AutoUtility currently tracks 160 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2016 Dodge Durango. Exterior Lighting issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 53 complaints (33.1% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 23 filings cite a crash, 1 cites a fire, 10 report one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 160 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Exterior Lighting (53 reports • 33.1% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Electrical System (40), Powertrain & Transmission (30)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 23 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 1 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 10 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Reporting Methodology: Statistics describe unverified consumer submissions voluntarily filed with NHTSA. Complaint volume is not normalized for vehicle sales volume or miles driven. Multiple components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission.
Total Complaints
160
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
23
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
1
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
10
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2016 Dodge Durango

Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records

#1 Problem Area 33.1% of complaints

Exterior Lighting

53 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#2 Problem Area 25% of complaints

Electrical System

40 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 2 crash reports
#3 Problem Area 18.8% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

30 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 10 crash reports 🩹 2 injury report entries
#4 Problem Area 9.4% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

15 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 7.5% of complaints

Driver Assistance & Safety Tech

12 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 4 crash reports
Domain Share Note: Share percentage represents the proportion of unique complaint filings referencing each vehicle system. Because single complaints may cite multiple systems (such as engine and electrical simultaneously), domain percentages represent individual category incidence and may sum to over 100%.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2016 Dodge Durango

Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Seats & Interior NHTSA ODI ID: #11755339
1 Injury Entry Filed: 08/06/2026

"On August 6, 2026, at approximately 6:00 a.m., I was driving my 2016 Dodge Durango northbound to work at approximately 60 mph. It was dark and the roadway was slightly wet from overnight rain. While traveling in the left lane under normal driving conditions, I suddenly heard a loud pop and the..."

Incident Date: 08/06/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: SEATS
Seats & Interior NHTSA ODI ID: #11708040
Filed: 12/31/2025

"Passenger active headrest deployed while parked on driveway."

Incident Date: 12/31/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: SEATS
Electrical System NHTSA ODI ID: #11697733
Filed: 11/05/2025

"We had an issue with an error message in the middle of driving that stopped the acceleration of the vehicle, this seems to be common, looking at forums online. The inspection request is acceptable. The message we receive is "Shift to P before changing gears". The vehicle will stop in the middle of..."

Incident Date: 09/30/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA ODI ID: #11692509
Filed: 10/10/2025

"The contact owns a 2016 Dodge Durango. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was a strong fuel odor in the interior of the vehicle. No warning lights were illuminated. In addition, the contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the contact noticed the strong..."

Incident Date: 09/24/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE
Electrical System NHTSA ODI ID: #11677230
Filed: 07/30/2025

"The Rear License Plate Light bulb (right) was out and I went to have the bulb replaced. I was quoted over $1100 from the dealer, as the LED racetrack lighting was not properly sealed and is collecting water. The collection of water within the light compartment has caused corrosion within, and the..."

Incident Date: 07/17/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Consumer Narrative Notice: Excerpts are sanitized text descriptions submitted by vehicle owners to the federal ODI database. They reflect the reporting consumer's observations at the time of filing and have not been independently confirmed by vehicle manufacturers or government investigators.

Complaint History for Dodge Durango

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2026)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Dodge Durango 503 26 4 View 2015 Problems →
2016 Dodge Durango Current Page 160 23 3 Current
2017 Dodge Durango 209 9 2 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Dodge Durango 229 9 5 View 2018 Problems →
2019 Dodge Durango 140 4 4 View 2019 Problems →
2020 Dodge Durango 73 5 2 View 2020 Problems →
2021 Dodge Durango 191 9 8 View 2021 Problems →
2022 Dodge Durango 56 2 7 View 2022 Problems →
2023 Dodge Durango 34 2 2 View 2023 Problems →
2024 Dodge Durango 13 0 0 View 2024 Problems →
2025 Dodge Durango 7 0 0 View 2025 Problems →
2026 Dodge Durango 0 0 0 View 2026 Problems →
Comparative Disclaimer: Complaint totals are unadjusted historical counts and are not normalized for vehicles sold, active fleet size, or total road mileage. Newer model years naturally have had less calendar exposure time to accumulate owner filings.

Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2016 Dodge Durango

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 44 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 40 0 0 0 0
Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN 20 8 0 2 0
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 17 7 0 1 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING 11 0 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 7 0 0 0 0
Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE 5 0 0 2 0
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 4 2 0 5 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 4 0 0 0 0
Suspension NHTSA category: SUSPENSION 4 1 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 3 0 0 0 0
Seats & Restraints NHTSA category: SEATS 3 0 0 1 0
Vehicle Speed Control NHTSA category: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 3 1 0 0 0
Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA category: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 2 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 2 2 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES 2 0 0 0 0
Steering NHTSA category: STEERING 2 0 0 0 0
Tires NHTSA category: TIRES 2 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,SEATS 1 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,WHEELS 1 1 0 1 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SEAT BELTS,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,STRUCTURE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
ENGINE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
Fuel System NHTSA category: FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE 1 0 0 0 0
Doors, Latches & Locks NHTSA category: LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,EXTERIOR LIGHTING 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 1 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 1 0 0 0
Data Attribution & Reporting Methodology: Complaints are unverified voluntary submissions to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). Because multiple vehicle components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission, component-level rollups may sum to more than the unique complaint count (160). Injury and fatality entries in the detailed table reflect raw values entered by reporting consumers across individual submissions; they are not deduplicated casualty statistics and may include duplicate or unverified entries. Complaint volume is not normalized for sales volume or vehicle mileage and does not represent an audited component failure rate.

Official NHTSA Defect Investigations (2)

2 CLOSED

Formal safety defect inquiries and engineering analyses opened by the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI)

Official Federal Inquiries: NHTSA opens a defect investigation when safety screening or consumer defect trends indicate a potential unreasonable safety risk. An open investigation is a formal inquiry and does not by itself confirm a defect or result in a mandatory recall.
CLOSED Preliminary Evaluation (PE) ODI Action #PE19014
Opened: 2019-09-09 • Closed: 2026-02-25

Active Head Rest Inadvertent Deployment

Affected Component: SEATS

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened PE19014 on September 9, 2019, to investigate 128 consumer complaints alleging that the Active Head Rest (AHR) inadvertently deployed without the occurrence of a crash or other rear impact event in model year (MY) 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango vehicles.When ODI opened the investigation, ODI was aware of thirteen alleged injuries.A small number of Early Warning Reports identified driver...

Closed without associated recall campaign. Official NHTSA File →
CLOSED Preliminary Evaluation (PE) ODI Action #PE16014
Opened: 2016-12-16 • Closed: 2024-01-25

Vehicle Rollaway

Affected Component: POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION

Basis – On December 16, 2016, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened Preliminary Evaluation PE16-014 to investigate 43 vehicle rollaway incidents with operators alleging they had shifted to Park and then exited the vehicle prior to the rollway incidents.  These complaints involved multiple Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) model and model year vehicles that share a common electronic rotary shifter design.  Of the 43 consumer complaint...

Closed without associated recall campaign. Official NHTSA File →
Official US Government Data Provenance

The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.

Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.