Other electrical problem on the 1999 Dodge Intrepid
1 fire 1 of the 34 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 other electrical problem gets reported
Owners of the 1999 Dodge Intrepid report other electrical problem at a median of 70,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles, from 15 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 7th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 55,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 160,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 104,831 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.
7% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 54,719 miles | 63,629 miles | 71,800 miles | 132,393 miles | 159,550 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 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 $250–$2,000 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 2004, at a median of 30,000 miles, and latest on the 1996 at 155,000 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.
Ac fans had to be replaced twice, rear windows won't go down, dealer replaced light switch, brakes wear unevenly and shudders when pressed, alignment goes easily, oil disappears with no leaks or no smoke, back of driver's seat collapses unexpectedly. *nlm
My wife was driving back from the store when the engine just stop and locked up right in the middle of the highway, she was able to coast the car of the side of the road. We had a mechanic look at it, the reason for the failure was the engine ran out of oil. The oil light never came on, not once, the mechanic could not find out where it went to, but couldn't. I had this car for about 11 months before this and checked the oil on a weekly basis. How could this happen. How could a dodge dealer sell this car. Now I'm stuck with an $11,000 paper weight in my drive way. I think dodge should replace my engine and figure out why something went wrong.*ak
On 7/30/04 while driving to work my car seemed to begin idling high. While taking off from a stop sign, my whole car jerked and made a loud "clunk" sound. My speedometer quit working, my check engine light came on and my car would not shift out of high. I made it to work and called the closest dealer and was told it was a sensor. Made it to the dealership, to have car checked and was told it was definately the sensor. I was also told that I had the best warranty and would be "no problem". Also told them the passenger window in the front only worked occasionally and I had received recalls. Also explained that windshield washer bottle was broken. Ended up paying over $380.00 to have car repaired and declined fixing the windshield washer bottle because that would cost an additional $200+. I feel this is very dangerous, since speedometer quit working and engine was stuck in high. Dealership acted like no big deal and I am still upset at paying over $380 and having "the best warranty. *ak
Also reported on the 1999 Dodge Intrepid
Other engine problem
Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure
Complete engine failure or seizure
Other powertrain problem
Other body or interior problem
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 34 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 other electrical problem happen on the 1999 Dodge Intrepid?
Across 15 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 70,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 65,000 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 other electrical problem on the 1999 Dodge Intrepid?
34 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.5 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