over 5000.00 dollars to get my 2006 dodge stratus fixed again.

I just bought a 1997 Stratus 3 months ago for my sun. Yesterday while it's been driven it was caught on fire. Totally destroyed. Unfortunately, I did not have full coverage on the car.

Very disappointed.

I purchased my vehicle 2 years ago primarily for travel to and from work. So far I have had my air conditioner fail, heating fail, damaged transmission lines causing me to run out of transmission fluid nearly seizing my engine, left rear power window fail (I currently had to place a garbage bag over it to keep the snow from blowing in), a broken knuckle and axle on the front end and on a less serious note my driver door makes a loud cracking sound everytime I open it and is hard to push open.

Have you had any complaints about the Air Conditioning Unit on the 95 Dodge Stratus, being under cooling or taking and long time to cool the passenger interior of the car. Or have their been any recalls for the AC on the 95 Dodge Stratus. If so, how do I go back get old recalls be performed on the car?

Bought car brand new and maintained it per the owners manual. At 38K I had to take the car to my mechanic because the car is leaking a lot of oil. The mechanice tells me that I need a new head gasket and it will cost about $800. He then tells me to take it to the dealer and they may fix it for free. He said there was a problem with head gaskets failing. After paying the dealer $50 just to look at it they agree to replace the hed gasket for free. That's great but why didn't they contact me to bring the car in if they knew the head gasket was faulty?

Front brakes need replaced every 20K.
Spark plugs need replaced about every 30K.

Power windows are beginning to go out at 80K.

At 90K my transmission goes out. I'm driving down the road and slowing down to come to a stop. KAPLUNK! It feels like I ran over a telephone pole. Now the speedometer won't work and the car won't shift out of second gear.
Once I replace the tranny this car is gone and my relationship with Dodge is over.

Here I come Toyota.

i bought a 1997 dodge stratus well all along i have had a problem with all of my dash working and while under warrenty the dealer could never duplicate the problem . ok then a major part went wrong and it was taken away on a flatbed ,ok the dealer fixed that it was under warrenty well i made my last payment on my car nov 2nd 2003 well on dec 5th 2003 my car was taken out of here again on the back of a flatbed only this time i took the car to a car repair shop that is well known in our town.well here it is jan 6th 2004 and my car still has yet to be fixedto be honestthe repair shop that i took it too has sence turned my car over to a dealer to try to fix my car .

the problem well the car wont run only when you put it in gear. if you want to keep the car in park it will run all day if you put it gear it will stall and not start back up . and as it stands now i dont have a car and dont expect one any time soon .

The head gasket on my 1998 Dodge Stratus has blown and is estimated to cost me at least $1000 to fix. After doing research I have found that Dodge has acknowledged the problem but has refused to recall the vehicle.

Bought car when it was just under 70000K miles (low mileage for an 8 year old car). Paid $3000 to buy this car, within less than 6 months have paid another $3000 in repairs to the car.

Included: A new transmission at under 70000 miles (I later found out after buying this car that it was already on its 2nd transmission), so it is on its 3rd transmission now. Not long after trans was repaired car began stalling very consistently, mostly when car was idling or stopped at a light, but also if I was steering into a parking lot slowly and then I would lose all power steering and brakes (UNSAFE!!). Brakes were very costly to repair and I still hear some squealing.

Any time I bring it in for oil changes or maintenance other problems are always discovered. This has been the most stressful 6 months dealing with this dodge product. The car is still in the shop as I write because they cannot find out why it is stalling, even though they have already billed me $611.00 for parts and labour, and yes of course the same stalling problem is ocurring. Very sad that I bought this Stratus, it is not reliable, and I had hoped it would at least service me for a couple of years until I could afford to buy new again, but it doesn't look that way.

Head gasket failed at only 71,000 miles and cost $1,162.00 dollars to repair.

i aqquired a 1997 dodge stratus from my mother. I started having problems with it . after looking over my mother paper work with regular maintance she had to spend over $9000 in repairs. i have to do major work to it know.what i am comlpaing about is theamount of bad reports other peple have with their stratus on different web sites something needs to be did because i feel this car is a lemon toy and owners of the stratus are suckers for buying this car. Get with under regular maintaaince i have read about blown head gaskets that the number one complaint, the the fuel system, oil leakage and the motors. i rember when ford put out those bad tiress i believe dodge put out a bad car

I bought this lug of junk (1995 Dodge Stratus) 4 years ago with 17,000 miles for $13,000.00 and i had problems with this car four months down the line since purchasing it with a warranty. The car kept on stalling and and check engine lights keeps coming on and after countless times getting it towed they haven't been able to find or fix the problem at any of the dealrships that i have atken to all over New York area.

The calipers on the front brake system failed at 30,000 miles- $400. Had them replaced and its been a disaster when i run over the pot holes in the city. Sounds like pots and pans falling down from a 2 story building. 31,0000 miles the sway bar bolt breaks off. -$150.00 43,000 I was informed by my wife that the car drives funny, like it has a mind of its own wandering all over the road. This prompt me to take it to the shop, as soon as they had it on the lift, the service tech was shaking the tie rods back and fourth and said your lucky to bring it in now while you did. You could of had a major accident waiting to happen. Spent another $750 on repairs and 2 days out from work to do this.

