Steering column or shaft failure on the 2008 Dodge Charger
When steering column or shaft failure gets reported
Owners of the 2008 Dodge Charger report steering column or shaft failure at a median of 45,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles, from 10 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 10th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 40,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 100,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 61,853 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.
10% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39,908 miles | 42,725 miles | 47,450 miles | 101,761 miles | 101,761 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 $600–$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 7 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2016, at a median of 2,000 miles, and latest on the 2013 at 110,000 miles.
By volume the 2008 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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.
After receiving recall 08v583000 involving police vehicles with steering column mounted shifter on 11/18/2008, vehicle repeatedly has problems engaging gears. Officers driving this vehicle place the shifter into drive and learn that it has not engaged and is instead in neutral. It often startles the officers, who are focused on making rapid shift changes in order to pursue violators or negotiate terrain. Officers find that they often need to push the steering column shifter toward the dash to properly engage the appropriate gear, causing a lapse in driving skills and a loss of focus on vehicle operation. The latest failure occured in the middle of a crowded intersection as the patrol officer was attempting to pursue a violator. Vehicle showed it was in reverse when it was between reverse and neutral. Shifting to drive, it remained between neutral and drive until the officer could correctly engage the appropriate gear. *tr
After receiving recall 08v583000 involving police vehicles with steering column mounted shifter on 11/18/2008, vehicle repeatedly has problems engaging gears. Officers driving this vehicle place the shifter into drive and learn that it has not engaged and is instead in neutral. It often startles the officers, who are focused on making rapid shift changes in order to pursue violators or negotiate terrain. Officers find that they often need to push the steering column shifter toward the dash to properly engage the appropriate gear, causing a lapse in driving skills and a loss of focus on vehicle operation. The latest failure occured in the middle of a crowded intersection as the patrol officer was attempting to pursue a violator. Vehicle showed it was in reverse when it was between reverse and neutral. Shifting to drive, it remained between neutral and drive until the officer could correctly engage the appropriate gear. *tr
My 2008 dodge charger will lose A/C, radio, turn signals and power steering while driving and sometimes stall out completely when this happens while driving. Have taken it to dealer 10 times for same problem - dealer has replaced steering column module 3 times but I am still having same problem. This started happening in may 2010 then more frequent in november 2010 and just happened again yesterday (12-15-2010). Dealer placed flight recorder in vehicle and while I was driving with that installed I lost A/C, radio and turn signals. Dealer could not figure out the problem so they sent results from flight recorder to chrysler - as of today I still have not heard back from the dealer. Needless to say I am feeling very uncomfortable driving this car (especially with my children inside) not knowing when the car will decide to lose all power and stall while driving .. *tr
Also reported on the 2008 Dodge Charger
Other electrical problem
No-start or intermittent start failure
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
Airbag inflator rupture
Other engine problem
Radiator or coolant leak
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 12 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 steering column or shaft failure happen on the 2008 Dodge Charger?
Across 10 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 45,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is steering column or shaft failure on the 2008 Dodge Charger?
12 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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