Other engine problem on the 2012 Dodge Avenger
3 crashes 4 fires 3 injuries 10 of the 36 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 engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2012 Dodge Avenger report other engine problem at a median of 90,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 57,500 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles, from 30 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 6th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 42,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 125,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 82,460 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.
7% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 42,350 miles | 58,500 miles | 88,810 miles | 109,519 miles | 124,810 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, 3 a crash, 4 a fire and 3 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 $300–$4,000 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 9 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2014, at a median of 50,000 miles, and latest on the 1997 at 140,000 miles.
By volume the 2008 carries the most reports, with 99; the 2012 has 36. 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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 dodge avenger. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled numerous times while driving various speeds. The instrument panel indicators flashed intermittently during the failure. Additionally, the front passenger side window was inoperable. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was 51,500.
Driving home from work at 5:40 pm, 3 deer ran out and after slamming on brakes the last one was struck, head on. The hood buckled and the entire engine of the car imploded in flames. No airbags went off and the car immediately died. I was able to pull car over to the side of the road and get out of car however, the car burned completely. The car engulfed in flames and the engine, windows, entire inside, everything burned. There is no dash, no steering wheel, seats, front tires, etc are gone. There is very little left and the manufacturer had an investigation done and will not tell me why this happened. My husband has a 2014 avenger and we want to know if it is safe. But were told my manufacturer representative they would not tell me because they would not want it out in the public. *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 dodge avenger. While driving at 25 MPH uphill, the vehicle stalled without warning and rolled down the hill. Consequently, the vehicle struck a pole on the driver side door. The driver sustained minor injuries, but did not require medical attention. A police report was not filed. The vehicle was able to restart after one attempt. The failure did not recur. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 58,000.
Also reported on the 2012 Dodge Avenger
Heater core failure
Other visibility problem
Other electrical problem
Radiator or coolant leak
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Seat belt or retractor failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 36 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 engine problem happen on the 2012 Dodge Avenger?
Across 30 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 90,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 57,500 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2012 Dodge Avenger?
36 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.6 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