Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure on the 2012 Dodge Challenger
When timing chain, belt or tensioner failure gets reported
Owners of the 2012 Dodge Challenger report timing chain, belt or tensioner failure at a median of 100,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles, from 8 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 120,000 miles. It is the 8th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 20,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 120,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 99,032 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.
38% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21,468 miles | 23,993 miles | 101,450 miles | 107,493 miles | 120,500 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 $1,200–$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.
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 4 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2010, at a median of 55,000 miles, and latest on the 2012 at 100,000 miles.
By volume the 2010 carries the most reports, with 41; 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.
I own a 2012 dodge challenger srt 8. Chrysler issued 2 tsbs in 2014 about the engine timing chain guide possibly fracturing, causing the timing chain to break, and resulting in severe engine damage. Chrysler will pay for the engine damage if the chain breaks if it occurs under warranty. But, they will not pay to replace the guide to prevent the chain from breaking. These two tsbs, numbers csn-p-01 and 09-po-11-82, affect 2009 ' 2012 chrysler 300s, and dodge chargers and challengers. The second tsb says it affects a "numerous amount of vehicles'. A dodge service advisor advised the out-of-pocket cost to replace the guide is around $2000. My contention is that this issue should be a safety recall, not a tsb. The reason is that when the timing chain breaks, the vehicle is going to stall. This could very easily result in a serious crash if the vehicle stalls in the second or third lane of a busy 4 lane interstate during rush hour. The driver may not be able to get the vehicle over to either the left or right shoulder before the vehicle stops, and it would be dangerous for the driver to try to run from the vehicle to a shoulder. In…
Took my car in for oil change they said there was a recall on the timing chain and belt so they replaced it the next morning my battery light , ABS , traction control light came on by the time I got to work it would not restart. Battery would not charge became extremely hot it melted the jumper cable handles.no power what so ever...2 service men came to tow me and they both stated it was very unusual it would not charge at all... Very discouraged since it only has 23,000 miles ... I was stranded on a city street for 4 hours waiting ist person locksmith/battery charger couldnt jump it so he left then called for a tow truck...
Took my car in for oil change they said there was a recall on the timing chain and belt so they replaced it the next morning my battery light , ABS , traction control light came on by the time I got to work it would not restart. Battery would not charge became extremely hot it melted the jumper cable handles.no power what so ever...2 service men came to tow me and they both stated it was very unusual it would not charge at all... Very discouraged since it only has 23,000 miles ... I was stranded on a city street for 4 hours waiting ist person locksmith/battery charger couldnt jump it so he left then called for a tow truck...
Also reported on the 2012 Dodge Challenger
Other electrical problem
Alternator or charging system failure
Airbag inflator rupture
Other powertrain problem
No-start or intermittent start failure
Wiring harness or short circuit
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 timing chain, belt or tensioner failure happen on the 2012 Dodge Challenger?
Across 8 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 100,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is timing chain, belt or tensioner failure on the 2012 Dodge Challenger?
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