The 1996 Dodge Stratus has 5 recalls, the most serious involving a hood that can fly open without warning while driving, a front suspension ball joint that can separate and cause a sudden loss of steering control, and an ABS unit that can cause the vehicle to swerve sharply during braking.
The hood latch recall involves the secondary latch spring disengaging when the hood is slammed, and if the primary latch also fails to catch, the hood can lift into the windshield at speed with no warning. The front lower ball joint can lose lubrication and separate from the control arm, which drops the corner of the vehicle and makes steering unresponsive at the worst possible moment. On the brake side, corrosion inside the ABS hydraulic control unit can cause one of the front wheel solenoid valves to stick open, pulling the vehicle hard to one side during a stop instead of tracking straight. There are also two additional brake and drivetrain concerns. The brake master cylinder can develop a leaking rear piston seal, which gradually reduces braking force on half of the hydraulic circuit, meaning the pedal may feel soft or require more travel before the brakes respond fully. On automatic transmission models, a cable adjustment issue in the shifter mechanism can make the shift button too easy to press, disabling the interlock that is supposed to prevent the key from being removed unless the transmission is in park, which can allow the vehicle to be left in gear.
