2015 Dodge Caravan: what breaks, and at what mileage
What breaks on the 2015 Dodge Caravan
On the 2015 Dodge Caravan, the failure owners report most often is airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault, with 4 reports on file. Across every failure mode on this year, half the dated reports were filed before 42,500 miles. Overall it scores 65 out of 100, high risk for a 2015.
High risk for a 2015 — 236th riskiest of the 273 2015 vehicles we can rate. 29 owner reports; fleet size borrowed from other years of the same model.
What owners report breaking
Owners have reported 14 named failure modes on the 2015 Dodge Caravan, and the three most-reported carry 38% of everything filed.
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault leads with 4 reports and about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles.
Other powertrain problem follows with 4 reports, median 85,000 miles.
Other engine problem follows with 3 reports, median 40,000 miles.
By system, the reports fall mostly into transmission (6), airbag (5) and engine (3).
When these failures get reported
28 of the reports on the 2015 Dodge Caravan came with an odometer reading, and half of those were filed before 42,500 miles.
Cumulatively, 57% by 50,000 miles, 82% by 100,000 miles and 93% by 150,000 miles of the dated reports had been filed.
The busiest stretch is between 20,000 and 30,000 miles, which alone holds 21% of the dated reports.
39% of the dated reports were filed below 36,000 miles, which is early enough that a fair number of these cars were still under a factory warranty when the owner complained.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
Showing the 12 most-reported failure modes of 14. The full list is in the table below.
How reports accumulate
Every report with an odometer reading, cumulative, from 0 to 200,000 miles. A curve that climbs early is a car with early problems, whatever its total.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
- Dashed the median reported mileage
Severity, and what it costs
Across the named modes, 3 mention a crash and 2 an injury. Those are the words owners used in their own complaints, and NHTSA does not verify them, but they are the closest thing in this data to a measure of what a failure actually did.
The average severity weight across every report on this year is 5.14, where a stalled engine or a failed airbag weighs many times more than a rattling trim panel, and a figure this high means the reports are dominated by failures with safety consequences rather than annoyances. The weighting is set out in full on the methodology page.
What the top failures cost to put right, as editorial estimates for an independent US shop rather than figures from NHTSA: airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault at $300–$1,600, other powertrain problem at $400–$4,500, other engine problem at $300–$4,000 and other body or interior problem at $200–$2,000. Dealer labour, a seized bolt or a part that is no longer made can push any of these past the top of its range.
38% of the reports on this year sit in the engine, transmission, drivetrain or cooling systems — the four where a repair bill is usually four figures.
Every reported failure mode
| Failure mode | System | Reports | With reading | 25th | Median | 75th | Per 1,000 | Typical repair | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault | airbag | 4 | 4 | — | 111k | — | 0.1 | $300–$1,600 | High |
| Other powertrain problem | transmission | 4 | 3 | — | 85k | — | 0.1 | $400–$4,500 | High |
| Other engine problem | engine | 3 | 3 | — | 42k | — | 0.1 | $300–$4,000 | High |
| Other body or interior problem | body | 3 | 3 | — | 25k | — | 0.1 | $200–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Complete transmission failure | transmission | 2 | 2 | — | 68k | — | 0.0 | $2,800–$8,000 | Critical |
| Other electrical problem | electrical | 2 | 2 | — | 51k | — | 0.0 | $250–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Other brake problem | brakes | 2 | 2 | — | 33k | — | 0.0 | $300–$1,800 | High |
| Overheating | cooling | 1 | 1 | — | 20k | — | 0.0 | $400–$3,500 | High |
| Thermostat failure | cooling | 1 | 1 | — | 56k | — | 0.0 | $250–$900 | Moderate |
| Seat belt or retractor failure | airbag | 1 | 1 | — | 60k | — | 0.0 | $200–$900 | High |
| Tire blowout or tread separation | wheels | 1 | 1 | — | 45k | — | 0.0 | $200–$1,500 | Critical |
| Air conditioning failure | hvac | 1 | 1 | — | 12k | — | 0.0 | $400–$2,800 | Moderate |
| Other steering problem | steering | 1 | 1 | — | 42k | — | 0.0 | $350–$2,400 | High |
| Other visibility problem | glass | 1 | 1 | — | 48k | — | 0.0 | $150–$1,400 | Moderate |
| Unclassified problem | other | 2 | 2 | — | 22k | — | 0.0 | — | Moderate |
This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model. Repair costs are typical independent-shop ranges for the failure, not figures from these reports.
