Which parts fail
Components named in complaints (doors, hood, frame, rust, paint and trim).
Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
The contact owns a 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan. The contact stated that the rear passenger's side door failed to open. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the rear passenger's side door actuator to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The contact stated a year later, the rear driver's side door failed to open. The contact took the vehicle back to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the rear driver's side door actuator to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.
The contact owns a 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan. The contact stated while driving 58 MPH, the spoiler deck lid on the liftgate fractured and detached from the vehicle. The contact also became aware that the brake light was missing from the liftgate. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the spoiler deck lid had fractured and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was 109,086.
The contact owns a 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the front driver's side headrest stem fractured. The contact stated that the vehicle was not occupied when the failure occurred. The contact zip-tied the headrest to keep it secured. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle remained at the residence. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 71,567.
Vehicle's rear sliding doors intermittently jam locked, one, or the other, or both. The respective sliding locks will not budge, not by remote, not from the button on the driver's door, and especially, not even manually, from the sliding lock on the doors themselves. Sometimes a buzzing sound is heard from one or the other of the the locks when commanding to lock electrically, including when the car starts moving at over 20 mph or so, and all doors lock automatically. I understand that electrical commands ("power" this and that) may stop working at some time in the life of a car, but at least they can be so engineered that in case of the door locks not to jam the lock in the locked position! I understand there are a few hundred complaints about these locks, all jamming, all in the locked position, on all vans w/sliding doors built by Chrysler. …
The power sliding rear door on the driver side is stuck in a locked position for 4-5 days now. This has happened previously to our power sliding rear door on the passenger side as well (before the current extended warranty) and we corrected that issue on our own by replacing the door actuator. Now that it has happened again and there is a warranty on it, I took it to the dealership and they are telling me it is not the actuator that is broken but the door rod and latch and quoted $1600 to fix the problem. I personally think this is a deceptive practice to get out of replacing the actuator under the warranty, but I am not a mechanic. It sure is suspicious though seeing as the rod and latch are linked to the actuator. This is very dangerous and could cost lives if the vehicle was full of passengers who needed to exit quickly and the door was jammed shut. …
The driver side rear door failed to unlock and open and is available for inspection. This happened about two weeks ago 04/12/2022. When this started, my grandson was unable to get out that door, but fortunately, the other door opened fine. If there was an accident, and the other door got damaged, passengers would be unable to exit without climbing to the front of the van or out the backdoor. I noticed if I manually assisted the unlock process, it would open. Currently it's working but when the door locks either manually or with the automatic locks, it makes a loud buzzing sound. That is very concerning and sounds like it's about to fail. The passenger side door failed last September 2021 to lock and could not be locked manually. We were able to get the repair done under our extended warrantee. …
The passenger (right) side rear sliding door has gotten stuck and will not unlock manually. It has been stuck for about a year and after going to the dealer they're claiming it's a common defect that is hard to repair. We are unable to enter the car from the passenger side rear sliding door and hopefully the driver side sliding door doesn't get stuck, otherwise we will be unable to exit the car, which can be excessively dangerous while in an accident type incident. This door being stuck is already reasonably dangerous since our kids are unable to exit the vehicle curb side and must exit on the drivers (left) side of the vehicle. Door became stuck 3 years after it was new, with just under 45,000 miles on the car. When trying to unlock the door with the automatic door button it will just make a sort of buzzing noise.
Driver side sliding door does not latch under normal use. It will constantly cycle through opening and closing to no end. This will happen when driving which is a major safety issue. I found the following workaround (which is an unreasonable daily activity for a family): 1. Park Car 2. Turn on Child Lock 3. Put Key in Accessory 4. With Drivers Window Down, and all doors closed except the Drivers Sliding door, press lock button on the door panel. 5. Close Drivers Side Sliding Door 6. NEVER let people in/out the defective door or will have to repeat the above steps. I received a letter from Fiat Chrysler identifying issues with the Power Lock Actuator, however it does not address the Door Latch. In my case the Passenger Door Power Lock Actuator was defective and replaced under a new extended warranty, but not the Latch.
Driver's side sliding door lock mechanism became suddenly inoperable, without warning, both electrically and manually. Even with manual operation of the door lock knob, the door cannot be unlocked. It is not possible to open the door using either the interior or exterior door latch handle, therefore eliminating this door as a means of exit for the rear passengers. The exact same problem occurred with the passenger side sliding door in December 2018. I personally performed the repair of that door. The problem was a failed door lock actuator. It had a faulty actuator gear. I believe this problem potentially puts the occupants of the vehicle at high risk by obstructing exiting of the vehicle in an emergency situation, especially in a situation where the opposite door was inoperable or obstructed during an accident.
The front door panel that sits between the front window and back sliding door flew off the vehicle while driving down the road. This happened on both the driver and passenger side at different times/days. The drivers side was fixed by the dealer (eide) under warranty prior to the passenger side flying off. The passenger side panel is still missing/not fixed. You can possibly inspect it, depending on what it entails and what I would need to do. The safety of myself and other drivers was put at risk in the case of if the piece flying off hit their vehicle or they had to try and avoid it and an accident happened. The dealer was able to diagnose the problem. It has not to my knowledge been inspected by the manufacturer or police. There were no warnings about this prior to it happening or now.
Body complaints in other Grand Caravan years
Frequently asked questions
How common are body problems on the 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan?
NHTSA has 228 complaints about the body & structure of the 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan, 23% of the model year's 1,002 complaints. The component named most often is body (201 mentions).
Is there a recall for 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan body problems?
No. NHTSA lists no body & structure recall for the 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan, though it has 6 recalls for other components. If the problem is widespread, a repair may still be covered by an extended warranty or a manufacturer service bulletin — ask a dealer.
At what mileage do 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan body problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 58,000 miles, and 9% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 3 crashes, 0 fires and 3 injuries to body & structure problems on this model year. If you notice symptoms, have the car checked before driving further.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.