Other lighting problem on the 2003 Dodge Dakota
1 fire 1 of the 12 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other lighting problem gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Dodge Dakota report other lighting problem at a median of 80,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 86,000 miles. It is the 10th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 60,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 150,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 90,000 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60,000 miles | 65,700 miles | 77,940 miles | 123,000 miles | 150,000 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 1 a fire is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $120–$1,200 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 6 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2006, at a median of 65,000 miles, and latest on the 1998 at 170,000 miles.
By volume the 2001 carries the most reports, with 15; the 2003 has 12. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 dodge dakota. While driving between 5-10 MPH, the contact heard a loud thud coming from the axle area. The four wheel drive indicator light illuminated and the headlights, interior lights, and windshield wipers failed completely. Eventually, the horn began to sound intermittently, the windshield wipers began wiping automatically, and the low fuel indicator light illuminated and continued to chime. The contact believes that all the failures were related to the central timer module. Nhtsa campaign id number 02v322000 (exterior lighting:headlights switch) was referenced. The purchase date was unknown. The current mileage was 66,000 and failure mileage was 65,700.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 dodge dakota. While driving between 5-10 MPH, the contact heard a loud thud coming from the axle area. The four wheel drive indicator light illuminated and the headlights, interior lights, and windshield wipers failed completely. Eventually, the horn began to sound intermittently, the windshield wipers began wiping automatically, and the low fuel indicator light illuminated and continued to chime. The contact believes that all the failures were related to the central timer module. Nhtsa campaign id number 02v322000 (exterior lighting:headlights switch) was referenced. The purchase date was unknown. The current mileage was 66,000 and failure mileage was 65,700.
2003 dakota lights quit working, I could have been killed. Also doors wouldn't lock or unlock electrically. Wife took truck to local dealer who said they couldn't touch it for two weeks. I could not drive the truck without lights. I checked all fuses and searched internet and deduced the central timer module (ctm) (56047092ai with date code 12/22/2002) was the problem and there was a recall #02v322000. I contacted chrysler who said the recall didn't apply to my truck VIN #. I called another dealer who wanted $400+ to fix it. I found another dealer willing to sell me the part). They sold me a newer version and I installed it in their parking lot in about ten minutes. All the lights and electric door locks worked again except the for the key fobs which had to be reprogrammed. Total repair was $260.21. Then I contacted chrysler to get my truck included within the recall and asked for a refund of the repair cost. They asked for all original receipts and a form filled out. About two weeks later chryslers customer service office in india called and three different people kept telling me the recall didn't apply to my truck and they were…
Also reported on the 2003 Dodge Dakota
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure
Premature brake pad or rotor wear
Other suspension problem
Other engine problem
Other electrical problem
Other brake problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 12 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other lighting problem happen on the 2003 Dodge Dakota?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 80,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other lighting problem on the 2003 Dodge Dakota?
12 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed