2011 Dodge Avenger
This year drew an ordinary 209 complaints for a Dodge Avenger — the model's median is 205. What they were about is the unusual part: 36.8% of them mention cold, against 10% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 209 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 205 |
| Involving a crash | 14 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| EPA combined | 23 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- cold — 36.8% of this year's complaints, against 10% across the model's other years (3.7×). Owners wrote it as: cold, cold air, blows, defrost.
- heater — 29.7% of this year's complaints, against 8.9% across the model's other years (3.3×). Owners wrote it as: heater, heater core, properly, winter.
- heat — 25.4% of this year's complaints, against 8.5% across the model's other years (3×). Owners wrote it as: heat, window, flushed, works.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
Window Defrost and Passenger Heat /Air. While either in motion or while driving, no heated air exits the passenger side of the windshield defroster, nor the passenger window defrost, lower and center console vents. Heated air only exits the driver's side winds…
PASSENGER-SIDE DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER BLOWS COLD AIR RENDERING VISIBILITY DURING INCLEMENT WEATHER, OR COLD SEASON. SEVERAL NEAR-MISS OCCURRENCES ON ROAD WAY DUE POOR VISIBILITY ON PASSENGER-SIDE WINDSHIELD AND PASSENGER-SIDE WINDOW. PASSENGER-SIDE HEAT INOPERABLE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V668000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 11V315000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 13V282000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Dodge Avenger was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2011 Dodge Avenger? What happened to yours?
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