Alternator or charging system failure on the 2013 Dodge Charger
1 crash 21 fires 1 injury 23 of the 116 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.
When alternator or charging system failure gets reported
Owners of the 2013 Dodge Charger report alternator or charging system failure at a median of 55,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 70,000 miles, from 87 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 98,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 10,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 87,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 76,000 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.
17% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10,400 miles | 40,900 miles | 56,000 miles | 70,150 miles | 86,400 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 crash, 21 a fire and 1 an injury are 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 $450–$1,600 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 9 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2014, at a median of 47,500 miles, and latest on the 2006 at 175,000 miles.
By volume the 2011 carries the most reports, with 284; the 2013 has 116. 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.
My 2013 dodge charger had it's alternator fail at around 12000 miles back in may of 2014. I see that chrysler has now recalled the car (NHTSA campaign number: 14v634000) for the same issue. However, I have not been able to get a straight answer from them in regards to whether or not the dealer fixed the issue when they replaced the alternator in may 2014 or whether it is still a lingering issue. I also failed to get a response as to whether or not it is safe to drive the vehicle if the issue is still lingering. I tried communicating with them electronically through their website and their 1800 recall number. The 1800 recall number was a waste of time because the lady answering the phone only repeated back information that was part of the public release of the recall. The lady answering the phone also tried to make it seem like its unknown whether or not my vehicle is even part of the recall. That seems strange considering the fact that most alternators do not fail at 12000 miles and my charger matches the description of vehicles that could be affected by the recall. Given the possible consequences that could occur, I wanted some…
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 dodge charger. The contact stated that the lights on the instrument panel would intermittently flicker off and on. The failure progressed and the vehicle would stall while driving at various speeds. The vehicle was taken for diagnostic testing at an independent repair facility. The technician stated that the battery was not properly receiving a charge and the alternator would need to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The VIN was not affected by NHTSA campaign number: 14v634000 (electrical system). The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 45,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 dodge charger. The contact stated that the lights on the instrument panel would intermittently flicker off and on. The failure progressed and the vehicle would stall while driving at various speeds. The vehicle was taken for diagnostic testing at an independent repair facility. The technician stated that the battery was not properly receiving a charge and the alternator would need to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The VIN was not affected by NHTSA campaign number: 14v634000 (electrical system). The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 45,000.
Also reported on the 2013 Dodge Charger
Other electrical problem
Other powertrain problem
Other engine problem
Other steering problem
Other speed control problem
No-start or intermittent start failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 116 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 alternator or charging system failure happen on the 2013 Dodge Charger?
Across 87 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 70,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is alternator or charging system failure on the 2013 Dodge Charger?
116 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.1 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