Dodge has a lot of fans when it comes to its SUVs and trucks, but, Dodge, like every other automaker, has made its share of mistakes in the past. One of the bigger mistakes that Dodge made had to do with the Durango, which is one of Dodge’s most popular SUVs. Here’s a look at why the 1999 Dodge Durango was a really bad vehicle.

The 1999 Dodge Durango had the most issues 

According to Car Complaints, the 1999 Durango – while it wasn’t the worst model year – definitely had the most issues. This makes sense, as the 1999 Durango was the second model year of the car that Dodge ever made, so it was bound to have a lot of problems. That said, the number of issues that it had was staggering, and in fact, Car Complaints gave it the ‘Avoid Like The Plague’ badge due to how bad it was.

The majority of the issues that Car Complaints reported happened with 1999 Durangos that had about 100,000 miles on them, on average. However, just because they’re old cars, it doesn’t mean that they have to be troublesome for their owners. Here’s a look at some of the most severe issues that the 1999 Durango had.

The 1999 Durango randomly shuts off while driving

By far the most common and severe issue on the 1999 Durango was the fact that it would just randomly shut off while driving. The majority of owners on Car Complaints were not sure why this was happening and thus, they also weren’t sure how to fix this issue. With that said, a significant number of owners reported that this issue was an electronic one, while a lot of other owners said that this issue had to do with the car’s engine.

In any case, this issue was mostly happening to very old Durangos since the average mileage was over 130,000 miles. But, on average, it still cost a relatively decent amount of money to fix. Car Complaints reported that the average repair cost was about $800. However, since most people didn’t spend much money to buy their 1999 Durango, this repair cost was relatively large given the cost of the car itself. 

For example, one owner complained that Dodge was letting Americans down since the owner, “can’t drive it, can’t fix it, paid [too] much for it, can’t sell it.” Other owners wanted to organize other Durango owners to complain to Dodge directly. Not to mention, the car suddenly shutting off while driving isn’t safe at all. It’s not surprising then that Car Complaints said that this problem was “really awful.” 

Other engine issues that the 1999 Durango had

The 1999 Durango had plenty more issues, but one of the other most common and severe problems also had to do with its engine. Car Complaints said that with an average mileage of about 100,000 miles, many owners reported that their engine simply failed completely. This is a similar, though a more severe version of the problem that the Durango had with randomly shutting off while driving.

Unlike those issues, these 1999 Durango owners said that their car’s engine would shut off completely. These engine failures could only be fixed by simply replacing the engine, which is extremely expensive. On average, Car Complaints said that the owners who had this more severe version of the Durango’s engine problem had to pay about $2,300 to fix their car. 

Once again, since most owners didn’t pay much for their 1999 Durangos, replacing the engine meant paying a lot more extra money to get a functioning car at the end of the day. One owner even said, “Only had this car 4 months and have had enough problems for the next 10 years.”