Acura TL vs Dodge Dakota

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure	Acura TL	Dodge Dakota
Complaints on file	4,055	9,236
Model years covered	1995–2014	1985–2011
Worst model year	2003	2002
Best model year	2014	2009
Crashes reported	223	691
Fires reported	62	178
Injuries reported	136	356
Deaths reported	8	24
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Suspension
Share of complaints involving harm	10.6%	13.5%

Acura TL by year

3 33 29 22 197 325 163 403 466 766 553 345 167 181 51 75 23 162 74 17

95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 921 22.7%

Airbags 834 20.6%

Body & Structure 549 13.5%

Electrical System 263 6.5%

Other & Unspecified 244 6.0%

Steering 213 5.3%

Engine & Cooling 174 4.3%

Brakes 125 3.1%

Dodge Dakota by year

3 1 21 65 88 88 161 314 159 240 294 250 650 793 1,011 1,096 945 946 419 287 598 385 167 131 23 48 53

85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Suspension 2,348 25.4%

Brakes 1,449 15.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,060 11.5%

Steering 723 7.8%

Airbags 691 7.5%

Engine & Cooling 597 6.5%

Electrical System 465 5.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 238 2.6%