Thermostat failure on the 2015 Chrysler 200
When thermostat failure gets reported
Owners of the 2015 Chrysler 200 report thermostat failure at a median of 40,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 50,000 miles, from 10 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 30th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 15,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 65,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 51,700 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A window that narrow is the signature of a part that fails on its own schedule rather than on how the car is driven — which is usually a design or supplier problem rather than wear and tear.
30% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15,300 miles | 20,975 miles | 39,400 miles | 47,700 miles | 67,000 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $250–$900 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 4 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2015, at a median of 40,000 miles, and latest on the 2014 at 85,000 miles.
By volume the 2015 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
I was driving home from work when the check engine light, engine temperature warning light, and electronic throttle control light came on. In reviewing the potential issues, a number of people have had the same issue, potentially due to a faulty thermostat. When I had the vehicle scanned at autozone, it provided codes p0218 twice and p2181 once. *tr
I was driving home from work when the check engine light, engine temperature warning light, and electronic throttle control light came on. In reviewing the potential issues, a number of people have had the same issue, potentially due to a faulty thermostat. When I had the vehicle scanned at autozone, it provided codes p0218 twice and p2181 once. *tr
A few days ago the check engine light came on and according to the manual it was not serious but if continued, to have the code checked. I had not had the opportunity to go, but all seemed to be running normally. I was driving on the highway last night and the thermostat light came on and said something regarding the engine temperature came across the messages. I drove to the nearest gas station and checked underneath the hood, and the engine seemed fine...not very hot to the touch so I decided to try and take it to pep boys to have them check it. When I turned the car back on, the light was no longer illuminated and the message was gone, however the check engine light was still on. The pep boys technician checked the code, the code that was read was p0128. I spoke with the technician and he had said he had seen a lot of this issue with the 200 models and advised me to check the recall...which does not have my vehicle for any.
Also reported on the 2015 Chrysler 200
Other electrical problem
Other powertrain problem
Other engine problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
No-start or intermittent start failure
Stalling while driving
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 18 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does thermostat failure happen on the 2015 Chrysler 200?
Across 10 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 40,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 50,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is thermostat failure on the 2015 Chrysler 200?
18 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed