1998 Dodge Dakota Brakes Problems

“While driving a combine was approaching in on coming lane taking up part of my lane, applied brakes and pedal hit the floor (no brakes). I had to go off road to avoid accident. Upon inspection found brake lines rusted through. Repaired and while bleeding lines had another rusted area rupture due to rust ( 4 areas so far). Fearful to drive until all lines replaced......but too costly!”

“This car has been a safety nightmare. From steel brake lines rusting through (and the vehicle losing it brakes), to upper ball joints almost separating to steering wheel drive shafts where the u-joints almost separated. These are not items that should fail like this. I spent part of my career looking after global product liability for cummins engine and I am stunned at the poor quality chrysler has used in critical components.”

“I am on my third catalytic converter on a 1998 Dodge Dakota, I just hit 70,000 miles and there seems to be an aweful lot of bad catalytic converters on this vehicle. Now the dealer tells me the biggest safety problem with my truck is the upper and lower ball joints (it'll cost almost $1000), these are the same as used on the durango and they have had all kinds of problems also.”

“I bought my 1998 Dodge Dakota truck in august of 1998 in march of 1999 brought the truck back to the dealer for repair because it would pull to the left. I thought it might be the brake because this would occur off and on while driving and at times there was an odor that smelled like the brakes were burning. The vehicle was checked and the it was found that the caliper was seizing up and damaged the rotor. The caliper, brake pads, and rotor were replaced by the dealer under the warranty.”

“I have had numerous problems with my 1998 Dodge Dakota. I purchased it brand new. 2 months after 8/98 purchase date, the transmission went out. The brakes have had to be replaced several times, the map sensor went out while driving down the highway causing the vehicle to shut down. I recently had to replace the lower ball joints. The seat belts come off entirely too easy. All of this and the vehicle only has 39,000 miles on it. I sent arbitration papers to chrysler twice with no response.”