Dodge Dakota vs Nissan Altima

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	Nissan Altima
Complaints on file	9,236	20,238
Model years covered	1985–2011	1993–2025
Worst model year	2002	2014
Best model year	2009	2004
Crashes reported	691	1,256
Fires reported	178	317
Injuries reported	356	783
Deaths reported	24	17
Most complained-about part	Suspension	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	13.5%	11.7%

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%

Nissan Altima by year

150 120 216 117 141 141 110 199 202 1,321 1,099 334 1,364 1,043 598 1,376 2,150 541 320 579 2,981 1,396 1,203 790 521 322 356 262 120 55 39 62 10

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

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 3,482 17.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 2,205 10.9%

Airbags 1,967 9.7%

Electrical System 1,775 8.8%

Body & Structure 1,769 8.7%

Other & Unspecified 1,496 7.4%

Steering 1,346 6.7%

Lights 1,235 6.1%