Buyer Research

2022 Dodge Charger — Should You Buy One?

Typical asking price: $25,000–$45,000. There is 1 high-severity known issue you need to know before handing over a check.

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Kestrel Take

Fourteen complaints. That is not a record, it is a handful of people, and it tells you nothing about how reliable a 2022 Charger is — only what a few owners hit early. Two things in that handful matter. Recall 22V866 replaced shifter assemblies that were not heat-treated properly and can slip out of Drive on the road; it is free and quick, and it is the first thing to check on the VIN. And one owner at 17,000 miles found a bad weld on the fuel filler neck leaking petrol down the side of the tank for weeks before anyone noticed — one car, but the kind of fault you can check with your nose in thirty seconds. The rest is a transmission that surges or catches its gear late when hot, and two TPMS sensor recalls. Buy a 2022 with all three campaigns closed, clean air around the filler after a top-up, and a transmission that engages the moment you move the shifter — and keep some of the factory warranty in mind as the real safety net, because the public record is too young to be one.

What we checked

Checked against public records, 2026-09-25

NHTSA holds 14 owner complaints for the 2022 Dodge Charger, and 3 recall campaigns.

That is too small a record to read a pattern from, so we are not going to pretend otherwise — with numbers this low one owner moves the percentage by a lot. What has been filed is grouped under airbags (4), the transmission and drivetrain (3), the fuel system (3). Treat those as things to look at, not as the vehicle's known weaknesses. A thin file usually means few of these were sold or few owners filed. It is not evidence the vehicle is trouble-free, and the issues below are our own research rather than a reading of this record.

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 2022 Dodge Charger

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

Shifter assembly not heat-treated — can slip out of Drive and lose power on the road (recall)High — wallet impact

Recall 22V866 covers 2022 Chargers and Durangos: the shifter assembly was not heat-treated correctly, so it may not fully engage Drive and can slip out of it while moving, which means a sudden loss of drive in traffic. Dealers replace the whole shifter assembly free; owner letters went out in January 2023. The three powertrain complaints on file are adjacent rather than identical — a car that will not move forward until the gear suddenly catches, worst when hot or mid-turn, and two that surge or jerk from a stop that the dealer keeps fixing with a computer reset. Check the campaign on the VIN, then on the test drive move the shifter into Drive from a stop several times, hot, and feel for any delay before the car takes up drive.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed; $300–$700 for a transmission service and software update outside it

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the transmission and drivetrain (3); 3 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Fuel filler neck weld leaks petrol — a strong fuel smell inside and outMedium

One owner's story, but it is the kind that belongs on the list: a 2022 with 17,000 miles began to smell strongly of petrol inside and outside the car, then visibly leaked, and the dealer found a defective weld on the fuel filler neck that had been seeping for some time — an open fire risk sitting next to the rear wheel. The other two fuel-system complaints are an engine that surged to an uncontrolled fast idle under braking, twice, and a car that jerks on take-off. Fill the tank on your test drive, park it, and put your nose near the left rear wheel arch and the filler door; any smell of raw fuel is a walk until a shop has looked at the neck and the tank seams.

Repair cost (estimate): $300–$900 for a filler neck; $250–$700 for a throttle body

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the fuel system (3).

TPMS sensor batteries can die early and silence the low-pressure warning (two recalls)Low

Recalls 22V504 and 22V808 cover 2022 Chargers, Challengers and 300s: the tire pressure monitoring sensor batteries can fail prematurely, so the sensor stops reporting and the car cannot warn you about a low tire — and a TPMS light already on for a dead sensor will not tell you about a real leak either. Dealers inspect and replace sensors as needed, free. It is a two-minute VIN check; a TPMS warning that stays lit on the test drive with all four tires at pressure is the sign it has not been done. Two tire complaints on the record, one with a crash.

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

Source: 3 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Walk-Away Red Flags

✗Recall 22V866 open on the NHTSA VIN lookup
✗A pause before the car takes up Drive from a stop, especially when hot
✗Any smell of petrol near the filler door or left rear wheel after a fill-up
✗TPMS warning lit with all four tires at the correct pressure
✗Surging on light throttle that the seller says the dealer has reset before
✗Dead steering-wheel buttons or a climate control that drops out

Good Signs

✓All three recall campaigns shown closed on the NHTSA VIN lookup
✓Shifter assembly replaced under 22V866 on the dealer invoice
✓Immediate take-up of Drive, hot and cold, on repeated shifts from a stop
✓Remaining factory powertrain warranty confirmed by a dealer on the VIN
✓Clean scan with a healthy battery and steady charging voltage
✓Filler area and tank seams dry and odourless after a full tank and a ten-minute wait