Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN | |||
| 05/25/2005 | 1 | 08/31/2002 | |
| 2002 dodge dakota right front wheel bearings and the hub needed to be replaced.*mr the consumer experienced intermittent problems with the air conditioner. hot spot on the front rotors caused pulsation when braking. the vehicle's transmission made noise and intermittent delayed shifting. the right front hub and bearing were replaced. the right front outer tie rod end was replaced. the left front upper ball joint was replaced. *nm | |||
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION | |||
| 06/15/2008 | 105000 | 1 | |
| Went to the store and put the vehicle in park it did not hold had to apply parking brake. got home and truck locked in park. three days later the truck would not lock in park and has not locked in park since. checked the shifting mechanisms and there was no problem with any parts. tried to adjust shift cable and there was no room to adjust. *tr | |||
| 06/28/2006 | 39199 | ||
| June of 2006, my fifteen year old son was sitting in my 2002 dodge dakota listening to the radio. my wife heard a crash and when we ran out to investigate, the truck was down an embankment. what kept the truck from flipping over was that it slammed into a tree from the rear and was pinned. police, ems and an ambluance was called to the scene to rescue him the truck. my son was unconscious and only slightly responsive to voice commands. he was taken to william beaumont hospital in royal oak, michigan where he was admitted for tests and x-rays. he has a closed head injury and suffers from headaches and has to examined and treated periodically. i did not think anything more about the accident until a television news report confirmed that there was a recall for chrysler (trucks) jumping out of gear. i was not getting any cooperationfrom the local dealership or from chrysler. i have the chrysler recall number of g28 that i retrieved from your website. i called chrylser today and they still deny that there is a recall on the lever and linkage-column shift for automatic transmissions. | |||
| 07/06/2007 | 36561 | 1 | 07/15/2005 |
| Tl*the contact owns a 2002 dodge dakota quad cab. while driving 25 mph, the check engine light illuminated. the contact was able to drive the vehicle to the dealer the following day. the dealer stated that the transmission and valves failed and that the clutch and valves needed to be replaced. the current and failure mileages were 36,561. updated 09/05/07 *tr | |||
| 10/01/2006 | 50000 | 5 | 03/13/2003 |
| I have had several alarming failures with my dodge dakota quad cab. it is a 2002 v6 auto transmission pw pl. i have had the ball joints replaced because of the recall, my transmission has failed (twice), my front hubs & spindles completely disintegrated and could have killed my family, my water pump has failed and had to be replaced, the driver side taillight seems to fail often, the vacuum hoses have all had to be replaced because of the cheap rubber used by the manufacturer fail by cracking and causing all sorts of leaks causing engine lights, loud noises under the hood, and horrible gas mileage. i have done everything possible to be proactive in my maintenance of the vehicle. i have had the major repairs done professionally. i do not understand how a 2002 vehicle can have so many potentially fatal problems and be ignored. i have searched high and low for quality bulletins but cannot find anything. my gas mileage is now down to 14 mpg and the truck is falling apart. *jb | |||
| 11/25/2004 | 41422 | 5 | 02/15/2002 |
| Dt: headlights not functioning. all interior lights not functioning, the wipers worked intermittently. the high, low selection for wipers does work. keyless entry does not work. contact has taken the vehicle to courtesy tire twice, then to bbc dodge three times for all of these problems. this started around 11/26/04. was told they thought it was a loose ground wire, second time they thought it was timer module part no#ti-8035033 and this module was replaced three times, probably four times as consumer is taking care again tomorrow. when the module is first put in everything works well for awhile or until it rains. consumer states he notices that after it rains everything listed above stops working again. consumer has contacted his attorney general to report this situation. *nm the transmission made a harsh sound when it was placed into gear. *sc *jb | |||
| 01/11/2003 | 91 | 7 | 12/29/2002 |
