Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 2006 Chrysler 300
2 crashes 2 of the 12 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure gets reported
Owners of the 2006 Chrysler 300 report control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure at a median of 10,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 65,000 miles, from 10 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 16th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 100,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 90,656 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
60% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7,344 miles | 8,599 miles | 10,000 miles | 66,377 miles | 98,000 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
Of these reports, 2 a crash is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $700–$3,000 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 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 15 miles, and latest on the 2013 at 105,000 miles.
By volume the 2005 carries the most reports, with 25; the 2006 has 12. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
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.
Dt*: the contact stated after shifting the transmission from park to reverse, the brake pedal was released and the vehicle accelerated on its own. The brake pedal was depressed again, but the vehicle did not respond. The vehicle stopped after hitting a ditch. There was minor damage to the vehicle and no injuries. The vehicle was towed the dealership, the computer stored no codes and the dealer was unable to duplicate the problem. Updated 8/1/2006 - the consumer's vehicle started electrical problems a week after it was purchased. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer several times for repairs. The radio went out then came back on. The all the panel light went out. The dealer replaced the cluster. The esp bas light illuminated on the dash. The dealer replaced the parking brake switch. The driver's side window auto up function failed. The dealer calibrated the auto up function. When turning the key to start the vehicle it doesn't start. Sometimes it takes 3 or 4 tries before the vehicle will start. The dealer replaced the wireless control module. Ignition switch was replaced because the vehicle wouldn't start. *nm
Dt*: the contact stated after shifting the transmission from park to reverse, the brake pedal was released and the vehicle accelerated on its own. The brake pedal was depressed again, but the vehicle did not respond. The vehicle stopped after hitting a ditch. There was minor damage to the vehicle and no injuries. The vehicle was towed the dealership, the computer stored no codes and the dealer was unable to duplicate the problem. Updated 8/1/2006 - the consumer's vehicle started electrical problems a week after it was purchased. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer several times for repairs. The radio went out then came back on. The all the panel light went out. The dealer replaced the cluster. The esp bas light illuminated on the dash. The dealer replaced the parking brake switch. The driver's side window auto up function failed. The dealer calibrated the auto up function. When turning the key to start the vehicle it doesn't start. Sometimes it takes 3 or 4 tries before the vehicle will start. The dealer replaced the wireless control module. Ignition switch was replaced because the vehicle wouldn't start. *nm
Dt*: the contact stated after starting the vehicle, the gear would only shift into second and then locked up. There was no warning signal prior to the incident. The vehicle was taken to 2 different service dealers on 4 occasions. The first dealer determined that there was a procedure in the owner's manual to address this problem. When the vehicle was in the cold limp mode, the contact was suppose to stop the vehicle and move the selector level to the park position, turn off the engine and wait approx. 10 seconds. After 10 seconds, the engine should be restarted and the shift lever should be moved to the desire gear. On the second visit to the previous dealer, the transmission control module was replaced. On the third visit, the problem could not be duplicated but codes po763 and po762 were identified by diagnostic testing. The codes were cleared and the vehicle was road tested. On the fourth visit, the vehicle was hooked up to a computer recorder underneath the dashboard and code po762 was found. During this period, the vehicle was in the cold limp mode but after the transmission was adjusted the vehicle returned back to normal…
Also reported on the 2006 Chrysler 300
Other powertrain problem
Other engine problem
Airbag inflator rupture
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
Other fuel system problem
Shifter, linkage or stuck-in-park failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 12 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 control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure happen on the 2006 Chrysler 300?
Across 10 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 10,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 65,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure on the 2006 Chrysler 300?
12 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