Overheating on the 1999 Dodge Durango
4 fires 4 of the 22 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 overheating gets reported
Owners of the 1999 Dodge Durango report overheating at a median of 115,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles, from 13 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 102,000 miles. It is the 22nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 20,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 140,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 117,500 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.
23% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20,000 miles | 77,500 miles | 113,500 miles | 131,500 miles | 137,500 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
Of these reports, 4 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 $400–$3,500 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.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 12 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2017, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 190,000 miles.
By volume the 1999 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.
While driving at 60 MPH, vehicle began to lose power and lurch. Shortly after, smoke began to appear from center console and hvac ducts as engine stopped running. Vehicle was safely maneuvered onto shoulder and stopped; by then heavy smoke was pouring from center console area and hvac vents. Driver bailed out and watched from the side of the road as interior completely filled with smoke. Vehicle was towed to mechanic, subsequent examination determined underbody sound dampening mat had been ignited by overheated catalytic converter. Burning underbody mat subsequently caused extensive thermal damage to center console, carpet, and hvac ducts inside console. Root cause of catalytic converter overheating was attributed by dealer mechanic to possible intermittent connection of coil wire, allowing excessively rich fuel/air mixture to be passed to catalytic converter. *ak
Tl*the contact owns a 1999 dodge durango. While driving approximately 20 MPH, the vehicle veered to the left and the power assist pulled to the right. The contact heard a loud noise and smoke appeared under the hood. In addition, the vehicle was not running properly and the brakes overheated with a burning odor. The contact observed severe tire wear. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer and the vehicle was repaired. On over 20 separate occasions, the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for the same issues; however, the failures still persist. The VIN was unknown. The failure mileage was 20,000 and current mileage was 122,000.
Tl*the contact owns a 1999 dodge durango. While driving approximately 20 MPH, the vehicle veered to the left and the power assist pulled to the right. The contact heard a loud noise and smoke appeared under the hood. In addition, the vehicle was not running properly and the brakes overheated with a burning odor. The contact observed severe tire wear. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer and the vehicle was repaired. On over 20 separate occasions, the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for the same issues; however, the failures still persist. The VIN was unknown. The failure mileage was 20,000 and current mileage was 122,000.
Also reported on the 1999 Dodge Durango
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
Other engine problem
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure
Other suspension problem
ABS module or sensor failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 22 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 overheating happen on the 1999 Dodge Durango?
Across 13 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 115,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is overheating on the 1999 Dodge Durango?
22 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 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