Phone:

(800) 992-1997

Web:

Dodge Customer Service

Mail:

Dodge Customer Assistance Center
P.O. Box 21-8004
Auburn Hills, MI 48321-8004

1997 Dodge Durango NHTSA Defect Investigations

• Defect Investigation #PE02082 - There are no injuries or fatalities associated with this alleged defect.while conducting this investigation, ODI found that the subject cinches meet the load bearing requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208, and that many of the reported failures were due to incorrect child safety seat installations. Additionally, the report rate is low (1.60/100K).the information available fails to establish the existence of a defect trend at this time.further allocation of Agency resources to this issue is unwarranted and the preliminary evaluation is being closed.
• Defect Investigation #EA03023 - DaimlerChrysler corporation (DCC) is recalling the target population of approximately 600,000 MY 2000 through 2003 durango and Dakota vehicles with four-wheel drive to replace the front suspension upper ball joints with redesigned parts that do not have the joint integrity concerns and have substantially improved joint retention capacity (NHTSA recall no. 04V-596).though DCC does not admit to a safety-defect in the subject components, ODI believes that the facts in this investigation show otherwise.because of the low rates of separation incidents in the remaining subject vehicles, a safety-related defect has not been identified in those populations and further use of Agency resources does not appear to be warranted.the closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that no safety-related defect exists in those vehicles.the Agency reserves the right to take further action if warranted by the circumstances.for additional information, see the attached closing report.