Buyer Research

2020 Dodge Charger — Should You Buy One?

Typical asking price: $19,000–$36,000. There is 1 high-severity known issue you need to know before handing over a check.

Deciding between model years? Compare the 15 Dodge Charger years we've written up →

Kestrel Take

57 complaints is a thin record, and nearly two-thirds of it is one recall: the side curtain airbag inflators that can rupture, campaign 24V198. On the 2020 the record is not just owners waiting for parts — two of them describe an inflator going off in a parked, empty car and throwing metal through the cabin, which is exactly the failure the recall exists to prevent. That makes the VIN lookup the first and most important thing you do with this car. Beyond it there is a windshield that may not have been bonded properly, a handful of cars that shut off completely at highway speed, and one 3.6L that mixed oil into its coolant — six complaints each, too few to call a pattern and too serious to leave out. We cannot tell you from 57 complaints how reliable a 2020 Charger is; we can tell you what to check. Buy one with the airbag campaign closed on paper, a windshield reseal on the invoice, and a scan that comes back clean for stalls.

What we checked

Reconciled against public records, 2026-09-25

NHTSA holds 57 owner complaints for the 2020 Dodge Charger, and 3 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. 63% of them are about one thing — airbags. 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.

3 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 2020 Dodge Charger

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

Side curtain airbag inflators can rupture — and on this year, two did while the car was parkedHigh — wallet impact

Recall 24V198 covers 2018–2021 Chargers and 300s: the left and right curtain airbag inflators have a manufacturing defect and can rupture, sending sharp fragments into the cabin. Both curtain airbags are replaced free. 36 of this car's 57 complaints are the recall, and most are owners who got the February 2025 letter and were told there were no parts, or that no technician was available to do the job. Two are worse: an inflator that exploded in a driveway with nobody in the car, spraying metal across the interior, and a driver's curtain that deployed on its own in a parked car. Nine of the 36 involve a crash and one a fire. Run the VIN on the NHTSA lookup before anything else; if it shows open, get a dealer to confirm parts are on hand before money changes hands, and look up at the headliner edges for any sag or bulge that means a bag has already let go.

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

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under airbags (36); 3 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Windshield may not have been bonded to the body and can detach in a crash (recall)Medium

Recall 21V516 covers 2020–2021 Chargers, Challengers and 300s: during assembly the windshield urethane may not have cured or adhered properly, so the glass can separate from the body in a collision — and a windshield is part of what keeps the roof stiff and the passenger airbag aimed. Dealers cut the glass out and rebond it with new sealant, free. Owner letters went out in August 2021, so a car with a full dealer history should have it; a car that has been bought and sold privately may not. There are four visibility complaints on the record, too few to read anything into. Confirm the campaign on the VIN and check the glass edge for an aftermarket-looking bead of sealant, which would mean it has already been out once.

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

Source: 3 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Complete electrical shutdown at highway speed, gauges resetting, and a Hellcat evaporator that keeps leakingMedium

Six electrical complaints, and three of them describe the same frightening thing: the car shutting down entirely at 70 mph at night — throttle, steering assist and lights all gone — or the radio and gauges resetting to zero and the car restarting itself mid-drive, on a car under 4,000 miles. One car started itself in the driveway. None of these had a cause on file, and there is no recall for it, so the honest reading is that a small number of 2020s have a power or module fault that dealers could not reproduce. The other reports are a Hellcat whose A/C evaporator core leaked twice, a dash-out job each time, and wipers that stopped. Have the car scanned for stored loss-of-communication or low-voltage codes and ask the seller directly whether it has ever stalled or restarted on its own.

Repair cost (estimate): $150–$600 for diagnosis and a module or ground repair; $1,500–$2,500 for an evaporator core

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under electrics and electronics (6).

Sudden loss of power with the steering going heavy, and one 3.6L with oil in the coolantMedium

Six engine complaints. Two overlap the electrical shutdowns above — the car losing power at speed with the wheel seizing and no warning light, then restarting with a check-engine light. One is a 3.6L Pentastar that ran hot with no warning and was found with oil mixed into the coolant; the dealer's answer was a new engine, which on this V6 usually means a failed oil cooler or a head gasket. One more is Dodge's acknowledged paddle-shift quirk on eight-speed cars, where a fast upshift on the paddle is read as a downshift and the car lurches — an annoyance, not a fault. Pull the oil cap and coolant reservoir cap and look for a milky film on either; check the coolant is clear and the right colour; and pull codes before you drive.

Repair cost (estimate): $400–$900 for an oil cooler; $1,800–$3,000 for a head gasket; $5,000–$8,000 for a replacement 3.6L — about 29% of what this car is typically worth

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the engine (6).

Ex-police cars: backup camera blanks in reverse with stealth mode on (recall)Low

Recall 20V512 covers 2018–2020 Charger Pursuit police cars with a stealth mode that darkens the interior lighting: with it selected, the backup camera does not display when the car is put in reverse. The fix is a body control module reflash. It only matters if you are looking at an ex-fleet Pursuit, which a lot of used AWD Chargers are — steel wheels, vinyl rear seat, a column shifter and blanking plates on the dash are the tells. On any of those, run the VIN, ask for the agency's service file, and price the car as a hard-used fleet vehicle rather than a civilian one.

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

Source: 3 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Walk-Away Red Flags

✗Recall 24V198 open on the NHTSA VIN lookup, or a headliner edge that sags or bulges
✗Any stall, restart or gauge reset during the test drive, however brief
✗Milky film under the oil cap or in the coolant reservoir
✗Coolant that is low or the wrong colour with no explanation
✗Windshield edge with a visible bead of fresh sealant and no recall record to explain it
✗Steel wheels, vinyl rear seat and dash blanking plates with no fleet history offered

Good Signs

✓Curtain airbag campaign 24V198 shown closed on the NHTSA VIN lookup with a dealer invoice
✓Windshield reseal under 21V516 on the service record
✓Clean scan with a healthy battery and charging voltage at 13.8–14.4V
✓Coolant clear and correct colour, oil cap clean, temperature steady after a twenty-minute drive
✓Complete dealer service history from new, which is where these campaigns get done
✓Evaporator core replaced under warranty with the invoice, on a Hellcat