Alternator or charging system failure on the 2012 Dodge Durango
1 crash 18 fires 19 of the 105 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 2012 Dodge Durango report alternator or charging system failure at a median of 87,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 70,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles, from 87 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 98,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 52,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 150,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 96,400 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.
5% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53,600 miles | 69,000 miles | 87,000 miles | 109,925 miles | 150,000 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 and 18 a fire 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 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2006, at a median of 50,000 miles, and latest on the 2001 at 165,000 miles.
By volume the 2011 carries the most reports, with 198; the 2012 has 105. 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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 dodge durango. The contact stated that the battery warning light illuminated. The contact mentioned that both the exterior and interior lighting started to flash on and off. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The technician diagnosed that the alternator was defective and needed to be replaced. However, the vehicle could not be repaired since the parts were not available to perform the remedy for NHTSA campaign number: 14v634000 (electrical system). The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 43,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 dodge durango. The contact stated while driving approximately 70 MPH, the vehicle stalled without warning. The engine failed to restart and the vehicle was towed to the dealer where the alternator was replaced. The failure recurred the same day the repair was performed. An additional repair was performed and the dealer replaced the alternator connector. The VIN was included in NHTSA campaign number: 14v634000 (electrical system) however, the part needed was unavailable. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 75,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 dodge durango. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 14v634000 (electrical system); however, the recall remedy was not effective. The contact stated that while driving into a parking space, the engine warning light illuminated and an abnormal noise emitted from the engine. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The technician diagnosed that the alternator needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 31,800.
Also reported on the 2012 Dodge Durango
Other electrical problem
Fuel pump failure
No-start or intermittent start failure
Other engine problem
Other brake problem
Stalling while driving
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 105 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 2012 Dodge Durango?
Across 87 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 87,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 70,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 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 2012 Dodge Durango?
105 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.2 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