Stalling while driving on the 2012 Dodge Caravan
When stalling while driving gets reported
Owners of the 2012 Dodge Caravan report stalling while driving at a median of 145,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 130,000 miles and a quarter after 160,000 miles, from 8 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 75,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 105,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 165,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 61,800 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.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 103,200 miles | 132,000 miles | 144,000 miles | 158,250 miles | 165,000 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 $300–$2,500 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.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 12 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 1996, at a median of 65,000 miles, and latest on the 2012 at 145,000 miles.
By volume the 2010 carries the most reports, with 11; the 2012 has 8. 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.
2012 dodge caravan continually stalls while driving around on the highway. Usually happens when we come to a stop. Often, the vehicle runs rough and stalls after idling. The check engine light comes on repeatedly, nearly weekly then goes off after three successful starts. Have taken the van twice to lithia in medford to check and they located a recall on the header. The header was replaced but the problem persisted. The check engine has logged multiple "mis-fire" errors and no other errors. The problem, to this day, has not been located and thus they tell us there is nothing they can do. Meanwhile, we continue to have "mis-fire" errors and stall out in intersections all over the place. On the first visit, nearly two years ago now, lithia also disconnected the rear window controls for a recall. The part was not available and the vehicle was sent home. Just over a year ago we returned the vehicle to have the mis-fire problem checked and lithia stated they still did not have parts for our rear window recall. They told us they added us to the waiting list. Its been nearly two years, I've received my second notice on this recall and I…
Vechile stalls while driving with no waring. No instrument lights or hesitation. This now has happen to me 3 time. Speed ranging from 25-55 MPH. Was able to get the van into neturel and restarted while the van was coasting without power. It was a good thing I didnt have anyone following too closely. This is a very dangerous problem. Something needs done about this before someone has a very serious accident.
Vechile stalls while driving with no waring. No instrument lights or hesitation. This now has happen to me 3 time. Speed ranging from 25-55 MPH. Was able to get the van into neturel and restarted while the van was coasting without power. It was a good thing I didnt have anyone following too closely. This is a very dangerous problem. Something needs done about this before someone has a very serious accident.
Also reported on the 2012 Dodge Caravan
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Fuel pump failure
Other brake problem
Other body or interior problem
No-start or intermittent start failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 8 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 stalling while driving happen on the 2012 Dodge Caravan?
Across 8 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 145,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 130,000 miles and a quarter after 160,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is stalling while driving on the 2012 Dodge Caravan?
8 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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