2014 Dodge Durango
Complaints about this year name headrest far more often than the other years of this generation — 18% of them, about 33× the usual rate of 0.5%.
Generation 2 of the Dodge Durango, which began in 2011. 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 | 781 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 160 |
| Involving a crash | 23 |
| Involving a fire | 9 |
| Recalls | 11 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 18 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- headrest — 32.7% of this year's complaints, against 12.5% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: headrest, head, deployed, back head.
- seat — 13.8% of this year's complaints, against 3.8% across the other years of this generation (3.7×).
- belt — 6.7% of this year's complaints, against 1.9% across the other years of this generation (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: belt, retract, seat belt, row.
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.
Also unusual this year
- water — 33% of complaints, 4× usual
- deployed — 14% of complaints, 14× usual
- head — 17% of complaints, 7× usual
What owners wrote
WHILE TRAVELING ON FREEWAY DRIVER SEAT HEADREST DEPLOYED STRIKING BACK OF MY HEAD.
The headrest deployed and has a broken pin and I am unable to put it back in place.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V332000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 17V435000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 17V572000 SERVICE BRAKES Fixed free of charge.
- 17V741000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 14V154000 SERVICE BRAKES Fixed free of charge.
- 14V293000 VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL Fixed free of charge.
- 14V391000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 14V643000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 11. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Dodge Durango 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 2014 Dodge Durango? What happened to yours?
Loading comments…