Forum Member’s Dodge Journey Delivers Nothing but Woes

By Derin Richardson - March 5, 2020

**One Dodge Forum member asks a very apt question: Is the Dodge Journey the worst vehicle ever made?**

You’d think out of the entire Dodge lineup, the Dodge Journey should be one of the most reliable of the bunch. The SUV is basically axed after 2020 in 13 crucial CARB states, it seems Dodge has definitely cut its losses. But is is it really that bad of a buy?

Forum member Mudshack recently vented his frustration in the “Dodge Vans & CUVs” section, where he seems to have the worst luck with his 2015 Journey:

Why is it that Dodge Journey owners have to do so much to simply drive their cars? Here is a list of what I have dealt with under 90K miles on mine and some added from reading posts on here:
– replace cylinder heads (TWICE!)
– replace oil filter housing assembly because it is made of plastic and cracks easily
– pull fuse on horn so it doesn’t beep constantly
– swap batteries due to unknown draining
– turn off radio and the climate control so it doesn’t run while parked overnight
– rear wiper only works (partially) when the transmission is in reverse
– the emergency brake indicator comes on while going down the highway
– the airbag indicator comes on intermittently
– you can’t get out of the car with the fob in your pocket with people in the car because the door chime will never stop.

I own a 2015 and I will say it. These cars are jokes! And what is worse is the dealerships don’t have a clue out to fix them. HOW IS THAT WHEN THEY HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR A DECADE?? Just taking the vehicle in to figure out why it is doing stupid things the dealership charges an arm and a leg to diagnose it.

Dodge, this is why I will never buy another Dodge/Chrysler product.

The list of problems seems extensive, nothing any of us would ever want to deal with. However, we simply cannot ignore a couple of glaring notables. The first one being the high mileage. We’re not saying you should expect the Journey (or any vehicle) to have such problems at the high-mileage stage. However, wear and tear is natural, and things tend to break overtime. It’s inevitable.

Secondly. OP issues a correction later on in the thread to his earlier post, noting that some of the problems he listed were regurgitated from other threads. He also mentions that his five-year-old Journey had actually hit 90K recently:

Ok…..So I did pull some of the issues from other posts…..but they were all on the first page of this forum. Here are all of my issues and my DK just turned over 90k on Sunday. And my powertrain warranty did save me but that expired back in October and I am not trusting the DJ.

– replace cylinder heads (TWICE!)
– replace oil filter housing assembly because it is made of plastic and cracks easily (apparently even when snugged up by hand)
– water getting into fuse box from the bottom corroding fuses (not covered under warranty even if obviously a design flaw)
– radio turns on by itself when diagnostic computer connected
– windshield wipers turn themselves on when diagnostic computer connected
– rear wiper only works (partially) when the transmission is in reverse
– the emergency brake indicator comes on while going down the highway
– the airbag indicator comes on intermittently
– front spring/struts creak and thump when entering exiting driveways
– rear facing lights don’t last (passenger LED brake lights – none get bright with brakes but work in dim normal mode. Sometimes the brake light works but rarely), (reverse light went out), LED tail lights located on the hatch stopped working)
– Tire pressure system constantly says it needs to be serviced. It reads all tire pressures in real time and dealership said that some main sensor needs to be replace…$$$, So I just let it flash at me every time I start the car, ding, and then stay lit.

There were a few other odd things but I don’t remember right now. I bought this 2015 in October of 2015 with $36k and I just turned over 90k.

BTW – I sold the 97 Dodge Ram back in 2012. Just forgot to remove it from my profile.

At this point, he’s already pretty close to term with his loan, so maybe he should just cut his losses, sell it for what it is worth and be done with it.

What do you guys think? Chime in forum thread here!