Stay away from the Dodge Nitro. It's not worth all the problems.

Update from Aug 5, 2022: We know the TIPM started the fire because the harness plugged into it was showing signs of burning and smoke smell in the days prior to the incident. We didn't understand why it was doing that until it was too late. It reacted the same way as other burning Nitro's you can find online. Almost burnt our house down, so please stay away from the Dodge Nitro. It's not worth the problems.

I left my house, got about a block down the street and all of a sudden my horn starts blaring, windshield wipers started moving, the windshield wiper fluid sprayed, all of my interior and warning lights starting blinking in and out and the p.o. s. started sputtering. At this point I had lost power steering and power brakes but I managed to pull it over to the curb and the car dies. I'm sitting there thinking to myself, "what in the hell?!" I was already startled from the damn horn randomly blaring, so I'm in the middle of swallowing my heart when heavy, thick smoke starts coming from under the hood. ...and it stinks like smoldering wiring.

Crap...

I snatched my keys, popped the hood (which probably wasn't too bright in hindsight) and and ripped the wiring off of the battery terminals. It was HOT under that hood and I'm glad I had the wherewithal to disconnect the battery. I realized then that the car was never going to start again, nor would I want to. I f***ing hate my Nitro.

I had a friend tow it to his shop and he had a look. The TIPM, wiring harness/wiring and surrounding plastic was all destroyed. He said the wires got so hot that it would ALL have to be re-run throughout the vehicle, a $3500 to 4000 estimate. Forget that noise. Screw Dodge.

Oh, and two fun facts:

1: Insurance won't cover it because it's an electrical problem. Check your coverage, folks. Apparently that's pretty common.

2: I had made my last car payment that same week. I couldn't wait to trade my Nitro in for something not Dodge.

Oh, and did I mention SCREW DODGE?

My son was driving and all of a sudden the horn started blowing, the wipers were wiping and the hazard lights were all going. he pulled over, turned off the car and it still didn't stop. It eventually did stop on its own after a few minutes. He took it to the dealer the next day. They told him no error codes came up , charged him $95 and sent him on his way. a quick look on the internet and I see this is a common problem and they just blew it off. We will take it to our local service station tomorrow (after driving 6 hours round trip today to get it from him at school). The car only needs to last less than a year. He will buy a new car once he graduates. We really don't want to pour a ton of money into it now.

Over the last few years the electrical system on my wife's Dodge Nitro has been getting worse. It all started when the vehicle wouldn't start, the lights were blinking, the windshield wipers ran, the locks kept cycling, the radiator fan ran, all uncontrollably. This was about 6 years ago. The locks never did work again. I got the system working by pulling the auto lock fuse and then pulled the IOD fuse for 30 seconds just like the TSB that Dodge released described and everything started working again. This happened on and off again each time I was able to reset the system by pulling and reinserting the IOD fuse. Now it is happening again and this time it is not resetting so it looks like I will have to pay the outrageous price of a dealership repair. This is frustrating because Dodge knows that this is happening since shortly after the Nitros were manufactured, I have copies of the original technical service bulletin they sent out to all their dealerships. They have flat out refused to fix the problem. Thankfully no one in my family has been put in danger by this but I have read many accounts where people were put in grave danger by this issue. I am a retired soldier in college, about to finish, but I cant just go replace this car right now, it is not that simple. Maybe it is time we all got together and filed a class action lawsuit against dodge before someone is killed or severely injured. I have no idea how to start this type of process but it can't be that difficult. Please contact me if you are interested and lets see what we can do together to try and at least get Dodge to fix this.

I have been experiencing random "electrical" problems with my Nitro over the past 6 months from the car turning off at at intersection, to the brake light coming on and off for no reason (new brakes) , to the A/C shutting itself off, to the horn making a sound like it is being smothered randomly. Yesterday, my car would not start. My battery is less than a year old and I had full power, so I thought it may be the starter. I took a cab to work and came home to deal with the problem. I lifted the hood to check connections and tried to start the car. Nothing. As I was walking away, keys in hand, the horn started blaring, wipers started going off, and the engine started! I thought I had set the antitheft system off so I disconnected the battery cables and the problem continued. After about 10 minutes, the car shut off.I researched and discovered others had the same issue linked to the TIPM.

Took the ol' girl out in the morning for a drive across town. Came back and parked it. Several hours later, went to start the beast and she started but wouldn't shift out of park... tried a couple more times, didn't work. Also noticed that the lock/unlock buttons on the key fob flashed the signal lights but didn't actuate the locks. I disconnected the battery for ten minutes, but when I reconnected it the horn, wipers, and locks all went nuts. I then had it towed to the dealership, whereupon they spent three billable hours (almost $500, pre tax) diagnosing the issue. Bad TIPM.

Of course, mine is '08 and thus has not been recalled. Over 190,000 of Dodge/Chryslers' vehicles between '07 and '12 TIPMs were faulty. And even though the '07, '10, '11 Nitros were recalled, Dodge/Chrysler wants their customers to believe that they managed to fix the problem in '08-'09, only to break it again a year or two later. What a joke.

