2012 Dodge Journey
This year drew an ordinary 376 complaints for a Dodge Journey — the model's median is 228. What they were about is the unusual part: 6.1% of them mention rotors, against 0.7% 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 | 376 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 228 |
| Involving a crash | 21 |
| Involving a fire | 13 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 20 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- rotors — 6.1% of this year's complaints, against 0.7% across the model's other years (8.3×). Owners wrote it as: rotors, pads, brake pads, caliper.
- cooling — 6.4% of this year's complaints, against 1.6% across the model's other years (4×). Owners wrote it as: cooling, engine engine, engine cooling, cooling however.
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
HAD REAR BRAKES PADS AND ROTORS REPLACED BECAUSE OF FROZEN CALIPERS. TOOK TO DEALER AND SAID THAT CALIPER PIN NEEDED TO BE GREASED.
WHILE THE VEHICLE WAS IDLING AT A TRAFFIC LIGHT, THE CONTACT NOTICED SMOKE. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC WHO STATED THAT THE BRAKE FLUID WAS CONTAMINATED AND THE ROTORS AND BRAKE PADS NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE…
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.
- 15V675000 ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) Fixed free of charge.
- 11V550000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 11V487000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING 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 2012 Dodge Journey? What happened to yours?
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