AutoUtility currently tracks 64 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2020 Dodge Journey. Electrical System issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 19 complaints (29.7% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 1 filing cites a crash, 1 cites a fire, 1 reports one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 64 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Electrical System (19 reports • 29.7% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Driver Assistance & Safety Tech (16), Engine & Cooling (9)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 1 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 1 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 1 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
64
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
1
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
1
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
1
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2020 Dodge Journey

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

#1 Problem Area 29.7% of complaints

Electrical System

19 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
🔥 1 fire report
#2 Problem Area 25% of complaints

Driver Assistance & Safety Tech

16 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.
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#3 Problem Area 14.1% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

9 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#4 Problem Area 7.8% of complaints

Exterior Lighting

5 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 6.3% of complaints

Brakes & Traction Control

4 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 1 crash report 🩹 1 injury report entry
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%.

Symptoms Mentioned in NHTSA Owner Reports for 2020 Dodge Journey

Specific mechanical, electrical, and driver-assist defect symptoms identified via deterministic narrative analysis

AutoUtility uses deterministic phrase matching to identify recurring symptom descriptions within consumer-submitted NHTSA complaint narratives.

Powertrain & Transmission 4.7% of complaints

Loss of Motive Power While Driving

3 complaint narratives describe this symptom
Symptom Identification Method: A complaint may describe more than one symptom, so percentages may sum to more than 100%. Symptom identification reflects text contained in consumer-submitted complaint records and does not establish a confirmed mechanical diagnosis.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2020 Dodge Journey

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

Electrical System NHTSA ODI ID: #11758733
Filed: 08/22/2026

"When starting my car and turning on my air or heat component the front will turn on but the components in the middle won’t! You have to hit the panel to make it turn on and when your driving the middle component shuts off losing power and dims the lights and dash lights with radio screen! I’ve had..."

Incident Date: 04/13/2023 • Raw NHTSA Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech NHTSA ODI ID: #11756716
Filed: 08/13/2026

"The contact owns a 2020 Dodge Journey. The contact stated that while reversing the vehicle, the rear-view camera was inverted. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V552000 (Back Over Prevention); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local..."

Incident Date: 08/01/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: BACK OVER PREVENTION
Electrical System NHTSA ODI ID: #11755881
Filed: 08/10/2026

"The wiring harness for back hatch the coating of the wire are all cracking . The passenger side rear back up light wasn’t working and the harness is cracking the wiring when opening and closing the hatch . I have picture. It looks worse in person"

Incident Date: 08/09/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech NHTSA ODI ID: #11746706
Filed: 06/26/2026

"The contact owns a 2020 Dodge Journey. The contact stated that while reversing at an undisclosed speed, the rearview camera image was intermittently flipped, distorted, and inoperative. No warning lights were illuminated. A dealer was contacted and stated that there was no fix for the failure. The..."

Incident Date: 06/26/2021 • Raw NHTSA Component: BACK OVER PREVENTION
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech NHTSA ODI ID: #11739227
Filed: 05/21/2026

"The contact owns a 2020 Dodge Journey. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V552000 (Back Over Prevention); however, the part for the repair was unavailable. The contact stated the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the remedy to be available. The..."

Incident Date: 08/26/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: BACK OVER PREVENTION
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 Journey

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2020)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Dodge Journey 552 30 6 View 2015 Problems →
2016 Dodge Journey 385 19 4 View 2016 Problems →
2017 Dodge Journey 197 12 2 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Dodge Journey 231 7 6 View 2018 Problems →
2019 Dodge Journey 100 6 1 View 2019 Problems →
2020 Dodge Journey Current Page 64 1 1 Current
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 2020 Dodge Journey

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 28 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 14 0 0 0 0
Back Over Prevention / Camera NHTSA category: BACK OVER PREVENTION 8 0 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 8 0 1 0 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 4 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 3 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,BACK OVER PREVENTION 2 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VISIBILITY/WIPER 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,SEAT BELTS 1 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,SERVICE BRAKES 1 1 0 1 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE,BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,LANE DEPARTURE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 0 0 0 0
Engine & Cooling NHTSA category: ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
Seat Belts NHTSA category: SEAT BELTS 1 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC 1 0 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SUSPENSION 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 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 (64). 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)

1 OPEN 1 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.
OPEN Engineering Analysis (EA) ODI Action #EA24003
Opened: 2024-08-01 • Currently Active

Vehicle entrapment

Affected Component: LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened PE23-008 on May 1, 2023 to investigate an incident involving a 2009 Dodge Journey alleging occupant entrapment during a vehicle fire that resulted in a fatality. During the investigation, ODI collected information from the manufacturer and involved parties to confirm or refute the defect allegation. ODI has determined that additional reports of vehicle entrapment exist for other model year Dodge Jo...

Active federal investigation. Official NHTSA File →
CLOSED Preliminary Evaluation (PE) ODI Action #PE24006
Opened: 2024-02-27 • Closed: 2025-09-26

Back up camera failure

Affected Component: BACK OVER PREVENTION: SENSING SYSTEM: CAMERA

On February 27, 2024, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened this Preliminary Evaluation (PE) to investigate complaints alleging a loss of back up camera function in Model Year (MY) 2018 through 2020 Dodge Journey vehicles.  Complainants reported experiencing black screens, upside down images, flashing images, or blurred images.  A back up camera that does not display correctly increases the likelihood of a crash or injury. Analysis o...

✓ Resulted in Safety Recall Campaign: 25V552 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.