Owners have filed 95 complaints on the Dodge Daytona, covering 1984–1993. The system named most often is Engine And Engine Cooling (15 reports). Worst years by volume: 1989, 1990, 1993; cleanest: 1984, 1985, 1986. 10 reports describe a crash, 21 a fire, 3 a death. On average the car was 6.7 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Dodge Daytona
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 95 Daytona complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Engine And Engine Cooling 15 Read
Engine burst into flames when driver attempted to start vehicle
Engine compartment fire
Engine fire
Electrical System 9 Read
Car parked and caught on fire near the battery. Appears to be electrical
Consumer was traveling stopped at a red light, noticed smoke coming from under the hood and the vehicle was on fire in the engine compartment. Consumer has contacted the dealer, dealer determined the problem as an electrical short. Please provdie further details
Driving vehicle home, smoke started from center of dashboard, arrived home, shut vehicle off, suddenly vehicle was engulfed in flames
Fuel System 9 Read
Problem 1 #3 fuel injector cracked causing the fuel to spray onto intake manifold into a puddle (1/4
Purchase car used parked car and caught on fire . Tt
Vehicle caught on fire before a loud bang was heard and car was surrounded by flames. Driver was burned and trapped
Seats 9 Read
Front drives bucket seat broke, when vehicle was impacted from the rear
Lower left drivers seat back attachment bolt failed allowing seat back to fall flat back. Car was undrivable in this condition
The defective lower driver seatback bolt sheared off, causing the driver's seatback to collapse which almost caused an accident. This problem is similar to the 1991 shadow recall
Power Train 8 Read
In september 2001,the bolt between the transmission and the motor was found to be missing which caused the engine to jump, and tearing the transmission line . Transmission fluid sprayed all over engine. Possible cause of engine fire? Fire started near battery on wires possibly shorting them out. Whole car was lost,…
While driving in heavy traffic at approximately 40/45 miles per hour, the transmission quit
As I was backing slowly in my driveway, my car stopped as if I stuck it in neutral. At that point it would not move. I called up reedman and chrysler corporation to have this problem checked. Chrylser told me that it was not a recall and it's not covered since my warranty is up. At that time I explained my car was…
Structure 8 Read
While driving at 65 mph when hood flew up and smashed into the windshield and caused an accident. Tt
The driver's and front passenger's doors start expanding and consumer cannot get out of it, also it is starting to break the welds
Had closed passenger's side door by handle; door broke off the hinge connected to door frame; door was uneven and not aligned properly. *ak after closing door when hinge broke, the fender was bent, body shop determined that the metal in the door was weak causing the failure of the door hinge
Air Bags 6 Read
Had a frontal collision, 35mph, air bag did not deploy. Tt
Consumer was in an accident and the drivers air bag inflated and blew out smoke . Tt
My 16 year old daughter was driving to school on the morning of march 31, 1999. She was in the parking lot. She went over a speed bump, the airbag light came on and she heard a popping noise. At that time, the airbag deployed on her, but not at the normal fast speed. This caused her to run off of the road and over an…
Seat Belts 5 Read
Driving to mother's house, at stop sign, vehicle was rearended, passenger went into dashboard, passenger seat belt broke, rear passenger seat belt broke
Vehicles driver side seat belt will not retract and is inoperative. Tt
Rear seat belts do not retrain carseat(s) securely when installed, allowing free meovement. Tt
Daytona years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Air Bags | 1 | — | |
| 1992 | Engine And Engine Cooling | 1 | 1 | |
| 1991 | Air Bags | 1 | — | |
| 1990 | Electrical System | 2 | 1 | |
| 1989 | Air Bags | 4 | 9 | |
| 1988 | Electrical System | — | 2 | |
| 1987 | Electrical System | — | 3 | |
| 1986 | Electrical System | — | 3 | |
| 1985 | Engine And Engine Cooling | — | 2 | |
| 1984 | Seats | 1 | — |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 84 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.1 |
| Worst single series | 3 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 6.7 years |
A model average of 1.1 hides a worst series at 3. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
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- No ads, no tracking — and much more
How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Daytona?
By complaint volume, 1989, 1990, 1993 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Daytona years are the cleanest?
1984, 1985, 1986 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Dodge Daytona have?
95 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1984–1993. Of those, 10 describe a crash and 21 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.