Let me preface this by saying, I've owned Hondas and Toyotas in the past and I've also owned Fords and Nissans. Dodge for the most part isn't as crappy as Ford or Nissan, but nowhere near the quality of a Honda or Toyota. With that being said my particular Journey aka Cocoa...This car has been quite awesome for me...I can't speak to others but I've been supremely fortunate with this vehicle.

When it was purchased it had little more than 60k miles on it back in 2015, there were some issues that were taken care of by the dealers warranty with no cost to me. Since that time I've kept up on reg maintenance and Ive not had anything truly catastrophic or wallet busting happen thus far. HOWEVER the odd design decisions on this car make me wonder what the hell the engineers were smoking when they came up with this car. The battery is located near the front wheel well in such a ridiculous and hard to reach spot it makes changing the battery a truly painstaking journey [no pun intended]. I had the back brakes replaced along with the rotors because of normal wear. I also had the front ones done less than a year ago and aside from fixing things like the heater core going bad before last years winter...thank god the fix was something I handled on my own. Otherwise the cost of that job would have been well over a thousand bucks and replacing tires and stuff I've never encountered issues like what I'm facing right now.

The back brakes feel.like they are just locking up and even though I'm in motion going around 45mph the car feels like its dragging an anchor behind it. I just did a cleaning to the fuel system because it was sluggish and killing my gas mileage and as soon as that was cleared up..now this. In months past I've notice the traction control light come on indicating something is off. The car when parked, would not shift into reverse when this light comes on.

So I did some research and found that there is some issue in this particular model with some sensor that's near the transmission and when its faulty it doesn't allow the shifter to leave park. Now of course I can't afford some $2-3k labor charges to fix a sensor, so I found an easy work around as many other Journey owners have found..Fine...No issues over the last 7-8 months. Whenever the sensor comes on I just shut the car off turn it back on..sensors gone and the car works as normal.

Like I've stated I've seen some reports and complaints about Cocoa that I haven't experienced thus far..except with this locking up brakes thing. I do not know what the cause is and I am deathly afraid to even find out how much it will cost to fix whatever is triggering this. When it happens I can feel the car being sluggish there is a burning smell coming from the rear but nothing in the car indicates something is wrong.. no sensor or anything just a vibration from the steering wheel that makes it feel like the tires need to be balanced and rotated. It got so bad as I was driving my son to his tae kwon do class that I had to pull over because I couldn't keep up with traffic at 45mph!!!!

This car has served me well BUT American cars in general are horrible at long term quality and reliability. There are a few factors as to why..but the main one is this...GREED....these companies continue to do whatever it takes to cut down on cost and production expenses...so when using parts that could last decades versus cheaping out for ones that last 8 years or so..they always go the cheap route...GM Ford Chevy Chrysler all.of these car companies are merely giving us a name plate...the quality of their products has declined so quick that no one is buying these cars and for good reason. Ford is just making suvs and trucks now...Chrysler is phasing out the 300 and Dodge well im done with there cheaply engineered ass backward bullshit. They engineer these cars to fail at 7 years or so and it shows up in everything from interior quality to engine parts.

I may have been fortunate but as this car closes in on 10 years i know I'm sitting in a ticking time bomb and I want nothing more than for my taxes to come in so I can take this car into a Toyota dealership and upgrade to a new Rav4 or 4Runner...yes they are quite expensive at lest in the 4 runners case..but I know the truck will last me until my kid graduates college.......This is what happens when greed and shareholders profits come above quality engineering.. innovation and making cars people can rely on..This sh*t is a joke that less and less people are laughing at....Not sure if i even want to fix this issue..

I'm hoping like most things i"ve experienced with American made junk..the problem holds off long enough for me to rid myself of this car.

I bought this car in August of 2014 and have had nothing but problems since I bought it. Actually I am still making payments on it and paying for full coverage insurance. Everything from the brakes, no heat, and a leaking sunroof. I loved my car and now I hate it!! My two young children freeze in the back seat in the winter, as well as the passenger.

