My wife was recently involved in an accident with our Caravan (2004) where the vehicle was hit from behind. The impact damaged our rear bumber and trailer hitch. It apparently also damaged our rear brake lights and turn signals. The dashboard also went "dark" - none of the instrumentation on the dashboard is working.

The dealer that looked at the wiring and found melted wire behind one of the break lights.

You see the question comming. Everything was working fine before the accident. Is it possible that the accident somehow caused an increase in voltage that would cause the wire to overheat and melt? And would this also cause the dashboard problems?

Thanks
67

check the wires by the hitch. see if one of them is pinched or bare and grounding out. the tail lights and dash lights are on the same circut.

yes that is a good possibility and does effect the cluster and gauges