Dodge Dakota vs Jeep Wrangler

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	Jeep Wrangler
Complaints on file	9,236	22,900
Model years covered	1985–2011	1986–2026
Worst model year	2002	2021
Best model year	2009	2025
Crashes reported	691	779
Fires reported	178	736
Injuries reported	356	477
Deaths reported	24	26
Most complained-about part	Suspension	Steering
Share of complaints involving harm	13.5%	8.8%

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%

Jeep Wrangler by year

1 51 55 86 105 100 100 134 184 259 2 548 401 262 311 235 139 130 281 756 852 792 1,254 496 907 682 1,287 1,045 852 683 648 422 2,636 1,083 789 1,519 650 588 1,442 117 16

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 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

Steering 3,528 15.4%

Electrical System 2,962 12.9%

Engine & Cooling 2,738 12.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 2,562 11.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 2,244 9.8%

Suspension 1,593 7.0%

Airbags 1,481 6.5%

Other & Unspecified 1,301 5.7%