Dodge Durango vs Kia Telluride: which is more reliable?
The Dodge Durango and the Kia Telluride are level on the federal record — 74/100 against 76/100 across the years we score. Which one to buy is decided by the model year, not the badge.
The record, side by side
Dodge Durango
- 12 model years scored
- 3,018 owner complaints on record
- about 21 complaints per year on the road
- 59 recall campaigns, 40 safety-critical
- best year 2024 (92/100) · worst 2011 (29/100)
Kia Telluride
- 5 model years scored
- 1,624 owner complaints on record
- about 95 complaints per year on the road
- 26 recall campaigns, 5 safety-critical
- best year 2021 (82/100) · worst 2020 (66/100)
Mean score is the average across model years from 2013 on, where both records are comparable. How the score works.
Year by year: Durango against Telluride
The comparison that decides the purchase. A nameplate is not one car — a redesign can move the record sixty points inside two years, and the two nameplates rarely move together.
What owners actually complain about
Dodge Durango
- Electrical System — 1,410 complaints
- Engine — 562 complaints
- Fuel/Propulsion System — 328 complaints
Kia Telluride
- Unknown Or Other — 376 complaints
- Engine — 273 complaints
- Visibility/Wiper — 270 complaints
They do not fail the same way: the Durango's complaints concentrate in Electrical System, the Telluride's in Unknown Or Other. That difference matters more to a buyer than the score gap, because it says which repair bill you are taking on.
Years to avoid on each
Dodge Durango — avoid: 2011, 2012, 2013.
Kia Telluride: no model year scores below 45; the strongest are 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025.
A year scores below 45 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns. Every car’s years to avoid.
What each costs today
A recent used Dodge Durango prices at about $63,100 and a Kia Telluride at about $63,100 — they price within $1 of each other, which at this level is the same money, and they return 20.0 against 20.0 MPG combined.
Class-level estimates re-priced to your country, not a valuation of one car. Method.
FAQ
Is the Dodge Durango or the Kia Telluride more reliable?
On the NHTSA record the Kia Telluride scores 76/100 against the Dodge Durango's 74/100, averaged across every model year we hold. The gap is small enough that the model year matters more than the badge.
Which Dodge Durango and Kia Telluride years should I avoid?
Dodge Durango: 2011, 2012, 2013. Kia Telluride: no year scores below 45. Each of those scores under 45 out of 100 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns.
What goes wrong on the Dodge Durango and the Kia Telluride?
The largest complaint group on the Dodge Durango is Electrical System (1,410 complaints); on the Kia Telluride it is Unknown Or Other (376).
Is the Dodge Durango or the Kia Telluride cheaper to own?
A recent used Dodge Durango prices at about $63,100 and a Kia Telluride at about $63,100, before insurance and the maintenance band. Both pages carry the five-year running-cost figure.