Model years to avoid

Chrysler 300

What it says about you

Opinion

Big, upright, rear-drive, and it looks like it means business. That was the entire proposition and it worked.

Not measured, not from the data, and offered in fun. Everything below this is not.

19 model years on record, 6,163 complaints filed.

The years to look at closely: 2012 (alternator), 2008 (electrical system), 2007 (park), 2006 (tank), 2005 (park). Everything else drew a normal number of complaints for this model.

What owners report, and when

Faults that dominated the complaints of more than one model year. Not the same question as which year to avoid — a car can have an ordinary number of complaints every year and have most of them be about the same thing.

  • electrical system 2008, 2012 peak 53.4% of that year's complaints
  • vin 2012, 2019 peak 36.7% of that year's complaints
  • tank 2005, 2006 peak 34.5% of that year's complaints
  • delaminated 2017, 2018 peak 30.3% of that year's complaints
  • alternator 2011, 2012 peak 29.6% of that year's complaints
  • smell 2011, 2016 peak 15% of that year's complaints

Every year

  1. 2023 1 recall 6 complaints
  2. 2022 2 recalls 5 complaints
  3. 2021 2 recalls 20 complaints
  4. 2020 2 recalls 10 complaints
  5. 2019 2 recalls 60 complaints
  6. 2018 4 recalls 152 complaints
  7. 2017 2 recalls 82 complaints
  8. 2016 3 recalls 76 complaints
  9. 2015 5 recalls 97 complaints
  10. 2014 8 recalls 236 complaints
  11. 2013 6 recalls 306 complaints
  12. 2012 alternator 425 complaints
  13. 2011 7 recalls 200 complaints
  14. 2010 7 recalls 137 complaints
  15. 2009 5 recalls 95 complaints
  16. 2008 electrical system 758 complaints
  17. 2007 park 623 complaints
  18. 2006 tank 1,750 complaints
  19. 2005 park 1,125 complaints

What does a Chrysler 300 say about you?

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Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints — compared against itself rather than against other cars, so popularity and age do not decide the answer.