How often, against how many were built
Scaled by an estimate of how many of these cars exist, the 2015 Dodge Caravan draws about 0.5 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 71st percentile of complaint rates among 2015 vehicles we can rate.
That denominator is the weakest number on the page and it is fair to say so plainly. This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model.
The working figure is 56,750 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 2015 vehicles, which is what the risk score uses, is far more robust than the rate itself.
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The odometer reading is the one the owner gave.
Other powertrain problem
Car was sitting in park and stationary with engine on in our home flat driveway and driver got out of car to return to house while car was in park. The driver was gone for 20 seconds and as driver was returning to car the car started rolling backwards in driveway for 150 feet until it hit tree and stopped. When driver returned to driver seat the gear shift was in reverse.
How it ranks in the 2015 field
The score at the top of the page, placed among its peers. The zones are the same thresholds the scorer applies, read out of the scorer itself, so the picture and the band word cannot disagree.
Scores are ranked within the model year, never across years, because an older car has had longer to accumulate reports.
- Left fewer and less serious reports
- Right more, or worse
- Marker this vehicle
How 2015 compares with the other years
High risk for a 2015 — 236th riskiest of the 273 2015 vehicles we can rate. Because the ranking is against the same model year only, age cancels out of it.
Across the 20 model years of this car that carry enough reports to score, 2014 comes out best at 56 and 2007 worst at 74, with 2015 itself at 65.
If the model year is negotiable, 2014, 2013, 2011 and 2004 score lower than 2015 by a margin worth acting on. Same body, same engines, different luck — usually a supplier change or a mid-cycle fix, which the complaint data can show but never explain.
Within the 2011–2017 generation specifically, 2014 is the strongest year at 56 and 2015 the weakest at 65.
Scores compare each year against other cars of the same model year, so a low number on an older car is a real result and not an artefact of age.
Shorter is better. Years with too few reports to score are shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not good news.
Within the 2011-2017 generation, 2014 Dodge Caravan scores best at 56 and 2015 Dodge Caravan worst at 65.
The limits of complaint data
29 owner reports; fleet size borrowed from other years of the same model. Every count on this page is therefore a floor: it is the number of owners who went to the trouble of filing with a federal agency, which is a small and self-selected fraction of the owners who had the fault.
Of those 29 reports, 28 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 97% of the sample rather than all of it. Owners also round: readings pile up on multiples of ten thousand, which is why this site publishes "about 90,000 miles" and not "91,438".
The failure modes are assigned by software reading the owner's own words, which is accurate in bulk and wrong in individual cases. A mode with a handful of reports may contain a misfiled one.
And nothing here predicts what one car will do. These are other people's complaints, filed years apart, on cars maintained by strangers. Read the page as a map of where this model year has previously gone wrong, then have the specific car in front of you inspected.
Questions this page answers
What are the most common problems with the 2015 Dodge Caravan?
The most-reported failures are airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault (4 reports, median 110,000 miles), other powertrain problem (4 reports, median 85,000 miles) and other engine problem (3 reports, median 40,000 miles). Counts come from owner complaints filed with NHTSA, which are voluntary, so they show what owners bothered to report rather than every fault that occurred.
Is the 2015 Dodge Caravan reliable?
It scores 65 out of 100 on our risk index, which is high — 236th riskiest of the 273 2015 vehicles we can rate. The score is a comparison against other 2015 vehicles, not a prediction about any individual car, and it is built from complaint rates, severity and how early failures appear.
Which year of the Dodge Caravan is best?
Within the 2011–2017 generation, 2014 scores best at 56 out of 100 and 2015 worst at 65. Same body, same engines, different luck.
Where this comes from. Every figure above is computed from NHTSA owner complaints and recall records for this exact make, model and year. Complaints are voluntary and self-selected, so treat counts as a floor. The methodology page writes out each formula, and the same numbers are available as JSON.
What breaks at my mileage Compare with another car
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