164 of the
1,030 complaints about the 2014 Dodge Durango are about the
seats — 16% of everything
reported for this model year.
Half of the failures with a mileage on record happened before
70,000 miles.
The contact owns a 2014 Dodge Durango. The contact stated that while driving approximately 40 MPH, the front passenger’s side head restraint unexpectedly deployed and struck the front seat passenger in the back of the head. There was no crash or impact at the time of the failure. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the passenger had a prior surgery involving the neck and back of the head and believed that the impact might have aggravated that issue. No medical assistance was sought. The front seat passenger had pain and discomfort and had been resting since the issue. The vehicle was drivable and was not towed. The dealer was notified of the failure and was provided an estimate for the repair. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but declined to offer assistance for the repair. The vehicle was no longer under warranty. The failure mileage was approximately 99,300.
NHTSA complaint #11745566 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Sacramento, CA1 injured
SEATS
On February 6, 2026, while driving my 2014 Dodge Durango at normal speed, the driver’s seat headrest suddenly and unexpectedly deployed/exploded, striking the back of my head. The force of the impact caused my head to snap forward, resulting in soft-tissue and muscle injuries to my neck and upper back. I sought medical evaluation following the incident and was diagnosed with soft-tissue injury/whiplash. Treatment has included diagnostic imaging, prescription medication, and follow-up care for ongoing symptoms. I was able to continue driving the vehicle directly to a Dodge dealership, where staff confirmed that the headrest had exploded. This is the second headrest failure on this vehicle caused by a defective plastic component; the passenger-side headrest failed previously in August 2023. The vehicle is unsafe to operate until the headrest is replaced. Due to the part being out of stock, the repair is expected to take more than two months. Prior to this incident, the only indication of a problem was a letter sent by Dodge in August 2020 stating that the warranty on this part was extended from 3 years to 10 years due to a known defect. Given the repeated failures and risk of injury, this condition represents a safety defect that should have been addressed through a recall.
NHTSA complaint #11721043 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Worcester, MA
SEATS
1. Active Head Rest Inadvertent Deployment Driver's side 2. seat warmers and steering wheel warmer won't turn off unless vehicle is turned off and on again.
NHTSA complaint #11717614 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Zurich, KS
SEATS
Active Head Rest Inadvertent Deployment
NHTSA complaint #11710096 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Quakertown, PA
SEATS
While stopped at a stop sign, the passenger headrest airbag deployed.
NHTSA complaint #11689075 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
at 168,122 milesMarshall, MN1 injured
SEATS:FRONT ASSEMBLY:HEAD RESTRAINT
The contact owns a 2014 Dodge Durango. The contact stated that while making a turn at a slow speed, there was an abnormal sound coming from the front driver’s side headrest, and the headrest deployed unintendedly. The contact had her two children inside the vehicle during the failure. The children had not sustained any injuries. The contact was unable to push the headrest back into the housing. No warning light was illuminated. The headrest struck the back of the contact's head, and the right ear was ringing. The contact drove the vehicle to the residence. The contact had not sought medical attention. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 168,122.
NHTSA complaint #11687000 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
San Antonio, TX
SEATS
Driver side front headrest exploded/deployed while the car was parked. The plastic latch inside the headrest is broken so resetting it is impossible. This is concerning and highly dangerous! Upon researching this, it’s a known issue for Dodge models and yet isn’t a recall? My car was parked when this happened.
NHTSA complaint #11687006 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
at 169,000 milesFernandina Beach, FL
SEATS:FRONT ASSEMBLY:HEAD RESTRAINT
The contact owns a 2014 Dodge Durango. The contact stated while driving approximately 75 MPH, the front passenger’s side headrest erroneously deployed. During the failure, there was a loud explosion distracting the contact and the headrest unit struck the rear of the passenger’s head, causing a headache. No medical treatment was required. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, and it was determined that the headrest unit needed to be replaced. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The contact was informed that the vehicle was not covered under an extend warranty coverage related to the failure. The failure mileage was 169,000.
