YearsTellEspaƱol

2016 Dodge Dart

For every car sold, owners filed somewhat fewer complaints about the 2016 Dart than about the typical Dart year. Among the 4 Dart years with enough complaints to compare, owners filed the fewest about this one, the 2016 (0.91 per 1,000 sold) and the most about the 2012 (6.96).

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

0.91 per 1,000

0.8 times this nameplate’s own median

Counted from 60 complaints filed in the first three years, of 264 ever. 95% lower bound 0.68. Not counted: 2 complaints that reported only that a recall repair was unavailable, not a failure.

Every Dart model yearComplaints per 1,000 sold, first three years
This yearOther yearsTypical year, 1.21

Against its own model years

The model year carries far more information than the badge, so this is the comparison that matters. The bar is how many complaints each rate rests on.

Model yearPer 1,000Complaints
20126.96176
20130.000
20141.1697
20151.21104
20160.9160

Issues owners of the 2016 Dart report

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

Power Train 88 complaints

shift cable1315%
jeep ram1315%
chrysler jeep1315%

Unknown Or Other 61 complaints

cable1220%
shifter1016%
wrong1016%

When it breaks

22% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 49,000 miles, from 156 complaints that recorded one).

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

By engine

The VIN an owner files names the engine, which places 253 of this year’s 264 complaints. Sales by engine are not published, so these are not rates and say nothing about which engine drew more complaints. What can be compared is what each engine’s owners reported.

EngineComplaintsAbout the engine or fuel systemOf those, before 30,000 miles
2.4 L 4-cylinder15335%32% of 37
2.0 L 4-cylinder9213%too few mileages

Engines as NHTSA’s VIN decoder (vPIC) reads them from the first eleven characters of each VIN. “Turbo” is shown only where every VIN records one; the decoder leaves it blank on many turbo engines. 19 complaints are not in the table: no usable VIN, an engine vPIC could not decode, or an engine with fewer than 25 complaints.

What NHTSA did

1 investigation covering this model year, 1 of which list a recall campaign.

Recall 19V-293 Post Remedy Failures

Questions buyers ask about the 2016 Dodge Dart

Is 2016 a good year or a bad year for the Dart?

For every car sold, owners filed somewhat fewer complaints about the 2016 Dart than about the typical Dart year. Among the 4 Dart years with enough complaints to compare, owners filed the fewest about this one, the 2016 (0.91 per 1,000 sold) and the most about the 2012 (6.96). The typical year is the median across its model years.

What problems does the 2016 Dart have?

The parts owners named most often in complaints filed to date: Power Train (88), Engine (67), Unknown Or Other (61). The phrases they used are listed above.

Is the 2016 Dart reliable?

Complaint records cannot settle that on their own. They count safety problems owners chose to report to the federal government, not every repair. What they do show is how this year compares with the other Dart years: for every car sold, owners filed somewhat fewer complaints about the 2016 Dart than about the typical Dart year.

Which Dart year has the fewest complaints?

Among years with enough complaints to compare, the 2016, at 0.91 per 1,000 sold. Every Dart year, ranked.

What the used-car guides say

No guide we read covers the Dart.

Check this yourself

Example records behind this page, each on NHTSA’s own site:

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 taken year by year from published US sales figures, each one quoted from a named source.