2002 Chrysler 300M problems
Owners have filed 104 complaints with NHTSA about the 2002 Chrysler 300M. Electrical system is the most reported problem area, at 13% of complaints. Next are steering (12%) and engine (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 104 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 14% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 17 and 3
- Injuries and deaths
- 18 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 72,000 miles 69 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 11 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 12 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 8 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 11 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 12 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 5 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 4 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 1 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 3 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 2 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 69 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 72,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 45,000 miles (10 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 17 complaints mention a crash; 3 complaints mention a fire; 18 injuries reported; 1 death reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 92% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2002 ranks 4th most-complained-about out of 6 model years of the Chrysler 300M with enough data (53 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 1 safety recall campaign.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
01/12/2002 -three hours after I picked up the car from the dealer, at about 45-50 miles/hour, could not stop the car, lost control of the car , and hit frontal the concrete divider on the highway. The car has been totaled. 03/18/2002 - received letter from daimler chrysler saying that the car has been manufactured with defective engine. Chrysler proposes to replace the car or give me the money back.
On my way to work on may 8th 2014, my battery light came on. In a split second decision I decided to go to work instead of coffee first to call a mechanic and within 2 minutes my car had died. Smoke was coming in through my vents and I had witnesses yelling at me to get away from my car it was on fire. In the 5 minutes it took the fire department to get there, the front of my car was gone. I had little to no warning of this and have since found that chrysler was aware of this problem with no recall of the vehicle.
Due to size of tires on his car they actually act like slicks in the winter time and I had to change all 4 tires to studded winter tires to compensate for the sliding around at corners and the unstable conditions while on snow and ice when driving down the road!!
I, like many other, have a dangerous problem with my 2002 chrysler 300m steering. I am told the inner tie rod bushing is bad and after doing some internet research I guess I am not alone.