| There are so many problems that it is hard to really point one out that i am most concerned with. first of all it started with the transmission problem. then it lead into what the manufacturer says is an electrical problem. then the replacement of the entire fuel delivery system. now we are at a standstill since they say that it is working as designed. they also say that it is expected to see the erratic behavior from the motor. i am confused since they say that the computer adjusts and then it won't allow the car to run at optimal effectiveness. does this mean that it is designed to run at less than optimal effectiveness? i have had a smell come out of the air as though the vehicle was completely flooded. the front suspension makes threatening sounds and the back wobbles like a serpent. the brakes jitter and i have had to pay for rentals at times when the manufacturer approved the reimbursement. the statement for denial of reimbursement was the after market alarm caused it. they were the sponsors and initiators of this company since i bought it at the dealership included in my price. *ak *tc | |||
| 12/01/2003 | 1500 | 1 | 07/20/2002 |
| At a full stop you feel like a bump in the transmission, or just like someone hit you from the back. it doesn't do it all the time. it normally happens when driving the vehicle for more than half hour in traffic or local roads with frequent stops. dealer haven't been able to reproduce the problem, which started at 1500 miles. they service the differential but the problem still persists. they haven't been willing to drive it enough even when i left the vehicle for them to try for more than 24 hours. vehicle now has 17,000 miles, has been serviced every 3000 miles in five start dealer.*ak | |||
| 03/30/2003 | 1 | ||
| When putting vehicle into reverse or drive transmission stalls. *ak | |||
| 07/24/2003 | 100 | 03/15/2002 | |
| Transmission not shifting properly for several blocks brakes are pulsating when makeing normal start, has 13500 miles. *ak | |||
| 11/14/2002 | 6527 | 1 | 08/07/2002 |
| Front end linkage. transmission won't shift out. front end has a popping noise again ( same as before) transmission won't shift out and causes the motor to rev up considerably. *nlm | |||
| 05/07/2002 | 5000 | 4 | 12/15/2002 |
| My truck has loud knocking noise in engine and does not shift properely, have taken truck in and they say the engine racing is normal. the knocking noise is a purge solinoid which dodge addmits theres a problem but refuses to fix. they have made adjustments which now has affected performance to engine. i have had it in shop 4 times so far with no results. they try to tell you theres nothing wrong like its your own imagination. | |||
| 12/22/2002 | 80 | 12/14/2002 | |
| We purchased a new 2002 dodge dakota quad in dec. '02. within a few days, we noticed when first starting up in the morning, it clunked when putting in reverse, and it did not shift from 1st gear until we had gone 3-4 blocks. the engine was revving and the rpm's were increasing but the truck would not shift up to 2nd gear. we have taken it back to the dealer twice and they tell us they can find nothing wrong, which i know is not true. | |||
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION - CONTROL MODULE (TCM, PCM) | |||
| 02/01/2006 | 63000 | 30 | 12/20/2001 |
| Bought 2002 slt quad cab dakota new from dealership. first experienced truck stalling while driving on roadways (very dangerous!), without warning and without check engine light coming on. sometimes, it would also stall if put into drive/reverse from a parked position. had truck towed at least twice, because i was afraid to drive it home because it was stalling too many times. took in to dealership three times. since engine light wasn't on, diagnostic test couldn't determine problem readily; problem was intermittent. over the course of the first two visits to dealership, i had tune-up, throttle body cleaned, new distributor plate, new oil pan gasket. by the third time, i had the entire powertrain control module replaced: the brain of the truck, as the mechanic put it to me. this should not happen when a brand-new truck is only four years old; the brain should not die that soon. that is unacceptable, especially if the pcm/stalling problem is considered characteristic. all of this cost me about $2,500. the quality of this truck has not, and still does not, meet my expectations. the truck is too young to be having these sorts of problems. i expect to put thousands of dollars into a 10 year-old truck, not a four year-old truck. i am also experiencing transmission issues with the truck not shifting properly. i will outline that in separate complaint. *jb | |||
