1998 Dodge Dakota problems
The 1998 Dodge Dakota has 793 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (40%) concerns suspension. After that come brakes (10%) and engine (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 793 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Suspension 40% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 58 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 32 and 6
- Typical mileage
- 69,000 miles 338 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 | 20 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 31 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 74 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 81 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 78 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 33 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 7 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 2 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 8 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 4 |
What the data shows
Among the 338 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 68,000 miles. For suspension specifically, the median reported mileage is about 64,000 miles (215 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 58 complaints mention a crash; 1 complaint mentions a fire; 32 injuries reported; 6 deaths reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1998 ranks 5th most-complained-about out of 21 model years of the Dodge Dakota with enough data (420 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 5 safety recall campaigns.
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.
A few months ago consumer was having problems with brakes. Consumer took vehicle into dealership, and dealer serviced brakes on 23rd of february, 2001. Consumer had an accident, and brakes did not work as good as they should have worked. Consumer states there were 3 fatalaties and 1 injury. *slc
No deployment of the driver and passenger side air bag when vehicle left the roadway and struck a utility pole (passenger went forward striking right temple of her head on the rearview resulting in fatal injury to passenger). Nlm
While driving my 1998 dodge dakota at 55 MPH on the highway the front driver's side wheel bearing failed, causing the wheel to become separated from the bearing making control of the vehicle extremely difficult. The resulting damage required the axle, bearing, wheel, cv joint, cv boot, rotors and pads to be repaced for a cost of $2036. The truck only has 38,500 miles on it.
I am on my third catalytic converter on a 1998 dodge dakota, I just hit 70,000 miles and there seems to be an aweful lot of bad catalytic converters on this vehicle. Now the dealer tells me the biggest safety problem with my truck is the upper and lower ball joints (it'll cost almost $1000), these are the same as used on the durango and they have had all kinds of problems also.
After reading about steering problems in dodge vehicles, I have hope you can help me. I purchased my '98 dodge dakota from 5 corners dodge at 1292 highway 143, cedarburg, wisconsin 53012. *09 dec '97 I took my truck in for "customer states that when making left hand turns there is s jarring that comes through the steering wheel" - replace intermediate shaft - n/c.