NHTSA complaint #11709001

Owner complaint summary

Took vehicle in for cooling issues, leaking coolant. Garage did courtesy inspection and determined oil cooler failure had caused catastrophic damage to the engine, requiring replacement. Mechanic informed me this particular shop deals with this issue 3-5 times every week, with about one per month requiring full engine replacement. The engine is the 3.6L V6 Pentastar, which is standard in Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep and Plymouth vehicles and this is a defect known to the manufacturer. My mechanic informed me that both Dodge and the current manufacturer of the engine had tried and failed to correct the problem, because it is an actual design flaw. Caused in part, by the oil cooler being constructed of plastic and mounted at the top of the engine, it is subject to heat and warping which causes the failure. . Mechanic said this is typical around 100k miles. My Durango has 108k, 6k out of the warranty I bought for $4,500 at the dealership, just shy of 3 years ago. This is a known defect. Why is there no recall or remedy for a consumer now facing a $17,000 engine replacement on a $30,000 used vehicle? Dodge knows this is a problem, what is a consumer’s recourse for trusting they make quality vehicles when this presents a major safety issues to anyone with the 3.6L? My dealership never notified me of this issue, nor did the manufacturer. At least a heads up to change to an aftermarket metal oil cooler, to avoid catastrophic loss? This is wrong.