Owners have filed 1,206 complaints on the Dodge Nitro, covering 2007–2012. The system named most often is Electrical System (416 reports). Worst years by volume: 2007, 2008, 2011; cleanest: 2012, 2009, 2010. 43 reports describe a crash, 31 a fire. On average the car was 5.9 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Dodge Nitro
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 1,206 Nitro complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Electrical System 416 Read
I purchased my 2011 dodge nitro brand new from gulf gate dodge here in houston tx. Since then, I have had numerous issues with this truck starting in 2013. Last year, the water pump went out. This year the fuel injectors went out. In both occasions, I paid out of pocket to get the issues corrected. I have also called…
The contact owns a 2010 dodge nitro. The contact stated that while driving approximately 5 mph, all of the warning lights illuminated on the instrument panel, the alarm activated as smoke started to emit from the vehicle before it caught on fire. A police report was not filed and no injuries were reported. The vehicle…
We had just pulled up to the parking lot garage of the movie theater. We turned the car off took the key out to leave but the AC blower stayed running. I went to turn it off and the alarm went crazy. At first we thought that we hit the panic button so we were tying to figure out how to stop it. Then, the windshield…
Fuel System 176 Read
There is an issue with the fuel tank/ valve in this model dodge vehicle. Every time I go to fuel up I have to guess the number of gallons it will take before I stop pumping in fuel, otherwise fuel will spill out all over the side and the ground. This happens every time I fuel up, no matter the gas station or type of…
Engine stalls while parked or when accelerating from a full stop. It does the same while taking a curve and trying to accelerate when the curve ended. It feels like there is not enough gasoline coming from the tank and the engine starves. It does it when the engine has finished warming and all the time while driving.…
2011 dodge nitro gasoline fill spout and fuel tank is affected part. Every time I fill up the vehicle with gasoline it spews out of the gas tank all over me and the side of the SUV. I've contacted dodge and they say there is no recall. I contacted the dealer I bought it from and they claimed to have fixed the issue…
Power Train 109 Read
Chrysler denies responsibility and no lawyer wants to fight chrysler. I am not putting my family's life in jeopardy with that car. On 2/18/08 I leased a 2008 dodge nitro at crestwood dodge. On 3/31/08 my wife routinely started the nitro, put her foot on the brake (and not the gas) and engaged the gear from park to…
Our 2007 dodge nitro has a recall on it (n10) I have been trying to get it fixed since late june/2013 to early july/2013 with no prevail it is making a horrible noise and get worse as time goes on. I have called chrysler recall department asking to get a loaner until the parts are available to fix this problem because…
I started the car to move it in the driveway. After backing up, I put it in park. I then tried to place it in drive, and the shifter lock wouldn't release. (it normally releases when the brake pedal is depressed.) after a few tries, I attempted to turn off and restart the car. When I turned the ignition to restart the…
Fuel/propulsion System 85 Read
Regardless of which gas station/pump, during refuel gas will overflow and spray onto the ground, car, and operator. Vehicle always stationary
When fueling the vehicle gas will spew out after the pump has shut off. I've tried many different things to try and stop this issue. If I fill the tank very slowly it will sometimes not spew or it may cut down on the amount spewed, but it has not made the issue stop. This really is dangerous and ridiculous. From my…
2011 dodge nitro gasoline fill spout and fuel tank is affected part. Every time I fill up the vehicle with gasoline it spews out of the gas tank all over me and the side of the SUV. I've contacted dodge and they say there is no recall. I contacted the dealer I bought it from and they claimed to have fixed the issue…
Air Bags 64 Read
My child and I were in an accident that resulted in the complete loss of our vehicle. The bottom of car was leaking and it according to bystanders caught fire. The complaint that I have is the fact that I received the recall notice for my vehicle back in the month of may and called the local dealership for 3 months to…
The contact owns a 2011 dodge nitro heat. While driving approximately 5 mph the vehicle was involved in a crash with another vehicle. The contacts vehicle was damaged on the drivers side door. The contact stated that the side air bags did not deploy. The driver suffered injuries to his face. The vehicle was taken to…
The contact owns a 2011 dodge nitro. While traveling 45 mph, the vehicle was struck from the rear causing the vehicle to crash and roll over three times. The driver's side steering wheel airbag deployed yet no other airbags in the vehicle deployed. The driver and a passenger were injured during the crash and were…
Steering 45 Read
On 5/11/10 my 2008 dodge nitro crashed into a light pole in a parking lot service lane. I was driving when the vehicle started acting like it was going to shut off. It continued intermittently and when I turned to get out of the service lane the steering wheel would not move. As a result of my not being able to…
...so, I left my house, got about a block down the street and all of a sudden my horn starts blaring, windshield wipers started moving, the windshield wiper fluid sprayed, all of my interior and warning lights starting blinking in and out and my nitro started sputtering. At this point I had lost power steering and…
The contact owns a 2007 dodge nitro. The contact stated that she was involved in a crash while driving approximately 30 mph. When the air bags deployed, the dodge emblem on the steering wheel was shot outward and lodged itself into the passenger side door panel. The contact expressed concern about how forceful the…
Structure 39 Read
Passenger door handle broken so passenger can not get out from the inside
The contact owns a 2011 dodge nitro. The contact stated there was water in the ceiling of the vehicle. The contact noticed water stains on both sides of the ceiling of the vehicle. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer/mechanic for diagnostic testing. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure and…
The door locks quit working and then they jam. The inside handle breaks and the lock knob wont move up so your trapped inside so these no way to get out without climbing over the seats. If you were to cash and there was only one way out of the car it better not be the doors that have stopped working
Service Brakes 38 Read
The contact owns a 2010 dodge nitro. While driving 65 mph, the contact detected a burning rubber odor inside the vehicle. After releasing the brake pedal, the brakes failed to release from the rotors. The contact had to depress the accelerator pedal with extra force to accelerate. The vehicle was taken to tri-county…
During the last major snow storm I noticed what I thought was a brake failure after talking to a coworker he said that sometimes a lot of snow can mess with the brakes. His explanation seemed logical. On 4/17/10 I was driving down the road and started coasting towards traffic that just started moving. My approach…
The contact owns a 2007 dodge nitro. While driving 55 mph she lost control of the vehicle and crashed head on into a ditch. She stated that her head hit the windshield and her chest hit the steering wheel. The side airbags deployed however, the front airbags did not. The police onsite stated that the brakes were not…
Nitro 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Air Bags,equipment Adaptive/mobility | — | — | |
| 2011 | Air Bags | 5 | 1 | |
| 2010 | Air Bags | 1 | 2 | |
| 2009 | Air Bags | — | 1 | |
| 2008 | Air Bags | 16 | 12 | |
| 2007 | Air Bags | 21 | 15 |
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 | 288 |
| Average complaints per series | 4.2 |
| Worst single series | 27 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 5.9 years |
A model average of 4.2 hides a worst series at 27. 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
- No ads, on every page
- 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 Nitro?
By complaint volume, 2007, 2008, 2011 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 Nitro years are the cleanest?
2012, 2009, 2010 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Dodge Nitro have?
1,206 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2007–2012. Of those, 43 describe a crash and 31 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.