Owners have filed 4,974 complaints on the Dodge Journey, covering 2009–2020. The system named most often is Electrical System (1,267 reports). Worst years by volume: 2009, 2010, 2015; cleanest: 2020, 2019, 2011. 194 reports describe a crash, 98 a fire, 1 a death. On average the car was 5.0 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Dodge Journey
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 4,974 Journey complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Electrical System 1,267 Read
The contact owned a 2009 dodge journey. While driving 30 mph, the vehicle stalled, rolled over multiple times, and crashed into another vehicle. In addition, a smoke odor emitted from the vehicle. The air bags failed to deploy. The driver sustained back and leg injuries that required medical attention. A police report…
The contact stated that their father owned a 2020 Dodge Journey. The contact stated that while driving at 10 MPH, the vehicle began making an abnormal noise. The Electronic Throttle Control (ETC) system warning light was illuminated. The contact began to head back home when another vehicle blew its horn and informed…
As I was driving, I began to park. I put my foot on the brake and proceeded to put car in reverse. The back up camera began to flash. Once it stopped flashing, the image on the screen was upside down. It’s is available for inspection. This is a safety hazard. The purpose of the camera is so that people can see what’s…
Power Train 378 Read
Vehicle downshifts hard in slow traffic. Vehicle then proceeds to turn off but engine will not stop until you put foot on brake put vehicle in park and push engine button. The dealership resets code and runs good for about 200 to 400 miles and happens again. Been back to dealership three times. The transmission shifts…
The engine/powertrain occasionally does not accelerate on the freeway causing us to backup traffic. This happens randomly and will eventually cause a major accident. I have contacted dodge but they want me to leave my car for 6 weeks with no loaner I am a single mother that is not possible. The car is under bumper to…
I was turning into a parking spot outside of my work and the car revved and jerked forward; I had to swerve to miss and pillar and slam on my brakes because it jumped over a curb and almost hit a building! The parking spot was a little upward so I did have to have my foot on the gas
Engine 326 Read
The contact owns a 2010 dodge journey. While driving 25 mph, the engine stalled and the vehicle crashed into a median. The contact stated that smoke was present under the hood near the engine compartment. There were no warning lights illuminated. The air bags did not deploy. A police report was filed and there were no…
The contact owned a 2017 dodge journey. While driving at an unknown speed, an abnormal noise was heard and smoke appeared from the front end of the vehicle. The contact coasted over to the side of the road and the occupants exited the vehicle. Afterwards, the vehicle burst into flames and burned to the ground. The…
The contact owns a 2015 dodge journey. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 45 mph, there was a burning odor coming from the engine. The failure recurred numerous times. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 15V431000 (engine and engine…
Service Brakes 322 Read
The contact owns a 2016 dodge journey. The contact stated that while pulling into a parking space the contact attempted to press the brake pedal however, the brakes failed to stop the vehicle. The contact stated the vehicle crashed into the post holding the handicap sign for the parking space. The airbags did not…
The contact owns a 2016 dodge journey. The contact stated that the ABS warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was taken to turnersville jeep chrysler dodge ram (3100 nj-42, erial, nj 08081, (856) 316-7956) where they replaced the front sensor and hub bearing. The failure recurred and the vehicle was taken back to…
The contact owns a 2015 dodge journey. The contact received a recall notification for NHTSA campaign number: 15V675000 (electronic stability control, service brakes, hydraulic). The part needed was unavailable to perform the recall repair. The manufacturer was notified of the issue. The contact stated that the vehicle…
Air Bags 298 Read
The contact owned a 2017 dodge journey. While driving approximately 25 mph, the driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a tree. During the crash, the front end of the vehicle sustained damage. The air bags did not deploy. Approximately ten minutes after the crash, flames were present under the rear of the…
I am not sure if this warrants a complaint but when I wreaked my vehicle my airbags did not deploy. I was traveling about 50mph on a main road it was night time and had started to rain and I hit a cow that was standing in the middle of the road. There was about $8000 dollars worth of damage to my vehicle. I am just…
The contact owned a 2010 dodge journey. While driving approximately 5 mph, another vehicle crashed into the front end of the contact's vehicle causing it to catch fire. The air bags failed to deploy. The fire department extinguished the fire. The contact sustained back injuries that required medical attention. A…
Steering 290 Read
My vehicle was in motion on a city street when suddenly my steering wheel locked and brake were hard to push causing me to side swipe a parked car
Ballbaring and stiring problome
While driving my 2016 dodge journey 12mph, the car jerked to the left causing me to hit a cement light pole. I was in a roundabout turning to bring my child to school when this happened. No injuries
Seats 236 Read
After being rear ended at a stopped position and pushed into another stopped vehicle in front, thus causing a double collision, the driver seat headrest completely ejected from driver seat. Driver seat adjustment bar caused deep tissue damage to legs. Third row seat split and separated seat surface from back support.…
I was rear-ended after coming to a stop on a highway in rush hour traffic. Upon impact, my body lunged forward and the backwards landing on the seat, causing it to recline almost onto the 2nd row seat. When my body went backward, it caused me to unhand the steering wheel. It is unknown what may have caused the seat to…
Seat wont close in back seat second row wont close at all it broken itself
Electronic Stability Control (esc) 102 Read
The contact owns a 2014 dodge journey. While driving 15 mph, the brake pedal was applied and became stiff and failed to respond. As a result, the contact crashed into concrete dividers. The ESC warning indicator illuminated. The air bags did not deploy. The vehicle was not towed. There were no injuries and a police…
Own a dodge journey sxt AWD 2013. Received recall notification r61/NHTSA recall 15V-675 on december 27, 2015 regarding possible anti-lock brake system (ABS) and electronic stability control (ESC) systems failure. I had an accident with this vehicle on july 28, 2015 (rear-ended another vehicle, tried to avoid…
The contact owned a 2013 dodge journey. While driving approximately 60 mph, the stability control failed without warning. The contact attempted to apply the brakes; however, the brakes failed and a crash occurred. The contact was unable to provide details of the crash and how she received head injuries and lost…
Journey 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Air Bags,seat Belts | 1 | 1 | |
| 2019 | Air Bags | 5 | — | |
| 2018 | Air Bags | 6 | 1 | |
| 2017 | Air Bags | 12 | 6 | |
| 2016 | Air Bags | 19 | 4 | |
| 2015 | Air Bags | 28 | 8 | |
| 2014 | Air Bags | 26 | 8 | |
| 2013 | Air Bags | 19 | 9 | |
| 2012 | Air Bags | 16 | 12 | |
| 2011 | Air Bags | 7 | 3 | |
| 2010 | Air Bags | 18 | 14 | |
| 2009 | Air Bags | 37 | 32 |
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 | 933 |
| Average complaints per series | 5.3 |
| Worst single series | 73 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 5.0 years |
A model average of 5.3 hides a worst series at 73. 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 Journey?
By complaint volume, 2009, 2010, 2015 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 Journey years are the cleanest?
2020, 2019, 2011 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Dodge Journey have?
4,974 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2009–2020. Of those, 194 describe a crash and 98 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.