2005 Dodge Dakota
Complaints about this year name seat far more often than the model's other years — 12% of them, about 6× the usual rate of 2.1%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 470 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 91 |
| Involving a crash | 30 |
| Involving a fire | 27 |
| Recalls | 7 |
| EPA combined | 15 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- rotors — 13.2% of this year's complaints, against 4.5% across the model's other years (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: rotors, drums, rear brake, calipers.
- heated — 10.2% of this year's complaints, against 2.9% across the model's other years (3.6×). Owners wrote it as: heated, seats, hole, burned.
- wheel drive — 6.2% of this year's complaints, against 0.7% across the model's other years (8.9×). Owners wrote it as: wheel drive, transfer, transfer case, four wheel.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- rotors — 7% of complaints, 19× usual
- shop — 6% of complaints, 4× usual
What owners wrote
HEATED SEAT ELEMENT BURNED SEAT FOAM. FOUND SAME BEFORE IT COULD COMPLETELY BURST INTO FLAMES. SAME DID MELT HOLE IN THE FOAM AND SCORCH THE SEAT COVERING.
DRIVING VEHICLE, TURNED ON SEAT WARMERS, BACK STARTED GETTING VERY WARM AND A TERRIBLE SMELL. PULLED OFF TO SIDE OF ROAD, GOT OUT, SMOKE COMING FROM SEAT AND TWO BURN HOLES IN FABRIC.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 17V820000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V770000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 15V313000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V352000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 09E012000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING
- 05V460000 POWER TRAIN
- 05V002000 AIR BAGS
How this was worked out
Every year of the Dodge Dakota was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2005 Dodge Dakota? What happened to yours?
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