Dodge Dakota vs Hyundai Sonata

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	Dodge Dakota	Hyundai Sonata
Complaints on file	9,238	22,302
Model years covered	1985–2011	1987–2026
Worst model year	2002	2013
Best model year	2009	2025
Crashes reported	692	1,151
Fires reported	178	851
Injuries reported	357	740
Deaths reported	24	21
Most complained-about part	Suspension	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	13.5%	12.4%

Dodge Dakota by year

3 1 21 65 88 88 161 314 159 240 294 250 650 793 1,011 1,096 945 946 420 287 598 386 167 131 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 692 7.5%

Engine & Cooling 597 6.5%

Electrical System 465 5.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 238 2.6%

Hyundai Sonata by year

4 18 25 41 43 46 7 93 37 74 68 187 378 293 407 249 288 217 1,422 906 554 612 415 4,627 2,280 2,657 1,082 1,667 998 1,001 552 214 276 184 142 140 75 21 2

87 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 5,119 23.0%

Steering 2,378 10.7%

Airbags 2,068 9.3%

Electrical System 2,008 9.0%

Other & Unspecified 1,329 6.0%

Brakes 1,259 5.6%

Fuel & Propulsion 1,092 4.9%

Body & Structure 1,087 4.9%