NHTSA complaint #11670976 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
at 72,500 milesMiami, FL
SEATS:FRONT ASSEMBLY:HEAD RESTRAINT
The contact owns a 2014 Dodge Durango. The contact stated that while adjusting the front passenger’s side headrest, the active head restraint (AHR) unexpectedly deployed. No warning light was illuminated. The local dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired due to the cost. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 72,500.
NHTSA complaint #11667120 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Lexington, SC1 injured
SEATS
Driving 2014 Dodge Durango when the active headrest restraint on the passenger seat activated. No accident or impact to the vehicle during incident. Resulted in passenger receiving a solid "punch" to the back of the head and neck resulting in headaches for a week. If this had happened on the driver's seat (and it still could !), I can imagine an accident is possible due to the utter surprise of the noise and being punched in the head while driving. At the time of the incident, we had no idea what had happened but have since learned that our experience is not unprecedented and there are numerous similar reports of "exploding" Dodge/Jeep headrests on NHTSA. Wanting to report incident to NHTSA before taking to dealer for repair (hopefully). No warnings of impending AHR activation and no indication of activation in UConnect after the incident. There is an active NHTSA investigation PE 19014 on this exact component failure.
NHTSA complaint #11666774 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Elk, WA
SEATS
Active headrest restraint deployed without warning or cause
NHTSA complaint #11664140 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Woodbridge, VA
SEATS
The passenger-side headrest AHR randomly failed and deployed the headrest (while driving at low speeds on local roads). Pictures have been taken and the headrest is left in place as-is for the dealership to inspect during service hours. The defective plastic retention bracket assembly suddenly broke and released the headrest, and can not be reset. There are no warnings for this now widely known manufacturer defect, yet Dodge has no reasonably effective resolution. Had the seat been occupied at that moment the active head-restraint failed, it would have caused serious head injuries to my family or myself. Had it been the driver-side headrest that malfunctioned at that moment, that could have injured me while driving and created a serious traffic accident. A limited extended warranty to repair a faulty component after an incident on a known cost-cutting defect that randomly injures occupants (at least 71 injuries have been caused by this known defect) with great potential to lead to fatal traffic accidents is unacceptable.
NHTSA complaint #11658749 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Peachtree Corners, GA
SEATS
Active Head Restraint failure in passenger side headrest. It is available to be inspected. This is a known issue for the 2014 Dodge Durango from 2011 to 2018 among other Dodge/Jeep vehicles.
NHTSA complaint #11635984 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Valencia, CA
SEATS
Passenger seat, headrest exploded part of cars, active restraint system, hitting my son in the head
NHTSA complaint #11634222 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Winterville, NC1 injured
SEATS
While vehicle was being driven, passenger headrest spontaneously deployed/exploded, hitting passenger in the head with strong force, causing significant head, neck and shoulder pain.
NHTSA complaint #11620870 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Las Vegas, NV
SEATS
The component that failed was the passengers headrest. It automatically deployed while driving with no collision or hit. I was able to stop and park right away because it hit my daughter on the head. I just wanted to make sure she was good. This happened today 07/16/2024 so will call my dealer tomorrow to see if they can do something about it and hopefully they can fix it. For now, I thank God my daughter is good. I did no report with insurance, or police. I had no warning before it happened.
NHTSA complaint #11602825 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Tavares, FL
SEATS
The passenger headrest opened up during normal driving and hit the passenger in the head, hard. Upon inspection the brackets that hold some sort of spring-loaded mechanism appear to have cracked/broken to allow the head rest to open up.
NHTSA complaint #11602305 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Wapato, WA
SEATS
Passenger side active headrest deployed without accident while sitting in driveway no one in or around vehicle and also not running.
NHTSA complaint #11599856 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Graham, TX
SEATS
I was driving along thankfully at a low rate of speed when suddenly my passenger seat head rest popped really loud and sprang open. Scared the Crap out of me, and caused me to swerve really hard and almost out of my lane. Thank God no one was sitting in the passenger seat at the time!!
