2012 DODGE JOURNEY — Complaint #1625855
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about VISIBILITY:DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER/HVAC SYSTEM:HEATER CORE filed December 4, 2019
NHTSA complaint #1625855 (ODI reference 11286844) concerns a 2012 DODGE JOURNEY and was filed on December 4, 2019. The owner reports the failure occurred on November 29, 2011. The vehicle had 127,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Michigan based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as visibility:defroster/defogger/hvac system:heater core, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same DODGE JOURNEY cohort independently describe similar visibility:defroster/defogger/hvac system:heater core failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2012 DODGE JOURNEY shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2012 DODGE JOURNEY. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE HEATER FAILED TO FUNCTION AND COULD NOT DEFROST THE WINDSHIELD. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED THAT THE HEATER CORE NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO COURTESY CHRYSLER DODGE JEEP RAM (440 28TH ST SE, GRAND RAPIDS, MI 49548, (616) 452-2143) WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED THAT THE HEATER CORE, RADIATOR, THERMOSTAT AND OIL COOLER NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE AND PROVIDED CASE NUMBER: 68252569. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 127,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1625855 |
| ODI Number | 11286844 |
| Date Filed | December 4, 2019 |
| Failure Date | November 29, 2011 |
| VIN | 3C4PDCBG0CT |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.