No-start or intermittent start failure on the 2006 Dodge Charger
When no-start or intermittent start failure gets reported
Owners of the 2006 Dodge Charger report no-start or intermittent start failure at a median of 125,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 100,000 miles and a quarter after 150,000 miles, from 24 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 16th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 90,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 160,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 69,260 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 91,300 miles | 98,950 miles | 122,791 miles | 152,256 miles | 160,560 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 $200–$1,800 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 2014, at a median of 45,000 miles, and latest on the 2010 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 2008 carries the most reports, with 102; the 2006 has 24. 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.
The alarm system failure. The car would not start. So I had to contact aaa and send a tow truck out. Soon as the towtruck driver came out he sd it is the alarm system, even before we told him the problem. He sd that he have had a few dodge chargers towed with the same problem. So nw I have to see if dodge will fix it . But the problem is that I bought it used,and it is over 50k miles. So I have to find out if dodge will check it out for free and fix the problem or do I have to take it back to the dealership where I bought it from which was not a dodge dealership. *tr
I was traveling along the interstate and noticed a hesitation in my automobile due to a seized up engine. Just before it seized up I heard a knocking sound coming from the engine. The car would not start. The car was towed to a garage. The service person did an investigation an informed me that the engine was damaged and would need a complete overhaul or replacement. I was told by the machanic that the engine in the vehicle is notorious for failure due to a malfuctioning oil pump or defective connecting rod bearing. I did some research an found that there is a recall associated with a failed connecting rod bearing. One of my co-workers experienced the same thing with his automobile which is a chrysler/dodge product. This engine is a safety hazard in that by seizing up while in motion it could cause the driver to loose control of the vehicle resulting in serious injury or death. *tt
Before arriving at work stopped at mcdonalds to get coffee. After 10min return to car and tried to start and would not start. I turned key again car started shaking and started with white smoke coming out of exhaust. Car was shaking real hard I stepped on gas pedal and place it in drive I drove to the next street to work location and as I was putting car in reversed car cut off again. I started it again smoke again came out I put in reverse while giving gas and backed car into parking spot at work location. I called tow truck j & j towing they came and I started car and drove unto flatbed and had towed to myers automotive mechanics. They said the valve/cylinder #2 had broken cause spark plug to bend and melted other things and that this year of the 2006 dodge charger rt with the hemi 5.7 was know for this issue they have had tremendous amount of problems with these models/make of dodge and that even getting a used one it would do the same. They advised a new manufactured one that dodge apparently have revised editions. They need to replaced all these engine issues that they have known about but left the consumer to deal with…
Also reported on the 2006 Dodge Charger
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
Other engine problem
Other fuel system problem
Other powertrain problem
Stalling while driving
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 24 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 no-start or intermittent start failure happen on the 2006 Dodge Charger?
Across 24 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 125,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 100,000 miles and a quarter after 150,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is no-start or intermittent start failure on the 2006 Dodge Charger?
24 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 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