What is the best year for the Dodge Dakota?
No official dataset can support one universal best year. Use the table to compare complaint patterns and EPA figures, then open the shortlisted years for recall campaigns and exact specifications.
Model-year matrix
Dodge Dakota
which year?
Compare every Dodge Dakota model year the EPA recorded, 1987 to 2011. See complaint patterns, fuel economy and configurations side by side, then open any year for recall campaigns and the full dossier. Confirm against the official NHTSA recall search.
Evidence-led answer
Looking for the best Dodge Dakota year—or years to avoid?
The official records cannot honestly name a best, worst or most reliable year. Complaint totals have no sales, mileage or age denominator. They can show where more reports were filed and which components were named, giving you years to investigate more closely before checking the exact car and its VIN.
Which Dodge Dakota years should you avoid?
The records cannot justify a blanket avoid label. Years with more reports are surfaced below as research priorities, not predictions about every car from that year.
01 · More reports to inspect2000
806 indexed complaint reports; suspension is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2000 dossier →02 · More reports to inspect2002678 indexed complaint reports; suspension is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2002 dossier →03 · More reports to inspect2001678 indexed complaint reports; suspension is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2001 dossier →Do not read this as an avoid list. Older and higher-selling model years usually accumulate more reports. A low count can also mean a newer, rarer or poorly matched vehicle—not a safer one.
Complaint totals are counts of owner-submitted allegations, not confirmed defects, and they carry no denominator: they are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, how old they are, how far they are driven, or how much publicity a fault received. A high-volume or older year will usually show more reports than a rare or recent one. The site does not convert these into a reliability score, because the data needed to do that honestly is not in the public record.
Direct comparison
Compare two Dodge Dakota model years.
Choose any two years. The URL keeps the pair so you can return to the same comparison. Every figure below is an observed official record or EPA estimate—not a reliability score.
2010 Dodge Dakota
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 35
- Combined EPA economy
- 15–17 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 4
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $3,600–4,100
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsair bags 16power train 7electrical system 6
Open the 2010 evidence dossier →2011 Dodge Dakota
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 44
- Combined EPA economy
- 15–17 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 4
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $3,600–4,100
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsair bags 18power train 8service brakes 5
Open the 2011 evidence dossier →Observed complaint-record difference
2011 has 9 more indexed complaint allegations than 2010.
This is not a rate or reliability finding. The counts have no sales, mileage, age or exposure denominator, and newer years have had less time to accumulate reports.Side by side
Dodge Dakota by year.
Complaint bars are scaled against this model’s own highest year, so they compare years with each other and with nothing else.
| Year | Complaints | Most-reported components | Combined MPG | EPA configs | Annual fuel cost | Dossier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 44 | air bags 18power train 8service brakes 5 | 15–17 | 4 | $3,600–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 2010 | 35 | air bags 16power train 7electrical system 6 | 15–17 | 4 | $3,600–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 2009 | 18 | power train 6air bags 5electrical system 4 | 15–18 | 6 | $3,400–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 2008 | 91 | air bags 29steering 18electrical system 11 | 15–18 | 8 | $3,400–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 2007 | 144 | air bags 59power train 25electrical system 13 | 15–17 | 8 | $3,600–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 2006 | 284 | air bags 125steering 47power train 40 | 15–17 | 8 | $3,600–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 2005 | 470 | air bags 143power train 83service brakes, hydraulic 82 | 15–17 | 8 | $3,600–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 2004 | 206 | steering 77suspension 53power train 23 | 14–17 | 8 | $3,600–4,400 | Dossier → |
| 2003 | 295 | suspension 121service brakes, hydraulic 46power train 40 | 13–17 | 10 | $3,600–4,750 | Dossier → |
| 2002 | 678 | suspension 300service brakes, hydraulic 203power train 93 | 12–19 | 11 | $3,250–5,100 | Dossier → |
| 2001 | 678 | suspension 307service brakes, hydraulic 137power train 99 | 13–20 | 11 | $3,100–4,750 | Dossier → |
| 2000 | 806 | suspension 372service brakes, hydraulic 299power train 79 | 12–20 | 11 | $3,100–5,100 | Dossier → |
| 1999 | 641 | suspension 503service brakes, hydraulic 97steering 78 | 13–19 | 10 | $3,250–4,750 | Dossier → |
| 1998 | 545 | suspension 318power train 82service brakes, hydraulic 71 | 13–20 | 10 | $3,100–4,750 | Dossier → |
| 1997 | 446 | suspension 209service brakes, hydraulic 76engine and engine cooling 54 | 13–20 | 9 | $3,100–4,750 | Dossier → |
| 1996 | 189 | power train 33engine and engine cooling 28service brakes, hydraulic 23 | 13–20 | 9 | $3,100–4,750 | Dossier → |
| 1995 | 208 | power train 33service brakes, hydraulic 28seat belts 27 | 13–22 | 11 | $2,800–4,750 | Dossier → |
| 1994 | 166 | service brakes, hydraulic 34power train 26electrical system 25 | 12–22 | 13 | $2,800–5,100 | Dossier → |
| 1993 | 134 | service brakes, hydraulic 24power train 23engine and engine cooling 15 | 12–22 | 10 | $2,800–5,100 | Dossier → |
| 1992 | 216 | power train 126service brakes, hydraulic 62electrical system 23 | 12–21 | 10 | $2,950–5,100 | Dossier → |
| 1991 | 128 | power train 68steering 17service brakes, hydraulic 15 | 11–21 | 10 | $2,950–5,600 | Dossier → |
| 1990 | 63 | steering 29power train 19service brakes, hydraulic 17 | 11–21 | 7 | $2,950–5,600 | Dossier → |
| 1989 | 63 | steering 23power train 15service brakes, hydraulic 15 | 13–22 | 9 | $2,800–4,750 | Dossier → |
| 1988 | 55 | steering 30power train 10engine and engine cooling 4 | 13–22 | 10 | $2,800–4,750 | Dossier → |
| 1987 | 20 | steering 5engine and engine cooling 3seat belts 3 | 12–21 | 6 | $2,950–5,100 | Dossier → |
Evidence snapshot generated . “Not indexed” means NHTSA holds no complaint record matching this exact year, make and model — not that no fault occurred. Recall campaigns are not summarised here: NHTSA publishes no bulk recall dataset, and fetching them per year would take longer than the page should. Each year’s dossier shows its recalls in full, live from NHTSA.