How many miles will a Dodge Dakota last?
Half of the 3,138 NHTSA owner complaints on the Dodge Dakota that list mileage came after 52,000 miles, and 1 in 10 after 119,000 miles. They cover the 1987–2011 model years in NHTSA's complaints file of November 11, 2026, and each records the odometer when an owner reported a safety problem, not how long the car lasted.
Buying a high-mileage Dakota? Check its VIN.
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See what the paid report includes →Of the 3,138 complaints on the Dodge Dakota that list mileage, the middle half came between 30,000 and 82,000 miles; 15% came after 100,000 miles, 5% after 150,000 and 1% after 200,000.
Check the odometer record before you buy
VIN Lookup (free-vin-lookup.com) sells the original ClearVIN PDF for $14.99 (3 reports for $29.99, 5 for $44.99): odometer readings, title brands and auction records on file for the VIN. Check the VIN before buying a high-mileage Dakota.
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For $14.99, VIN Lookup delivers an original ClearVIN vehicle-history PDF for the Dodge Dakota VIN you enter: title brands, odometer readings, accident and auction records on file. ClearVIN is on the U.S. Department of Justice’s list of approved NMVTIS data providers; VIN Lookup sells that original report. The records returned vary by VIN.
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How many miles is too much for a used Dakota?
There is no hard cutoff. NHTSA's file records when owners reported problems, not when a Dakota wears out, and how a car was maintained matters more than any one odometer figure.
Where the complaints cluster: the middle half came between 30,000 and 82,000 miles, and 5% came after 150,000 miles (150 of 3,138).
Complaint mileage rises with a model year's age: older Dakota years were reported at higher odometer readings because they had more time to cover miles. The table below shows when owners of each year reported problems; it does not rank the years.
Dodge Dakota mileage at failure by model year
Each row is a Dakota model year with 10 or more NHTSA complaints that list a mileage, with the median of those mileages: half of the year’s complaints came at or above it. Years with fewer are left out. Medians rise with a year’s age, so the table does not rank the years. A linked year opens that model year’s own page: its problems by component and its recall campaigns.
| Model year | Complaints listing mileage | Median mileage at failure |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 Dakota | 11 | 80,000 |
| 1994 Dakota | 15 | 120,000 |
| 1995 Dakota | 24 | 96,850 |
| 1996 Dakota | 24 | 88,500 |
| 1997 Dakota | 140 | 72,000 |
| 1998 Dakota | 210 | 68,000 |
| 1999 Dakota | 329 | 60,000 |
| 2000 Dakota | 359 | 52,000 |
| 2001 Dakota | 413 | 50,000 |
| 2002 Dakota | 503 | 39,000 |
| 2003 Dakota | 222 | 34,290 |
| 2004 Dakota | 167 | 51,000 |
| 2005 Dakota | 328 | 58,500 |
| 2006 Dakota | 161 | 55,000 |
| 2007 Dakota | 95 | 50,196 |
| 2008 Dakota | 60 | 51,243 |
| 2009 Dakota | 10 | 38,000 |
| 2010 Dakota | 22 | 49,800 |
| 2011 Dakota | 25 | 42,000 |
Dodge Dakota problems by component, with typical mileage
The five NHTSA component categories named most often in the 1987–2011 Dakota complaints that list a mileage, with the median mileage of each. A complaint can name more than one component. Owners named the suspension most often: 1,158 complaints, half of them after 48,000 miles.
| Component (NHTSA category) | Complaints listing mileage | Median mileage |
|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 1,158 | 49,000 |
| Service Brakes, Hydraulic | 465 | 26,465 |
| Steering | 393 | 56,000 |
| Power Train | 386 | 58,000 |
| Electrical System | 240 | 78,000 |
What these mileages can and cannot tell you
- They are self-reported. The mileage is what the owner wrote on the complaint; NHTSA does not check it against the odometer.
- They are not a lifespan study. The file holds only cars whose owners reported a problem; a Dakota that ran without one never appears in it, so these figures do not say how long a typical Dakota lasts.
- Young model years pull the figures down: a car a few years old cannot have reached high mileage when its owner complained.
- A complaint is an allegation, not a defect finding, and the count rises with how many cars were sold.
- 3,488 of the Dodge Dakota complaints in these model years give no usable mileage (blank, zero, a filler such as 999999, or over 500,000) and are left out of every figure.
- NHTSA also holds 3 complaints for 1985 and 1986, fewer than 10 a year under a name whose typical year draws 40 or more; those stray filings are left out.
- NHTSA names counted: DAKOTA.
Primary sources behind this page
Open the underlying public source and verify that its scope matches the question you are asking.
- NHTSA complaints flat file (FLAT_CMPL.zip), downloaded November 11, 2026National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Complaints file field layout (CMPL.txt)National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- NHTSA recall and complaint datasets: scope and documentationNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Recalls Lookup by VINNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration
NHTSA’s complaints file was downloaded on November 11, 2026 (FLAT_CMPL.txt, dated 2026-11-11 10:15, 2,265,416 rows). Each complaint is counted once, by its NHTSA number, with the mileage on its first row; a page is published only when its model holds 100 or more complaints that list a mileage. The collection script and its rules are in scripts/collect-nhtsa-mileage.mjs.
Dodge Dakota mileage questions
How many miles will a Dodge Dakota last?
Half of the 3,138 NHTSA owner complaints on the Dodge Dakota that list mileage came after 52,000 miles, and 1 in 10 after 119,000 miles. Of the 3,138 complaints on the Dodge Dakota that list mileage, the middle half came between 30,000 and 82,000 miles; 15% came after 100,000 miles, 5% after 150,000 and 1% after 200,000. These are mileages at a reported problem, not a lifespan: the file holds no Dakota that never had one.
How many miles is too much for a used Dakota?
There is no hard cutoff. NHTSA's file records when owners reported problems, not when a Dakota wears out, and how a car was maintained matters more than any one odometer figure. Where the complaints cluster: the middle half came between 30,000 and 82,000 miles, and 5% came after 150,000 miles (150 of 3,138). Complaint mileage rises with a model year's age: older Dakota years were reported at higher odometer readings because they had more time to cover miles. The table below shows when owners of each year reported problems; it does not rank the years.
How do I check the mileage of a used Dakota?
Compare the odometer with the readings on file for its VIN: title transfers, inspections and auction sales record the mileage on the day. A reading lower than an earlier one, or a long gap, is worth asking about. VIN Lookup (free-vin-lookup.com) sells the original ClearVIN PDF for $14.99 (3 reports for $29.99, 5 for $44.99): odometer readings, title brands and auction records on file for the VIN. Check the VIN before buying a high-mileage Dakota.