A few weeks ago I noticed that my brakes were really tight, I would put the car in reverse and it would just stay there. This also happened in drive. They would sound really squeaky, the steering wheel would have excessive shaking and eventually the brakes got so hot they started to smoke. Last week my husband changed both the caliper and rotor on the passenger side, and just this week my brother changed rotor and caliper on the driver side. When I went to school, which is only about 20 minutes away, yet again the brakes started to do the same thing as before everything was changed. Last week they got so hot that we thought that it may actually catch fire.

I had some issues where the brakes were grinding when coming to a stop at a downhill and then started squealing so I decided to call Normandin Chrysler Jeep Dodge. I drove the car in and asked them to take care of some recalls I found out that the car had as well. They replaced the brakes and rotors due to the extended warranty and did another recall job regarding the steering. This was around Nov/Dec 2011. I picked up the car, months go by and brakes seem better but they are still making a grinding noise in a downhill.

It was a Saturday morning (about 9am) and I am driving about 70 miles to my destination, I didn't experience any problems in that route. Stayed at destination for about an hour, then proceeded to drive back home, another 70 miles ahead of me and only 25 miles into my trip back home and do I get a startling surprise. The brakes felt like they were applied for about 1-2 seconds then released without my foot anywhere near the brakes, the steering wheel pulls me but I am able to take control of the vehicle. However as you can imagine, my heart is racing, my hands are shaking and I pull over to the side of the freeway. I inspect the pedals from the inside to see if there is something obstructing that could have caused this and find nothing. At this point I am thankful my kids are not in the car with me. I have two kids ages 3 and 6.

Then after gathering myself on the side of the freeway for about 2 minutes, I continue my trek. I pull into the freeway again and continue with my journey as normal. Thoughts of what it could have been puzzle me but I continue for about another 5 more miles, and it happens again, this time more violently. I was doing the same speed as before, about 70 mph and the vehicle was traveling in the second left lane and the lanes were veering to the left. The brakes applied at a much stronger rate and again, I almost lost control of the vehicle, feeling as though the vehicle was pulling me to the left as if to intend to spin out of control. Luckily, I was able to re-gain control of the vehicle, and halfway home, I called my husband and told him what happened. I was upset and felt like I couldn't drive the car any more. He advised me to stop at his parents, which is halfway home. Went to his parents house, rested there for about 2 hours and continued on my way home and it didn't happen again - thank God.

I called Normandin again, they towed my vehicle to the dealership and after 3 weeks of having it and "driving the vehicle hard", they were not able to replicate the incident that occurred to me, therefore, unable to pinpoint the cause. They advised me that the back rotors needed to be replaced as they are shaking but that the extended warranty only covers the front. I would have to pay out of pocket for the rear.

After 3 weeks, I have my husband drive the car home from the dealer (the warranty only covers tow's TO the dealership, not FROM the dealership). The car sat in the parking garage since that day and it is now June, 2012 and I refuse to drive it any more. I am paying over $500 a month for a car that I am not even driving and have not been driving for more than 4 months.

I am sad as I thought I did all the research and thought I was making a good purchase, of course I don't expect perfection, but I definitely expect safety, especially when it is being advertised as a family-friendly with high crash test ratings. $36k and owner for 2 years and I am scared of driving a car I was so proud to call mine.

dodge equals piece of sh*t...

where did these guys get educated in a crack jack box?

American crap again.

bring on the global market.

we are failing big time when it comes to engineering and quality control.

Might as well tell every child coming out of school they are a worthless piece of sh*t and hand them a shovel... or send straight to jail.

and, the politicians are happy about this I guess.... fn fools

start teaching innovation, engineering and quality control to our youth so we're not stuck with the same bozos as we have now. where the only thing that counts is a case of beer. Fn idiots... wasting my day and money.