I bought this brand new July 2011 and it has been nothing but a headache within the first 3000 miles. I have had the vehicle in 3 different dealerships several different times for my concerns: continues static on all the radio stations, U-connect either not connecting or the person on the receiving end of my call unable to understand me, XM radio going out on a constant basis, brakes squealing, steering wheel shaking @ approx 40mpg or faster, transmission bucking severely, leaking, unable to lock/unlock car intermediately, tires wearing unevenly.
Within the first 3,000 miles I had the Journey in for regular oil change, tire rotation, the breaks squealing and was told there were no issues, I also complained about the radio at that time and again they stated they could not duplicate the problem.
Since then the journey has visited the shop on a reg. basis if it not one thing it the other and I continuously get a run around no matter what dealership I take it too.
I now have a little over 19,000 miles and within the past 30 days I brought my vehicle into one Dealership for an oil change, tire rotation, Steering wheel shaking and radio/u-connect issues,and my tires were wearing uneven and the transmission and breaks still squealing. I was called the next afternoon stating my vehicle was finish I owed them over $200 (which i never authorized any repairs that would be out of pocket) they did NOT rotate my tires but they had resurfaced my brakes and rebalance my tires which was supposedly causing the shaking and the uneven wear in the tires. I was told there was nothing wrong with my radio or transmission. I was livid because it was not the first time the car was in for the brake issues, or any of the other issues. They never called to authorize any work that was not covered under warranty and the one thing I had asked for and was willing to pay for was my tire rotation which they felt like i didn't need. Mind you I am very **** about getting my oil changed and tires rotated every 3,000 miles so I would never have to worry about uneven wear. After I got my car back and everything checked out ok according to the dealership however I still had all the same issues besides I did notice the shaking seemed to be resolved for the time being.
2 weeks later I had to have my Journey towed into another dealership for transmission issues and a leak that i noticed I was still have radio issues and the lock/unlock issues so I let them know those as well. It was dropped off Friday night and i received a call Saturday morning I was told my vehicle was done and they couldn't find anything wrong with the transmission that the bucking and grind is "normal" I just need to get used to it, and my antenna was corroded causing bad reception which they fixed along with the switch in my door to solve the lock/unlock issue, also that my leak is called condensation and they continued to explained what condensation is as if I had no idea what I was talking about at this point I was fed up with the service writer over the phone talking to me like i was a complete idiot and I went to the dealership.
When I got to the dealership before i even started my car I physically got on the ground and simply looked under my journey and could see the leak that i was talking about. I had the service write come outside with me and look at what i saw, which he then came up with the excuse it was residual oil from my oil filter under the car however I had to point out to the service writer that in this vehicle the filter is located on the TOP of the motor on the passangers side which was nowhere near my leak nor was there any residual around that.. I had the dealership put my car on the lift and I pointed out what they told me was "condensation" and while i was doing that just by looking around at the bottom of my car i was able to see a seal hanging off which had a leak coming out. The service guy tried to claim it was no big deal and i could just take my car as is and bring it it the following week and he would order a new seal but i refused to take until it was finished.
Several days later I had to call them to see if it was ready they said it would be done shortly and would call, yet they never called and I had to call them back and at that time they told me my power steering pump was bad and they had to order a new one and the car would be ready the following day.
I just picked my car up 2 days ago and now when excelerating it does not shift until it hits about 8000 rpm's and wanders all over the road, the steering feels loose my transmission is worse then ever, u-connect is still troublesome and the car is still leaking.
Im so fed up with dodge ATM my 2011 Challenger is in the dealership the complete opposite direction for the recall on the door handles and poor paint job that I had been putting off due to the Journey being in the shop so frequently but I finally brought it in regardless when my windows starting opening themselves. The corporate office seems to not care with the simple response of "well what do you want me to do" or like yesterday i was told by a representative "I'm not a licensed mechanic so is there anything else you want from me" and then after telling her I feel unsafe in my vehicle and I was told to take it up with a dealer.

Im losing my faith in this company...I have 4 dodges at the moment not to mention what I have owned in the past but at this point with all the issues I'm having and the lack of willingness to help resolve my issues Im thinking it may be time to invest my time and money elsewhere and check out the competition.

Are these common issues or did i just get the short straw this time around?

 

Sorry to hear about all the problems you are having. I would recommend to send a pm to DodgeCares and he can forward your concern to Chrysler.

 

As for the U-connect, most of the time the problem is with the Phone itself, and not the car. for example, we atually have a lot of problem with Early model Android phone as well with the latest and greatest iPhones. Try another phone?

the rest of the problems, I am sorry to hear your disappointment, but seems to be just a bad dealership service. You really just have to stick it up to your dealership. Try talk directly to the service manager or the head mechanic.

 

I feel your pain Double D11 because i am going thru the same damn thing. I have had two sets of brakes put on, rotors ground down because the car was shimming all over the road and they told me that would take care of that problem. Well now the dang Journey is in the shop for cylinder problems. The dealer tells me they are replacing them. And what really pisses me off is the car only has 27000 miles on. In the shop three times and no one can tell me why this happened.. If anyone is out there reading this, can you please reply... im really not a happy camper at this point and getting very discouraged on staying with Dodge

 

Because Cars breaks, especially as cars gets more and more complicated nowaday.
3 times in 27,000 miles is not really that bad, if you compare it with other cars in it's class.

My dad's 08 Toyota Highlander went into the dealer about 5 times under waranty in less than 45k miles. Leaking waterpump, Timing Chain gear, electrical problems, oil leak, etc...

My neighbor bought a new BMW 5 series, he went to the dealer(few times on a tow truck) over 12 times in less than 1yr, and he decided to get rid of it.

 

Sorry to all who are having problems...

I agree with master tech - contact 1-800-4A-Dodge and explain the situation. They'll assign a case number and someone to assist you. You might check into your local Lemon Law too. I missed my state's law by a long shot, but it might be worth looking in to.

I'll jump on the bandwagon to serve as a warning to other Journey owners... May you never have problems with the transaxle/powertrain... Mine failed a couple of weeks ago on my 2009 Journey - rear differential and the power transfer unit. Had to have it towed to a local dealer...but the PTU is weeks or months out on national backorder. Rumor has it, it's coming from Germany...and there are over 200 dealers in the US waiting on this part. This is the 4th or 5th time it's been in the shop because of a failure somewhere in the transaxle. Beyond maddening.

2009 & 2010 are said to be the worst models of the Journey - have the most quality issues. I thought they had it figured out by 2011, but from the sounds of this group, maybe not.

 

2011 Dodge journey AWD is a very sweet ride, especially in the winter with ABS and Traction control.