78,000 The fuel ignition fuse keeps blowing out. I priced a fuel pump and it was $375.00 and $150 for the tow. I replaced it on my own with a help of a friend in 3 hours work I'm quite tired of pumping all this hard earned moneyy for the peace of mind that wasn't ever there in first place. Don't ever buy cars from Dodge. All they know is how to throw you a fast ball with the sales pitch, but when it comes to service all they can do is play guessing games because they don't even know where to begin. And as for the car, well i'm trade it in for $1.00 to get a Honda. I have a 88 Honda i bought new and i have 123,00 on it and i never had to do anything to it except oil changes and brakes liners every 50,000 miles.

Even with a warranty, they couldn't fix it. I had tried countless times to have it fix outside and alot of service techs would say to me, you should of bought soemthing from another motor company.

On the way out of town and vehicle lost all compression. The radiator lost all fluid, oil lost about three quarts had to have it towed about 75 miles to dealer. My whole family was stuck on the side of an expressway for about 1 and 1/2 hours.

My Stratus too has had head gasket failure at 58,000 miles, plus the timing belt needed to replae spark plugs. Costing a total of $923.00 Now it is the shop again and the repair shop has had it for three days and has yet to determine what is wrong with it. When the lease is up this car is gone.

I am starting to have serious problems with my Dodge Stratus regarding the oil. My car seems to spring leaks at will and I am not at all happy with the repairs and constant worrying. I have had the A/T pan gasket replaced twice, as well as the valve-cover gasket, and now I have a very sinking feeling that the head gasket is next.

i purchased a Stratus last year and I have never felt to sorry about having done something since. Everything that can possibly go wring on a car has gone wronge with this car (Dodge really is DIFFERENT) these people dont have anyidea what they are making.

I boought the car for $5500 and so for it has cost me more than $10200. Every week i have a new problem with this car. from the steering wheel that cost me $500 to the oil laek problem and right now out side of my house there is a big black mark on the ground because i cant afford to get the leak problem fixed. it cost $1500+ I am a student and go to college.

My father bought the car for me and since then I have paid everything that has gone wrong. I work 40 hourse a week in a neerby store so that I wont have to travel far from home with an unsafe car like my stratus because one bit rain is enough to get the car to shut down. everytime it rains the car wont start because Dodge so called engineers have designed a car that is vanurable to water that is "WATER" not some sort of lithal chemical. I want to know if the designe of a car has to be approved by some government organization or not. I mean this is not the 1800's we are in a modern world doesnt a company have to make sure about a product before making thousands of it? for god sake learn from the Japanese people learn from the Koreans. why are germans so ahead of US???

we live in the United States of America thinking that china doesn't care about human rights. what kind of rights does a stratus driver like me has??? my engin might catch on fire any minute because of the lick problem and I might die. the last time I got my streeing wheel looked at for the third time i spent $200 and then i said ok this car is gone last week when i put the car for sale not one person called. not one person and i can't afford to give the car to some charity. I wish I had seen this website before I bought that Stratus.

I bought a 1997 used Dodge Stratus in 1998. I have had to replace the bearings on 3 of 4 wheels (at a cost of about $100 each). It uses oil, so I add oil weekly. The locks don't work, and of course, most recently the head gasket went. After much confrontation with Dosge, they agreed to pay all but $250 of the repair costs on the gasket work. Plus, all the hoses, and many other parts were included in this repair.

Next to go was the cruise control. It wouldn't disengage and I found myself speeding toward the back of a truck at 65 MPH. It took all I had to stop the car. I had to have a mechanic make a raod service call to cut the cruise control line, which was frayed. I absolutely despise this car.

Now I'm broken down again. This time it's the transmission. THe car has about 80K miles on it, but not one mile has been trouble or worry free.

I drive about an hour each way to work and come home at night. Never is it far from my mind what will break down on this car next, especially since the cruise control incident, and what will I do if I'm stranded. I bought a cell phone and have the tow truck's number on speed dial. I have had to arrange for rides and have been late for work many times. I'm on a strict budget and my car payment takes a large chunk, but the repairs have squeezed my other expenses to where it has been a huge financial burden.

I have a 1995 Dodge Stratus and a unbelievable story. The problems started when I first bought the car, I should have known it was a lemon then.

When I bought the car in September of 1995 the window door moldings warped from heat or the sun, Capitol Dodge was aware of the problem and said they will take care of this. They did.

I found a dent in the front hood and several spots of paint discoloration, complained about it several times. Their last comment was, why don't you wait and see if it really bothers you. I let it go, sick of complaining.

I will give you a list of the problems, since if I told you about everything word for word I would have endless pages. My Dodge Stratus has 45,000 miles on it now and here is the list.

They replaced:

• blown horn,
• blown radio,
• squeaky brakes,
• tierod ends,
• piston calipers,
• trunk latch release at least 8 to 10 times (my father and husband finally fixed the problem),
• rear seat belts,
• several times in shop for driver and passanger doors leaking water on the floor board,
• visor light,
• scuff plate cracked,
• emission problems, catalytic converter 20,000 mile range.

Just recently -- August of 99 --my car lost power. I took it to Goodyear, they ran a test and replaced the thermostat. I picked the car up the next day and told them it was still running rough, they said it will work itself out. I did not trust their word and dropped the car off around the corner.

The next day I had the car towed to Rafael Tonts Auto, recommended by a friend. He told me I had a blown head gasket due to the manufacturer's original design malfunction and failure.

December of 99 the car overheated, I had it towed to Stevens Creek Dodge; they replaced faulty thermostat. Very pleasant service people there.

I had requested several times from Capitol Dodge my complete service record for my vehicle. They would not comply.