AtWhatMileage
Engine · 30 owner reports

Other engine problem on the 2009 Dodge Challenger

1 fire 1 of the 30 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.

Reports of this failure 30
With an odometer reading 26
Reports per 1,000 built 0.5 per 1,000
Filed below 36,000 miles 62%
Mention a crash, fire or injury 1
Typical repair $300–$4,000
What it means when it happens High
Rank among this year's problems 1st

When other engine problem gets reported

Owners of the 2009 Dodge Challenger report other engine problem at a median of 30,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 12,500 miles and a quarter after 47,500 miles, from 26 reports that carried an odometer reading.

A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.

The mileage distribution

The reported range runs from 2,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 72,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 69,275 miles across the middle 80% of reports.

When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.

62% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.

The whole distribution

Percentiles of the 26 odometer readings owners gave.
10th25thMedian 75th90th
3,350 miles 11,250 miles 30,000 miles 47,750 miles 72,625 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, 1 a fire 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 $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 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2010, at a median of 12,500 miles, and latest on the 2012 at 115,000 miles.

By volume the 2010 carries the most reports, with 46; the 2009 has 30. 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.

What owners wrote

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.

2009 dodge challenger r/t loses power while under load such as going up hills or passing; and the RPM pulsates. This condition appears to occur more in hot weather. Upon deceleration, transmission shifts so roughly that vehicle lost traction in slippery road conditions, and nearly resulted in a crash. These appear to be two separate conditions that make the vehicle extremely unsafe. *tr

1,000 miles NHTSA complaint 730665 filed 2009-08-09

Issue # 1) I have an automatic transmission 2009 dodge challenger rt. So I was driving under normal conditions accelerating normally and the engine coughs...strange. Then it does it again, a very sudden cough like it is struggling for air, the vehicle almost shudders too. Engine code pops up. Head to auto zone and have it checked - p0730 gear ratio incorrect. This has happen a few time within the past few weeks . To car to the dealership- they saw the same code . Because the car was driving normal again they did nothing . Planning to take it back in so they can pull the trans. Issue # 2) today 8/11/10 - I was driving on the express way with an over a 1/2 tank of gas, doing about 60 to 70 MPH. About 30 min into my drive, suddenly all my dashboard light/symbols pop on and my car lost all power. To avoid get rear ended I had to pull over on the side of the road. *tr

26,586 miles NHTSA complaint 806231 filed 2010-08-12

2009 dodge challenger, complete engine shutoff after decelerating. Very dangerous. Breaks and steering shut off. Has happened 4 times to me. There are dozens of reports of this located here: http://www.challengertalk.com/forums/f36/engine-stalling-35997/. *tr

1,200 miles NHTSA complaint 812785 filed 2010-09-08

Also reported on the 2009 Dodge Challenger

Other powertrain problem

17 reports median 41k

Other electrical problem

11 reports median 65k

Other speed control problem

7 reports median 54k

How far this goes

Complaints are voluntary, so 30 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 2009 Dodge Challenger?

Across 26 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 30,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 12,500 miles and a quarter after 47,500 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 2009 Dodge Challenger?

30 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.5 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