I was driving about 15 miles per hour and hit a slight indentation in the road where it have been newly paved. I heard a loud "thud" in the trunk of my car from the back driver's side. I pulled over and uncovered the wheel well and saw a hole where the strut mount should have been. I decided to take the car home and call a certified mechanic to fix this problem. While taking the car to the mechanic a couple days later, the passenger side made the same loud "thud". within a few miles my car started filling up with smoke that smelled like burning rubber. While going around a small curve my shock came out and tore open my new tire. I had to get my car towed to the mechanic to get it fixed. What we found was a corroded piece of metal, which I later found out was my "strut mounts". I was also told that with my struts being almost nonexistent, and the tire blowing out that the actual frame of my car could very well be messed up too. The car is still being fixed due to the fact that the part that was needed was discontinued or something of that nature. (I did keep the corroded piece of metal that was once my strut mount.)

- Gainesville, GA, USA

2002 Dodge Stratus rear strut mounting plates. Turning to powder seemed to be made of pre-cast aluminum, unpainted. Heard clanking sound thought the spare was loose after further investigation discovered driver side and passenger side mounting brackets were disintegrating this definitely should be a recall.

- Campbell, OH, USA

I was driving to work on 4-30-2010 in my 2002 Dodge Stratus ES sedan. I heard a strange metallic clunk from the rear of the car. Once I got to work I checked around the rear wheels and found that the driver/rear spring mount plate was totally corroded and a chunk was missing which caused the spring to slip (noise I heard). The other pass/rear side is just as bad. The aluminum mounts are totally corroded and flaking apart. I live in northern Illinois so corrosion is a usual thing, but for parts to just flake away in chunks? this seems overtly dangerous and an engineering oversight. I need to get this fixed right away or who knows how the springs will fail and cause me to lose control.

- Aurora, IL, USA

Rear frame to suspension mount has broke. The shock inside the coil then was able to get lodged into the spring. This made the suspension stuck/immobile. The vehicle was 3-wheeling around corners on the way to the dealership. We were told the part was back-ordered to the factory and was not available at any other dealership across the us. Wait time for the new part is more than a month. I work for an automotive supplier. If its this hard to get a part, something more is wrong. How many others are suffering our fate.

- Lewiston, MN, USA

Took my Dodge Stratus 2002 in and mechanic deemed rear struts bad. Ordered replacements. When arrived they had sent rear upper strut housing MR31114 instead of #4879072ad. When local Chrysler dealer called it was stated that there was a backorder of over 8000 of these. I then called the 800 number and after 4 hrs of climbing the ladder was informed that this part was in fact backordered with currently that many cars awaiting this part and that it was being retooled and would be unavailable till late August. The issue is safety in that the rear upper strut housing if broken presents an issue for driver and vehicle safety and the number of cars needing what is not available is growing and the company has neither a recall or safety notice out nor in my conversations at least have any concerns or care about this. For many if this is your only vehicle you have limited options and many of these vehicles will be on the road in this condition of broken rear upper strut housings. What am I to do and what recourse is there? 'information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).'

- Hopkinsville, KY, USA

Mopar agrees recall should be done on this part failure. 02 Dodge Stratus rear strut mounts. Strut mounting plates on vehicle are made of aluminum or some type of white metal and they have disintegrated into a powder like dust and the strut was detached. Mopar confirmed about 8553 backorders on 7/8/08 dealers and 8607 backorders as of 7/9/08 - I replaced part from a junkyard car, as this is the quickest way to get a car back on the road until supply is adequate on new parts with new design. Vehicles can be expected to be out of commission as this is a safety issue. Possibly for months with the current situation.

- Hackensack, NJ, USA

2002 Dodge Stratus rear strut mounts. The top, rear, strut mounting plates on this vehicle are made of aluminum or some type of pot metal and they have completely corroded to the point of the struts not being attached to the body of the vehicle. As my wife was driving home from work the vehicle suddenly swerved to the left and she proceeded home at a very slow speed. Upon inspection the left rear strut mounting plate had completely disintegrated and the strut was not attached at all to the vehicle. I believe this is what caused the swerve. Upon checking with dealers and people on the internet I've found that this part has failed on thousands of cars. No parts are available and we were told by a dealer that, on average, there are 1800 requests per week for this part and a total of almost 8,000 on backorder this seems to me to be a safety defect and it is made worse by the fact that no parts are available. I would think there should be a safety recall on these as they could easily cause a wreck when they break free.

- Greens Fork, IN, USA

I drive a 2002 Dodge Stratus 4 door R/T and noticed a sound coming from the rear of car. I pulled over could not see anything and drove again. It still made a loud thump sound from the rear of car. Inspected car at home with proper tools, I found the rear strut mount on the left of car was broke in to 6 pieces. In sight of this I took the right rear strut mount off and found it to be broke into 2 piece with a 2 inch crack going across part of it. Ordered two new rear strut mounts to find out there has been a major part change. The old parts are aluminum and not painted and the revised parts are steel and are painted black. I called Dodge's compliant line and was hung up on. Please note that 4 door R/T suspensions are not the same as all other 4 door Stratus cars. Tires wore on the inner edges and the shocks were free to jump up and down since not attached to the car.

- Logansport, IN, USA

2002 Dodge Stratus. The problem was a broken upper rear right ball joint. While driving in a parking lot at 5 mph heard a noise, and the back end of the car settled down, upon inspection the rear right wheel was leaning towards the car. The car was not drivable, and had to have it towed. It has been fixed at the cost of $200. There were no recalls. Very dangerous situation if driving at highway speeds. No accidents.

- Olathe, KS, USA

While driving to work a bolt broke on my upper control arm. My tire was on a 45 degree angle. Very dangerous. Took to place I bought car to get under extended warranty. Warranty place refused to fix I am fighting it. I paid out of my pocket.

- Austin, TX, USA