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What 26 owners told NHTSA about the 2023 Dodge Hornet R/t Eawd

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (26)Crash / fire / injury (2)Driver assistance (12)Electrical system (10)Backup camera & sensors (4)Lane Departure (3)Speed control (3)Body & structure (2)Brakes (1)Seat belts (1)Steering (1)

2 of 26 complaints match · Body & structure · clear filters

Apr 2, 2026Electrical systemBody & structure

I am having continual failures of the electronic door lock/linkage that causes the door to no open from either the interior or exterior of the vehicle. The door latch has been replaced twice on the driver door, once on the rear driver side, the passenger rear is going to be replaced this week, and the passenger front is starting to make a similar noise that the others have made before failing. In an attempt to fix before the cable was also replaced on the latch. The vehicle will not lock the doors allowing for them to be opened while the alarm is armed and will set it off from the exterior of the vehicle. This does not appear to be related to cold weather that has caused issues with the door closing in the past. All repairs have been completed under warranty, but I am considering this to be a safety risk, it does not throw warning messages or errors on the EVIC, and a general scanner does not show any faults with the door. I consider this to be a major safety risk due to the fact that if it fails on the interior of the vehicle, you cannot get out in an emergency without climbing over the door. If it fails from the exterior and an emergency happens you would need to access from another way and crawl over the seats. I do not slam the doors, and the driver side are the most used on this vehicle.

NHTSA ODI 11728771

Apr 6, 2025Body & structure

In cold weather, the driver’s door is either not closing and latching, or it appears like it has closed and then the door flies open while you’re driving. This is dangerous and distracting when it happens (holding the door physically shut while driving at the same time). The dealer tried aligning the door hardware but it hasn’t made a difference. I did make a video of the issue and I believe the dealer was able to reproduce the problem, at the time. I have another appointment booked with the dealer for the same issue. It’s possible the door handle itself is defective, and I’ve read about other owners with the same problem. It only happens in cold weather. When it happens several warning messages (disabling other safety systems) are also displayed on the dashboard, many of which are not related to the door (but probably triggered by it being open).

NHTSA ODI 11653068

Working with the data? Download all 26 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 18, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2023 Dodge Hornet R/t Eawd verdict →