I'm absolutely flabbergasted that this is the first I've heard of the TIPM issue; that the dealer did not mention the potential for this when I was buying the vehicle in '10 (recalls for the model previous was already initiated in '07; keep in mind that for all parts that I've found, the '07-'09 are interchangeable). Worse, neither they nor the manufacturer sent out any warning bulletins to customers, encouraging them to have their units checked. I'm horrified at the thought that at any time my vehicle could have started to seriously malfunction while I was driving it resulting in injury or death to either myself, my passengers, or someone else sharing the road. It was unconscionable for FCA/Chrysler to keep this disastrous issue under wraps. I will NOT be buying a vehicle of theirs in the future -- a purchase I intend to make immediately to replace this death trap-- and I will be doing my best to dissuade those around me from considering any of the vehicles, as well.

My 2008 Dodge Nitro Alarm / Horns/ locks / Lights/ go off unexpectedly repeatedly all day & all night at random times. I took it to the dealer and was told I needed a new programmed key, a new update on my electrical system. However that did not fix the problem and no one seems to know. Not even the dealer. By reading online I see lots of other owners of 2007 & 2008 models have a problem with the TIPM but my dealer does not have any in stock and is severely back ordered. How do I fix my problem.

I bought a 2008 Nitro with 79,000 miles on it along with a "supposed" bumper to bumper high tech $3800 warranty, only to be told the first time having it towed into the shop, that it needed a $900 TIPM and it wasn't covered under my high tech warranty!

The issues started at first only minor annoying..like the lift gate light popping on causing the dome lights to turn on. This happened only while driving, but within weeks it started coming on while the car was parked with no key in it and of course I would find a dead battery in the morning. Then I noticed the key fob wouldn't always work and the windows and doors would delay when pushed.

The problem after a month escalated from annoying to DANGEROUS. While driving my kids to their youth bowling league, my car started ACCELERATING on its own! It was like the gas pedal was stuck! Even pushing the brake did not dislodge the acceleration and I was forced to throw it up into neutral while the rpms revved higher. What is it going to take? A death before Dodge admits there is faulty TIPM'S and does the damn recall?? Even though I'm pissed have to pay $900, my life and the life of my children are not expendable before the recall takes place!! DO THE RECALL!!!

When I purchased the vehicle I asked about the car fax saying the vehicle had been looked at for electrical problems 3 times but nothing was found. The dealer told me when I asked it was fine and that there were no issues. Four months after purchasing it used, it started having issues starting, I returned to the dealer Leith used cars in Wake forrest NC. They looked at it and told me the fuel pump needed to be replaced. I had it replaced. Then Dec 23,20014 I started experiencing the same issue and was told it was a faulty TIPM. I feel like Leith knew this from the start.

Now I have to wait because it is on back order.

The TIPM going bad in my Dodge Nitro seems to be a common problem around 85000 miles. Chrysler has recalled the 2007, 2011 and 2012. They will not recall the 2008 or other years? If they know that this is a problem they need to take responsibility and fix it. When we called Chrysler, the gal on the phone said all she could do was add us to the list of people with this problem. Save our receipts; if it is recalled we can try and get our money back. Windshield wipers running as fast as they can, no turn signals, unable to turn on headlights; is this safe in the eyes of Chrysler?

I am more than happy to tell people how awful Chrysler is. My next purchase was going to be a $35000 Jeep but based on how they handle this situation, I will not be buying ANY car from Chrysler. I am happy to tell everyone I know of the customer service received, the lack of concern and complete non care for what consumers have to deal with when they know they have faulty parts in their vehicles. After all, there is a lawsuit!

Same problem with my 2008 Dodge Nitro that so many others are reporting. I really can't believe there's no recall on this issue. It started with my power locks and front wiper pump motor not working. I heard it could be $1200 to get fixed so I didn't have it done.

Today, I was walking into a local Kroger, when I heard a horn going nuts. I turned around and to my amazement, it was my Nitro! The horn was constant, the wipers were going by themselves and washer fluid was shooting out all over!! Completely embarrassed, I ran to my car, started it, moved it, then had a couple guys run up to me asking if I was OK. I told them yes, but my car definitely wasn't! After pulling numerous fuses out of the TIPM module, they were able to get the horn to shut off, but the wiper pump motor needed to be disconnected since it would not shut off.

I've bought Dodge's my whole life so far, even worked for JNAP as a Production Supervisor, helping assemble Jeep Grand Cherokee's. If Chrysler doesn't see the issue here and correct it, not only for me but for all the customers having the same exact issues, I will honestly never buy another Chrysler product again. Just absolutely embarrassing to me that they haven't corrected this, knowing damn well it's a huge issue!!!

Update from Oct 11, 2014: Finally had to get this fixed as the issues continued to get worse. It cost 1200 to replace the TPM unit at a local Chrysler dealership.