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION - LEVER AND LINKAGE - COLUMN SHIFT | |||
| 03/01/2008 | 1 | ||
| 2002 dodge dakota with a recall. consumer states that the headlights and door locks worked fine before it was put into the shop to have the recall performed. she states that now they only work sporadically. *kb recall # 07v555000. *jb | |||
| 07/06/2003 | 13150 | 1 | 01/21/2002 |
| 2002 dodge dakota parking safety failure: my 5 year old son was able to take the vehicle out of park while it was parked in our drive-way; neither ignition key was in the vehicle nor the brake pedal was pressed. the vehicle rolled back down the drive-way; luckily there were no injury or damage to the property. the dealer, carl gregory dodge in atlanta ga, fixed the problem. however, the dealer told me that they never seen this problem before and it took the dealer 4 days to figure out the problem. the manufacturer finally informed the dealer that it was a bad casting in the steering wheel column parts. this is a major safety issue and yet the dealer has no knowledge and there were no re-call. my friend also told me a similar incident that happened recently on dodge durango. the same thing happened and a little boy was killed. both vehicles use the same steering wheel column. dodge needs to make a recall on this problem.*ak | |||
| POWER TRAIN - AXLE HUBS | |||
| 05/25/2005 | 28000 | 3 | 08/31/2002 |
| Daimlerchrysler motor corporation p.o. box 21-8004 auburn hills, mi 48321-8004 attention: quality assurance my dodge presently has 49,200 miles. it has been serviced at recommended and required intervals at manahawkin dodge approximately every 3,000 miles. early into my ownership i had intermittent trouble with the air conditioner and they tried to assess the problem. they did a recharge of the system and corrected the problem. i was told at 28998 miles that the pulsing when my brakes were applied was due to hot spots on my front rotors. when i inquired as to how this could happen to a relatively new truck that is used as a personal transportation vehicle i was told they really did not know but have had to replace others. it is noted that i never had to replace rotors on my previous nissans. that ended up costing me $393. i began hearing a noise in the transmission and intermittent delayed shifting into gear resulting in the transmission being serviced which included changing filters, lubricant, etc. i was also told that my upper ball joint was worn and replaced one side only. this i subsequently learned has been a problem for some dodge vehicles and i have since received a letter from daimlerchrysler regarding an extended warranty on the part. today i was told that i had play in the right front ball bearing and the hub needed a total replacement. along with that a strut had to be replaced and an alignment once it was completed. when i asked how axle bearing could go bad with this low a mileage i was told that the hub is sealed and no way to lubricate and that it should not have gone bad. in addition, i have a noisy left leaf spring that needs a part. the cost for the front hub is over $600. i rarely get over 16 miles per gallon even i the best driving conditions. sincerely, charles w. stauffer cc: nhtsa nj division consumer affairs file | |||
| POWER TRAIN - DRIVELINE - DIFFERENTIAL UNIT | |||
| 08/15/2007 | 75500 | 1 | 08/01/2002 |
| The 9.25? limited-slip differential in our 2002 dodge dakota crew cab failed after components of the differential disintegrated at 75,000 miles. pictures available. this failure could have resulted in a catastrophic failure if a very slight noise had not developed during parking lot turns. a quick google of this problem resulted in numerous reports of this problem including catastrophic failures at highway speeds. *jb | |||
| 03/25/2004 | 1 | ||
| Took dakota to dealer for front and rear differential service (fluid change). dealer called and said rear differential (limited slpi) failed and had to be repaired. a pin slipped out of position and the rear differential was slowly destructing itself. i asked why this happened and was told it was paobably due to abuse. since i don't tow, take it off road or overload it this explanation does not make any sense. almost all of the milage is highway. | |||
| POWER TRAIN - DRIVELINE - UNIVERSAL JOINT | |||
| 07/08/2004 | 60325 | 2 | 05/13/2002 |
| Ball joints and u-joints are in need of replacement after only 26 months of ownership and 60,000 miles put on the truck. *ak | |||