2014 Dodge Charger — Should You Buy One?

109 electrical complaints, and the 2014 is the year Chrysler wrote a third alternator recall. 14V634 covered 3.6L cars built through January 2, 2014 with the 160-amp unit; 17V435 covered 3.6L and 5.7L cars with electro-hydraulic steering as an inspect-and-replace-by-part-number job; and 17V741 went back to every 2014 3.6L with a 160-amp alternator and replaced it outright, because — as one owner quoted from the filing — the diodes fatigue under the cyclic load of the steering pump. When it fails the car loses power steering, brake assist and eventually the engine, sometimes at highway speed. Run the VIN, then ask for the invoice that shows a new alternator part number, not an inspection. A cluster of these complaints are also the ABS and traction lights flashing together, which on this car is often the dynamic (multi-axis) sensor rather than the alternator — a $300 part.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed; $500–$1,100 for an alternator outside it

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under electrics and electronics (109); 10 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

62 steering complaints, 18% of the record, four with a crash. The 2011–2014 cars steer with an electric motor driving a hydraulic pump, and on the 2014 the reports are consistent: a squeal when turning, then the wheel going heavy — often on a left turn — and sometimes the whole car shutting down with it, because the pump and the alternator load each other. A police department wrote in that all four of its 2014s were doing it and the pump was a multi-thousand-dollar fix; dealers told private owners nothing showed on the scan tool and to wait until it failed. There is no recall for the pump itself. At the viewing, turn lock to lock at idle with the windows down, then again after a ten-minute drive; any squeal, groan or beat of dead weight in the wheel prices a pump into the offer or ends the visit.

Repair cost (estimate): $900–$2,000

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under steering (62).

Recall 17V097 covers 2014–2017 all-wheel-drive Chargers: the eight bolts holding the front driveshaft can loosen and let it disconnect, which means a loss of drive on the road and a driveshaft flailing under the car. The fix is eight new bolts, free. Recall 16V240 covers every eight-speed 2012–2014 Charger, adding software that puts the car in Park when the driver's door opens with it in gear, because the spring-back monostable shifter gave no feel for whether Park was actually selected. The 60 powertrain complaints, nine with a crash, are mostly those rollaways plus harsh downshifts and a few cars that dropped into neutral on the highway. Confirm both campaigns; on the drive, shift to Park with the engine running and read the P in the cluster before you release the brake.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the transmission and drivetrain (60); 10 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Recall 19V018 covers the passenger frontal airbag inflator, which can rupture and throw metal fragments on deployment; Chrysler told owners not to drive until it was replaced. Recall 15V467 reflashed the occupant restraint module on cars built through June 5, 2014 because the side-impact sensors were tuned so sensitive that curtain and seat airbags could fire from a hard bump. Both are free and long since supplied, so either one still open on a 2014 means the car has not seen a dealer in years. 15 of the 28 airbag complaints involve a crash, most of them non-deployment reports; nothing at a viewing can check that.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under airbags (28); 10 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.