I just got my 94 Intrepid out of the shop Friday that was doing the same
thing. It turns out that my overdrive clutchpack retaining snap ring spring
broke and the steel plate that covers the clutches was not fully compressing
the clutches, the car was going into safemode because the main computer was
sensing a clutch pressure problem and that was why the car was dropping into
second gear. While driving I was able to shut the car off and quickly put it
into neutral and restart the car while still moving. This would reset the
system and gave me full gearing for a while until the whole thing needed a
rebuild. I was able to get a week out of it until it would go into safemode
every half mile of driving.  I brought it to a local shop and the trans was
rebuilt for $1700 using all new factory upgrades and a new converter. I
don't feel too bad as the trans was original and I got 154000 miles on it
before it broke. When it first started to go bad I noticed that at speed on
the highway it would lurch or jerk for a second and while stopping at a
traffic light it would jerk and lurch also.This was very un- nerving on long
trips from my home not knowing if I would get stranded!  The mechanic that
worked on it said I kept it very clean inside over the years with regular
filter and fluid changes but the snapring was a company weak link timebomb
that would go bad anyway. He said the rings were too thin from the factory
and that is how my transmission failed so he put an upgraded(thicker)  one
in during the rebuild. He also said the solenoids don't go bad too often and
mine checked out good during their testing but he replaced them also and
said that the snaprings are a really bad weak area on these Dodges. They
were able to pinpoint the problem quickly without removing the trans by
hooking the car up to the shop computer which told them pressures and codes
which told them where the problem was exactly!!
They needed no guess work here .
Hope this helps!!
Scott

Good luck with the Stratus!! I just hope my Intrepid doesn't break anytime
soon!
Scott