2008 Chrysler PT Cruiser problems
The 2008 Chrysler PT Cruiser has 171 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (26%) concerns electrical system. After that come air bags (14%) and engine (12%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 171 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 26% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 17 and 9
- Injuries and deaths
- 17 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 60,000 miles 140 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 | 12 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 19 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 39 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 20 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 22 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 13 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 9 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 4 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 2 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 140 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 60,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 57,000 miles (38 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 17 complaints mention a crash; 9 complaints mention a fire; 17 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 80% 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 2008 ranks 9th most-complained-about out of 10 model years of the Chrysler PT Cruiser with enough data (83 complaints in that window).
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.
Takata recall the car was in motion on the highway. An object was struck in the road and the airbag deployed only on the driver side of the vehicle.
Tl*the contact rented a 2008 chrysler pt cruiser. While driving 45 MPH the contact pushed the horn and received an electrical shock. The contact was injured due to the shock. She spoke with the branch manager and was advised that there was nothing that could be done. The failure and current mileages were not available.
Tl* the contact owned a 2008 chrysler pt cruiser. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 45 MPH, another vehicle at a high rate of speed switched lanes and crashed into the driver side of the contact's vehicle. As a result, the contact crashed into a tree. The air bags did not deploy. The contact mentioned that the windows shattered, the front passenger side doors were jammed, and the driver had to be removed from the vehicle by the fire department.
While driving to work in the rain the wipers stopped mid cycle, when I made adjustments on the column control the wipers went into low speed mode and would also work in the high speed mode, however the wipers would not stop working until several tries to turn them off worked. The problem continued to present it's self and at one point the wipers continued to run with the key in the "off" position.
I was coming home from work and driving down the street when the lights on the dashboard went out, the gas gauge went to zero and the car just died. I lost power steering and braking and I was lucky there was no one behind me at the time. The key was locked in the steering wheel and I could not restart. I called 911 for help as cars were now zooming up behind me stalled in the lane. I was so scared that someone would hit me.