2009 Dodge Challenger
This year drew an ordinary 132 complaints for a Dodge Challenger — the model's median is 78. What they were about is the unusual part: 6.8% of them mention sign, against 2.4% across the model's other years.
Generation 1 of the Dodge Challenger, which began in 2008. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 132 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 78 |
| Involving a crash | 8 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 7 |
| EPA combined | 19 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- sign — 6.8% of this year's complaints, against 2.4% across the model's other years (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: sign, stop sign, defect manufacturer, rusted.
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
SUDDEN ENGINE STALL AT STOP SIGN, AT IDLE AND ALSO WHILE ON HIGHWAY AT SPEED. OIL LIGHT COMES ON INTERMITTENT NO CODES , OIL LEVEL CHECKED , GAS WAS GOOD . MANY ON EVERY CHALLENGER FORUMS ARE HAVING THIS ISSUE "STALLING" , EVEN BRAND NEW CARS RIGHT OFF THE LOT…
WHILE APPROACHING A STOP SIGN AT 25 MPH, THE VEHICLE SUDDENLY STALLED AND ALL THE LIGHTS ON THE INSTRUMENT PANEL FLASHED. THE CONTACT SHIFTED INTO PARK AND RESTARTED THE VEHICLE. THE VEHICLE WAS THEN TAKEN TO AN AUTHORIZED DEALER BUT THE DEALER COULD NOT DUPLI…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 17V824000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 18V021000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 15V444000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V352000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 08V642000 TIRES
- 08V458000 POWER TRAIN
- 09V420000 WHEELS Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Dodge Challenger 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 2009 Dodge Challenger? What happened to yours?
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