Buyer Research

2015 Dodge Dart — Should You Buy One?

Typical asking price: $5,000–$8,500. There are 4 high-severity known issues you need to know before handing over a check.

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Kestrel Take

523 complaints — one of the heaviest records we have read for a compact car — with 32 crashes and 7 fires in it, and six recall campaigns. A third of the file is the transmission and the Park function, 28 percent is the engine, and 23 percent is electrical, and the three overlap: owners describe the car burning oil, stalling at speed, losing steering and brake assist as it dies, and then refusing to accept that it is in Park. The shifter cable recall was reopened in 2025 with a remedy still being developed, so a 2015 Dart on a lot today may have safety work that literally cannot be completed yet. Our honest read: this is a car to inspect hard, price accordingly, and be willing to walk away from.

What we checked

Reconciled against public records, 2026-09-25

NHTSA holds 523 owner complaints for the 2015 Dodge Dart, and 6 recall campaigns.

A big number here usually means a lot of these were sold, not that it is a bad vehicle — popular models collect more complaints for the same rate of trouble. So the total on its own says little. What is worth reading is the shape of it. 34% of them are about one thing — the transmission and drivetrain. That much concentration is a genuine pattern rather than background noise, and it is the first thing to check on any example you look at.

6 recall campaigns cover this model year. Recalls are repaired free, for any owner, with no time limit on most safety campaigns — but only if someone books it in. Ask the seller to show it was done, or have any dealer check the VIN; it takes them a couple of minutes and costs nothing.

Counts come from the NHTSA complaint and recall database — free, public, and worth checking yourself.

Known Issues for the 2015 Dodge Dart

Ranked by wallet impact. These are documented, recurring problems — not freak accidents. How we decide that.

The car will not accept that it is in Park, and the shifter cable can detachHigh — wallet impact

The largest cluster in the record, and the most consistent story in it. The shift cable bushing wears and the cable can come off the transmission, so Park stops meaning Park — campaign 19V293000 covered this and was replaced by 25V674000 in 2025, with a remedy still under development and owners reporting the part unavailable for months. Even before the cable lets go, owners describe having to slam the shifter into Park to make the car acknowledge it, shuffling through Park, Reverse and first to get the key out, and a metal rattle on slow turns as the bushing wears. Try Park and the key at least five times, from a rolling stop as well as a standstill, and use the parking brake every time you leave it.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed; $300–$700 for a shift cable and bushing at an independent shop

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the transmission and drivetrain (177); 6 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Transmission control module can fail and put the car in neutral at speedHigh — wallet impact

Campaign 15V542000 reaches 2015 Darts built up to June 2015: the transmission control module can fail and drop the gearbox into neutral, which is a total loss of drive wherever you happen to be. Dealers fit a new module and bracket at no cost. Because this one is a decade old now, most surviving cars should show it closed — but plenty of these cars have changed hands several times, and a closed campaign is something you read on NHTSA's site rather than take on trust. Ask for it specifically by number when you call a Dodge dealer with the VIN.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed; $900–$1,800 for a transmission control module outside the campaign — about 27% of what this car is typically worth

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the transmission and drivetrain (177); 6 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

The 2.4 burns oil and then stalls, taking the steering and brake assist with itHigh — wallet impact

147 engine complaints with five fires among them, and owners connect the two halves themselves: the engine drinks oil with nothing on the driveway to show for it, and when the level falls the car cuts out. One writes that adding oil restarts it. Several describe stalling at highway speed and at intersections with the steering going heavy and the brake pedal hard, which is what happens when the engine quits — the assist dies with it. Owners report no oil light and no check engine light before the stall. Do not rely on the dashboard: check the dipstick yourself cold, ask how much oil the seller adds between changes, and treat a car with hand-written mileage on a receipt as better evidence than a clean dash.

Repair cost (estimate): $900–$1,600 for a MultiAir actuator unit; $4,500–$7,500 for an engine replacement — more than this car is typically worth

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the engine (147).

Battery drain, modules going haywire and a burning-wire smellHigh — wallet impact

118 electrical filings, two of them mentioning fire and one a crash after the car cut out on the highway. Owners describe replacing the battery every six months with nothing found draining it, the radio and climate going to full blast on their own and refusing to be turned down, an engine control module blamed for the car accelerating, and — the one that should stop you — a smell of burning wires each time the car stalls and powers down. A dealership told one owner that these cars are known for electrical problems. If you smell hot insulation at any point in a test drive, end it there.

Repair cost (estimate): $250–$700 for connector and harness repairs; $700–$1,600 for a body or engine control module

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under electrics and electronics (118).

Missing software safeguard against an uncommanded torque event (recall 16V113000)Medium

This one applies to a narrow slice of the year: 2015 Darts with the 2.0-litre engine and the manual gearbox that were brought in for dealer service in a particular window. They were left without the backup layer of software that stops the control module allowing an uncommanded torque event — the engine delivering power the driver did not ask for. The fix is an engine control module software update, free. It takes under an hour and there is no reason for it to be outstanding, so if the VIN shows it open, ask why.

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

Source: 6 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Tyre pressure warning light that may not come on (Aero models, recall 14V800000)Low

Dart Aero models built between late August and late October 2014 left the factory with a premium instrument cluster paired to the basic tyre pressure monitoring system, and the result is a low-pressure warning light that may never illuminate. The dealer reconfigures the car to the highline system free of charge. It is the smallest thing on this page, but a warning light that stays dark when a tyre is going down is worth twenty seconds of VIN checking, and it only applies if you are looking at an Aero.

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

Source: 6 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Walk-Away Red Flags

✗Having to slam the shifter to make the car register Park
✗A key that needs the gear lever shuffled before it will come out
✗Any smell of hot wiring or burning insulation during a test drive
✗A stall, cut-out or hard restart at any point, however brief
✗A cold dipstick reading low with a bottle of oil in the boot

Good Signs

✓The 2025 shifter cable campaign shown complete on the NHTSA VIN lookup
✓A transmission control module replacement recorded by a Dodge dealer
✓Oil receipts with the mileage written on them at 4,000 to 5,000 mile intervals
✓A battery more than two years old that still starts the car briskly
✓Park engaging first time and the key releasing cleanly, ten times in a row