Other powertrain problem on the 2008 Dodge Avenger
2 crashes 1 injury 3 of the 158 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 other powertrain problem gets reported
Owners of the 2008 Dodge Avenger report other powertrain problem at a median of 51,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 72,000 miles, from 147 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 29,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 111,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 82,343 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.
13% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28,697 miles | 40,000 miles | 50,851 miles | 71,948 miles | 111,040 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 and 1 an injury are 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 $400–$4,500 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 2012, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 1999 at 115,000 miles.
By volume the 2008 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.
Vehicle was stopped at a traffic signal, automatic in drive, when signal changed, removed foot from brake and car reversed while still in drive hitting the vehicle behind me. This event happened after 5 days of having possession of the car. Second event happened 20 days of ownership. Again stopped at a traffic light, car in drive, would not move. Car has to be shut off and restarted to correct problem. This has happened 2 more times to date. Car has been taken back to dealership each time and problem has not been corrected. They can find nothing wrong with the car. I feel this a very dangerous problem, especially with the car going into reverse, while in drive. *jb
I recently purchased a 2008 avenger with the 2.4l vvt 4cylinder and traded in my 2001 dakota with a 4.7l v8 magnum for it. I regret it. I would have don't better off buying a ford. Yes, this car gets good highway gas mileage but it has caused nothing but headaches beyond that point. If I drive around town it sucks the gas like no tomorrow. The RPM's are way to high. The car shifts around 3,000 or higher RPM's whether it is warm or cold. When the shifts, it is not smooth. There hard shifts. My fiance's 1999 durango with 135,000 miles on it shifts better than this car does. Randomly the car will die when I come to a complete stop for a stop light/sign. There was one occasion where I was driving down one of the busiest roads in our town and it died while I was doing about 40mph. Before it dies, it shakes real bad for about 3 seconds then I lose everything. The drivers side rear door handle will not move. It is like it is frozen in place. The handle will not pull out at all. It will open just fine from the inside but I can't do anything from standing outside the car. My doors squeak when I open and close them. Whenever I turn the…
On three separate occasions over the last six months I have had my 2008 dodge avenger 2.4 liter w/t engine vehicle in the dealerships shop to have the transmission repaired. First, the shifting was very hard and the transmission was bucking and not shifting into gear correctly. The second time, the transmission was not shifting hard anymore but the transmission was losing power and bucking again and the repair shop did a computer upgrade repair and I had a rental truck for two days. Upon return of the rental truck, my car, which had a quarter of a tank of gas in it, was returned to me on empty with the fuel light on. The third time I took the car to the dealership repair shop the transmission was still bucking and losing power. This time I dropped the car off and when I returned to pick it up, not only was the transmission still having the same issue after the mechanics changed the torque conversion operation, but I now have a ding in the left rear door that was not there when I dropped the car off. The ding is not that large, however, it has chipped the paint off and the dealership repair shop told me that they were not…
Also reported on the 2008 Dodge Avenger
Other electrical problem
Other speed control problem
Other engine problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Shifter, linkage or stuck-in-park failure
Alternator or charging system failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 158 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 other powertrain problem happen on the 2008 Dodge Avenger?
Across 147 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 51,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 72,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other powertrain problem on the 2008 Dodge Avenger?
158 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 3.5 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