2008 Dodge Dakota
This year drew an ordinary 91 complaints for a Dodge Dakota — the model's median is 144. What they were about is the unusual part: 9.9% of them mention high, against 1.1% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 91 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 144 |
| Involving a crash | 5 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| EPA combined | 15 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- high — 9.9% of this year's complaints, against 1.1% across the model's other years (9.4×). Owners wrote it as: high, humidity, raining, although.
- situation — 8.8% of this year's complaints, against 1.4% across the model's other years (6.3×). Owners wrote it as: situation, passengers, person.
- radio — 6.6% of this year's complaints, against 0.9% across the model's other years (7.7×). Owners wrote it as: radio, station.
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.
What owners wrote
DUE TO MY PASSENGER SIDE AIRBAG BEING POTENTIALLY DEADLY I CANNOT TRADE OFF MY TRUCK FOR A FAIR MARKET VALUE. ALSO I FEEL IT IS UNSAFE FOR ANY PERSON OR PERSONS TO RIDE IN THE PASSENGER SIDE OF THE TRUCK. I CONTACTED DODGE BACK IN OCTOBER OF 2016 AND EXPRESSED…
NOTIFICATION OF NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 15V313000 (AIR BAGS) HOWEVER, THE PART TO DO THE REPAIR WAS UNAVAILABLE. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE [VIN] EXCEEDED A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME FOR THE RECALL REPAIR. THE [VIN] WAS MADE AWARE OF THE ISSUE. THE CONTACT WAS…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V352000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 15V313000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
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 2008 Dodge Dakota? What happened to yours?
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