Faults:
OK, I have taken my car to the shop 8 times in less than 3 months.
I just purchased my car in September 2005. In December, my car started to blow out white dust and would jerk me forward. I took it in, and they said it was the spark plugs. I said OK, and they changed them and sent me on my way.
In the next week, I was on the expressway in the 3rd lane preparing to hit 70 mph, when my car went into a shutdown mode and lost power, and the speedometer quickly went down to zero. I looked over, and 2 Mack trucks were coming. I had to change lanes quickly, and dodge cars in my Dodge, and hit the emergency lane. I had to cut the car off and cut it on at least 6 times. Each time I cut the car on, I would push the gas in Drive and it would go nowhere. The car was just still. I kept jamming my foot on the gas, and it did not go anywhere, so I finally prayed and I turned it back on, and jammed my foot down really hard. Then it took off onto the freeway. My mother and I feared for our lives.
This is only the beginning. When I took my car to get service, they insisted that they could not find a problem at all. This was the 2nd time I took it up there.
So the next week I was coming from the doctor's with my arm in a sling. I was on the road at a red light, and the car did not want to go when I hit the gas. It would shake back and forth. Finally it took off, and I took it home and called the dealership, and they picked it up with a tow truck.
The next day they call and say we could not find anything wrong with your car. I said OK. When I went up there, the guy said my mechanic checked it out and there was nothing wrong with it; we could not find anything. We drove it for hours (meaning they put miles on it). I told them what happened to me, they said well we cannot say anything until it happens with us. I said OK, and took it home. The next day I was trying to go to work, and it would not go up the hill. It would not get any gas, and it had a full tank. Once again, I had to jam my foot on the gas and still it would not go anywhere. I had to cut it off and on again, and it would not go forward. Then I put it in reverse, and had to reverse all the way home down the hill in our community.
I called the dealership, and they brought the tow truck again, and he took it to the same place. When I arrived there the next day, the same man said hey we have your car, and we could not find anything wrong with it. I was like OK, here I go again. Once again, I told him my problem, and he said well we will drive it around and see what we can find. I waited over 5 hours, and then he came in with the mechanic, and they both said there is nothing wrong with it, we cannot find anything. The guy said yeah, I drove it too, and I did not feel a thing. I said OK, let me drive it, you come with me. I went on the highway and the car was running fine, better than when I had took it in. He insisted they did not do anything. I said OK, well how do I get off the freeway? When I looked over, he had his head back asleep on my passenger side. I was fed-up with him and his ways, and was and still am angry about this. Finally he raised his head, and said OK get off here and decided to "wake up", and we got back to the lot.
So I TOOK IT HOME AGAIN. I was on my way to Walmart, about 1 week and a 1/2 has passed by, and I was leaving Walmart when my car began to jerk forward like it had before, but this time with much more force. I said dear lord help me. I was at the customer yield lines where customers pass, and I had my FOOT ON THE BRAKE, and it jerked me forward as a lady with her child came out the store. I had to cut the car off. When the people passed, I started the car and it jerked forward again. When I took my foot off the brake, it was rolling me forward and jerking me forward at the same time. I had another customer crosswalk to yield at when I pushed on the brake. An old man came out with his cart right in front of me, and the car jerked forward, my heart jumped and I just cut it off. I waited till everyone and everything was out of my way.
Finally I made it to the stop sign at Walmart, and I knew if I stopped it would jerk me forward, so I tried to push the gas, and once again it was not getting power to the speedometer. I had to jerk my way through the stop sign, and then I had to go down the hill to the red light, where there is a busy intersection. As I got to the light, it was turning red, so I had to stop and obey all traffic laws. By the time I got down to wait at the red light, the other traffic was starting up and moving. The car began to jerk even harder while I had my foot on the brake, and this time it was INTO oncoming traffic AT A RED LIGHT. I was so scared. I cut the car off, and I was already semi-way into the street into oncoming traffic. The car would not let me reverse, and trucks and everything were flying by me. I could not turn the car on because it would have jerked me right into the middle. I waited until the light turned green, and when I hit the gas, it did NOTHING; it rolled so slow, less than 6 mph. In the middle of the street, I had to jam and jam and jam my foot to the floor board, until finally it caught and took off really fast. Everyone went around me, I was so devastated. It actually went to 50mph. So I thought it corrected itself. Boy was I wrong.
When I got to the next light, which was red, it started jerking again, so I started praying and asking God to please help me get home safely. When I got to the light, I knew I was not going to make it, so I pulled into Lowe's, which was on the right, thanking god I had made it. I sat in their parking lot, and waited and turned the car off and waited. I prayed and started it again, and it let me get home with slight jerking. When I got home, I cried so bad, I could have died in this car, and I told my mother that I do not want to die in this NEON, and the car dealerships keep telling me there is nothing wrong. This time I took it to 5 star dealership, and I told them my problem and how I felt, and they assured me everything was going to be OK. I said thank you, please help me.
They got the car, and the mechanic drove it home with our permission. He said it was a compressor problem, and did not know why the other place did not see it when they changed my spark plugs. I said OK. He said this may have fixed the problem. I got it back and drove it home. Within the next week, I was coming from McDonald's and this car would not go pass thirty; once again I was back to square 1, and it was losing power. I had to jam my foot on the gas with a line of cars behind me, and then it took off. I drove it to the 2nd dealership, and took it back to them and told them my problem. They kept it for a whole day, and the mechanic took it home again and found nothing wrong. They said we could not find anything, so you can come pick it up. We washed it for you. I said um... OK. They "said" they gave it a transmission testing or something, so I went and got it. This was Friday morning 24 Feb., 2006.
That evening I wanted to take my niece to the community center to run track. We have to pass over some rail road tracks to go the back way from our house, because it is shorter that way. Well GUESS WHAT - there is a stop sign, then you have to turn left onto the RAIL ROAD TRACKS, and once again the car lost power at the TRACKS. I had to bust a slow u-turn (it would not go when I gave it gas) in-front of a car because I did not want to stall out on the tracks. I had to sit in a 4 way intersection, and kept flooring it until it got gas.
This was Friday. I said OK, let me see what will happens if I try to make it to the center, I am not that far away. When I got on the street to the center, it was jerking just a little bit. I made it to the center, and also to the park down the street and home. My mother was hungry, so I decided to go to the restaurant to get something to eat. BAD MISTAKE. This car jerked me forward when I was preparing to cross over to Wendy's, and I did not have time to cut it off, so I floored it to the floor and it nudged out, and I was able to make it into Wendys. When I left, me and my niece got back in the car and prepared to go, when the car did not want to go forward, and just gave up, and did not touch a thing, and it jerked us forward and finally corrected itself, or so I thought.
When I prepared to cross the street, I had to hit the gas hard. Well the car took off slowly, thank God no cars were coming that way. I finally made it home and I was so horrified. I did not call anyone. I am fed-up.
I had to take this car to work today, and I made it to work and back again, but on my break when I sat out in the car, it was cold, so I was in park with the heat on, and the engine light came on after 2 minutes of just sitting. I just asked God to help me get home safely, and I did, and came online and researched after I tried calling customer service, but they are closed on the weekends.
This is my story, and it is still going on. They do not want to give me a loaner car because they say they can't yet. I have to spend 10 bucks on a taxi one way just getting to work, not coming home. I have 2 jobs, I have to get to both. Why can't they fix my car after 8 visits? I am just fed-up completely.
14th Mar 2006, 11:46
I have the same car and have just started to see the same problems. Have you resolved this problem yet? I know when I deal with Dodge they will try to get me out the door without doing anything to the car.