| Issue ID | 1568590 |
| Internal NHTSA # | 11210753 |
| Manufacurer | Chrysler (FCA US LLC) |
| Brand | DODGE |
| Model | GRAND CARAVAN |
| Model Year | 2015 |
| File date | 27/05/19 |
| Component | UNKNOWN OR OTHER |
| Product type code | VEHICLE |
| Description of the problem | The passenger seat headrest deployed while the car was sitting in my driveway sometime between sunday evening (5/26) and tuesday afternoon (5/28). The car had not been involved in any accidents prior to or during this time frame. My husband and i had driven our 2015 dodge caravan on sunday. I was in the passenger seat. I am 8 months pregnant. On monday, we did not drive the van. On tuesday around 12 noon, with the car still in the driveway, i noticed that the passenger side headrest had basically exploded. I called the dealership where i had bought the van (a chevy dealership that had received it in a trade-in). They had never heard of such a thing and told me to bring in the van immediately. That afternoon, i (reluctantly) drove the van the 25 miles to the dealership, leaning forward as far as i could in the driver's seat in case it were to deploy. The dealership called me today, wednesday 5/29, to inform me that chrysler refuses to accept any responsibility for the defect, and would charge nearly $900 to cover the new headrest. Chevy generously offered to cover half the cost since i am a repeat customer, and they saw this as a severe safety issue. I declined, not wanting to spend over $400 to replace a defective part with another part, especially since this would not ease my worries about the safety of the driver's side. I plan to zip tie the headrests with multiple zip ties. There's no other solution at this time. Even if i were to pay to replace the broken passenger headrest, there is no guarantee at this point that either headrest is safe and will function as intended. I would not feel safe driving with one of these headrests ever again. I would trade in the vehicle, but i am worried this will cause significant financial harm since i only just acquired the vehicle in october 2018. Also, i will be having a baby in 1 month and have no money to spare. |
| Vehicle Mileage at Failure | 75000 |
| Number of Occurences | |
| Source of the issue | NHTSA WEB SITE |
| City and State | MOORESVILLE, NC |
| VIN pattern | 2C4RDGCG7FRXXXXXX |
| Was vehicle invloved in a crash? | N |
| Was vehicle involved in a fire? | N |
| Was incedent reported to police? | N |
| Was medical attention required? | N |
| Was part original equipment? | |
| No. of injured persons | |
| No. of fatalities | |
| Date of purchase | 07/08/26 |
| Was original owner? | N |
| Anti-lock brakes | N |
| Cruise control | N |
| Number of cylinders | |
| Drive train type | |
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| Vehicle speed | |
| DoT tire identifier | |
| Tire size | |
| Location of tire code | |
| Type of tire failure code | |
| Was defective tire repaired? | |
| Date of manufacture | |
| Type of child seat code | |
| Type of restraint | |
| Dealer's name | |
| Dealer's telephone number | |
| Dealer's city | |
| Dealer's state code | |
| Dealer's ZIP code |