2011 Dodge Journey
This year drew an ordinary 169 complaints for a Dodge Journey — the model's median is 352. What they were about is the unusual part: 26.6% of them mention steering wheel, against 10% across the model's other years.
Generation 1 of the Dodge Journey, which began in 2009. 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 | 169 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 352 |
| Involving a crash | 7 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| EPA combined | 20 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- steering wheel — 26.6% of this year's complaints, against 10% across the model's other years (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: steering wheel, shaking, shake, locked.
- starting — 8.3% of this year's complaints, against 2.6% across the model's other years (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: starting, deployment, starting vehicle.
- twice — 7.7% of this year's complaints, against 2.6% across the model's other years (3×). Owners wrote it as: twice, different dealers, touch, touch screen.
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
SHAKING IN CAR AND STEERING WHEEL WHEN I APPLY THE BREAKS. THIS IS SUPPOSE TO BE A RECALL BUT DODGE HOUSE SAYS NO RECALLS? I REPLACED THE ROTTERS AND BRAKES AND IT STILL DOES IT AT ANY SPEED ABOVE 30 MPH. HAS BEEN ON GOING SINCE WE PURCHASED THE VEHICLE.
THE DRIVER WAS TRAVELING 50 MPH WHEN THE BRAKES WERE DEPRESSED AND THE STEERING WHEEL STARTED TO SHAKE. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER. THE [VIN] WAS CONTACTED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 23,000 AND THE CURRENT MILEAGE WAS 28,00…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 17V432000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V273000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 15V431000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 11V315000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Dodge Journey 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 Journey? What happened to yours?
Loading comments…