NHTSA complaint #11594662 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Altoona, IA
SEATS
The passenger side head rest deployed for no reason. Has not been in any accidents. Shop states it would cost me $850 to get fixed. I believe this is a defect of the part since I was just going down the road when this happened. As I said before I have not been in any accidents. Please send me a replacement for this vehicle or put out a recall on this. I have seen that there is multiple people having this issue.
NHTSA complaint #11593657 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Kendall Park, NJ1 injured
SEATS
The passenger side active head restraint headrest deployed while driving. Upon activation, it struck the passenger in the head causing dizziness and pain. According to a few online forums, this has been an issue for some time. No one has inspected my vehicle so far but me. The headrest is unable to be reset. There was no warning and no lights or messages indicating the failure.
NHTSA complaint #11590810 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Roberta, GA
SEATS
Was driving and noticed my headrest was actually touching my head, it had deployed like it should when you hit an accident. Nothing was hit.
NHTSA complaint #11581223 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Pittsburg, KS1 injured
SEATS
While driving down the interstate, the passenger headrest deployed and hit my husband in the back of the head, jarring him and hurting his neck. This is the second time this has happened, the first time was on the driver’s side and dodge repaired the issue. The plastic clips holding the metal latching mechanism snapped and the headrest deployed. I called the dealership and was told there were no recalls. There were no warning lights or signs that this was going to happen. At this time I have not turned it into insurance or filed a police report because it was a faulty piece of equipment within the car. If this would have happened on the driver side, it could have caused a wreck or knocked the driver unconscious. Even in the passenger seat, this causes serious injury concerns to the neck and head.
NHTSA complaint #11548529 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Monroe, NC
SEATS
Upon arriving home, I parked the car in the garage. As I was collecting my belongings to exit the car, the driver's headrest "exploded" sharply striking me in the back of the head. While I was uninjured - beyond the resulting headache - this appears to be a defect with the vehicle. On inspection, it appears the plastic retaining bar failed causing the headrest to separate.
NHTSA complaint #11546844 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Greeley, CO1 injured
SEATS
Sitting at drive through and driver headrest exploded and hit me in the back of the head. Thank God I was not moving at the time and my car was in park or I may have wrecked! Startled me and I was dazed and confused because I couldn’t figure out what had happened! This just happened a few hours ago so I have not been able to report it or have it checked out. I did take several pictures. There were no warnings or anything and it just happened as I was sitting there! If I had been driving, it could have been catastrophic! My neck is sore and I have a headache.
NHTSA complaint #11546116 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Lexington, SC
SEATS
Rackin pinion, Lumbar drivers seat stopped working, 120v outlet came out, jerking at pulling off, all dash components do things when ever. Electrical issues within radio and dash.
NHTSA complaint #11542180 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Lansing, KS1 injured
SEATS
Headrest deployed under normal driving conditions
NHTSA complaint #11535229 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Crosby, MS
SEATS
The passenger head rest popped/exploded and juts forward and will not close back. I was advised that it is an airbag recall issue. However after checking my vin nothing is shown listed here. On a google search it says there is a ten year unlimited mile recall.
NHTSA complaint #11509764 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Roswell, GA
SEATS
Jan 24 , 2023. Drivers Active Headrest was deployed. No incidents/accidents and must be replaced looks like the plastic retaining hooks malfunctioned. must be replaced. UNKNOWN exactly what happened. Hea
NHTSA complaint #11503822 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Spring Hill, TN1 injured
SEATS
We were driving down the interstate, and the active head restraint deployed for no reason. I was in the passenger seat. It hit me hard in the back of the head. I didn’t know what had happened. It felt like we had been hit by a car. I can’t imagine this happening if you were in the drivers seat! This is so dangerous! I am having head/neck issues now! I have an appointment with Dodge to inspect my headrest this week. I have been scared to drive my car. I’m worried the drivers side will do the same! I had no idea this could even happen until I researched afterwards. I saw that others have had this happen to them too.Dodge needs to recall these headrests!
NHTSA complaint #11489867 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.