all vehicles · every Charger year · method

Dodge Charger 2012

Safety complaints filed by owners in the first three years, per 1,000 sold.

1.94 per 1,000

4.4 times this nameplate’s own median · from 148 complaints filed in the first three years, of 658 ever. 95% lower bound 1.63.

Against its own model years

The model year carries far more information than the badge, so this is the comparison that matters.

Model year	Per 1,000	Complaints
2008	0.33	32
2009	0.29	23
2010	0.56	38
2011	1.29	94
2012	1.94	148
2013	1.04	94
2014	0.96	92
2015	0.30	28
2016	0.47	45
2017	0.33	30
2018	0.59	50
2019	0.44	39
2020	0.15	13
2021	0.14	11
2023	0.18	14

What owners describe

Phrases over-represented in these complaints compared with the same component on every other vehicle. Counts are complaints containing the phrase.

Electrical System 365 complaints

alternator	191	51%
mode	77	21%
diagnosed alternator	56	15%
saver	44	12%
battery saver	41	11%
saver mode	40	11%

Air Bags 111 complaints

bag warning	27	24%
harness	14	13%
wiring	14	13%
intermittently	14	13%

Engine 98 complaints

alternator

20%

When it breaks

9% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 64,000 miles, from 499 complaints that recorded one).

Failures arrive late and spread out, which looks like wear. Service history matters more than model year here.

What NHTSA did

3 investigations covering this model year, 2 of which list a recall campaign. Owners had filed 110 complaints about this component over roughly 25 months before an investigation opened.

Vehicle rollaway, engine on

What owners and forums say

Not built yet. This panel is meant to carry community sentiment beside the filed-complaint data, so the two can be compared. Showing something weaker here would defeat its purpose.

Check this yourself

Example records behind this page:

10461133 · 10464547 · 10469415 · 10477379 · 10490331 · 10508134

Limits of this figure. It counts safety complaints filed with the federal government, which is a floor on failures and not a census: problems that only cost money are under-reported. Complaint rates also reflect how likely a brand’s owners are to file, which cannot be separated from how often the car fails. Sales are calendar-year and the denominator for this nameplate is automated checks only, not verified against an external source.