Chrysler 300

Which Chrysler 300 years should you avoid?

Going by 4,927 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Chrysler 300 years to avoid are 2012, 2006, 2005, 2008 and 2007.

• 2012426 complaints, 2.1× a typical 300 year, most often about the electrical system; and 2.9× the usual share of fires, crashes and deaths for a car of its age (34 fires, 24 crashes, 1 death).
• 20061,002 complaints, 5.0× a typical 300 year, most often about the airbags.
• 2005825 complaints, 4.1× a typical 300 year, most often about the airbags.
• 2008714 complaints, 3.6× a typical 300 year, most often about the electrical system.
• 2007498 complaints, 2.5× a typical 300 year, most often about the transmission.

1 more year cleared the same bar; it is marked in the table below.

Better bets: among years old enough for a low count to mean something, the 2019, 2017 and 2015 drew the fewest complaints without an unusual share of serious ones.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →