2003 Dodge Dakota at 33,750 miles
You did not give a mileage, so this uses 33,750 — the median reported failure mileage for this model year, which is a rough stand-in for “a typical example of this car”. Put your real reading in the box below for an answer about your car.
At 33,750 miles on this car
At 33,750 miles on a 2003 Dodge Dakota, 22 of the failure modes other owners have reported already have their median report at or below your reading, and 4 more fall inside the window where they are usually reported. The heaviest of the ones already due is control arm, ball joint or bushing failure.
Already past the median 22
Half of all reports of these failures came in at or below where your car is now.
- Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure 31k
- Premature brake pad or rotor wear 15k
- Other engine problem 6k
- Other brake problem 9k
- Other powertrain problem 22k
- Cruise control failure 20
- Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure 27k
- Wiring harness or short circuit 100
- ABS module or sensor failure 7k
- Other body or interior problem 9k
- Overheating 5k
- Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure 6k
10 more.
You are in the window 4
Your reading falls inside the middle half of reports for these.
Typically later 24
Reported further down the road than where you are.
- Other fuel system problem 34k
- Wiper or washer failure 42k
- Seat belt or retractor failure 43k
- Master cylinder or brake booster failure 45k
- Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault 47k
- Complete transmission failure 50k
- Airbag failed to deploy in a crash 50k
- CV axle or driveshaft failure 57k
- Steering column or shaft failure 58k
- Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure 60k
- Other driver assistance problem 60k
- Other steering problem 63k
12 more.
Timing unknown 2
Reported, but too few owners gave an odometer reading to place them.
- Excessive oil consumption 2×
- Other speed control problem 1×
Why the list is generic until you type a number
Every figure below is a comparison against your odometer, so with no reading given the page has to pick one: 33,750 miles, roughly what a 2003 car covers at 12,000 miles a year. A reading 30,000 miles either side of that moves failures between the columns, which is the difference between a useful list and a generic one.
Already inside the reported range
22 failure modes on the 2003 Dodge Dakota have a median reported mileage at or below 33,750: control arm, ball joint or bushing failure (median 30,000 miles, 86 reports), premature brake pad or rotor wear (median 15,000 miles, 21 reports), other engine problem (median 5,000 miles, 19 reports), other brake problem (median 10,000 miles, 15 reports), other powertrain problem (median 20,000 miles, 14 reports) and cruise control failure (median 20 miles, 12 reports).
These are the ones worth mentioning to a mechanic by name at the next service. Being past a median is not being overdue — it means the reports cluster below where you are now, so if the failure was going to be typical, it would already have happened.
The window you are in now
4 further modes are reported in a band that includes 33,750 miles: parking brake failure (778 to 50,000 miles), other suspension problem (11k to 95,000 miles), other wheel or tire problem (28k to 120,000 miles) and other electrical problem (33k to 150,000 miles). These are the ones to watch on this car over the next few thousand miles.
A window here is the 25th to 75th percentile of reported mileages, so it holds the middle half of the reports and excludes the tails on both sides.
Still ahead of you
24 further modes sit above your reading, the nearest being other fuel system problem at a median of 35,000 miles. On a car you intend to keep, these are the ones that decide whether it is worth keeping.
What this list is not
It is a reading of what owners of other 2003 Dodge Dakotas reported, and at what odometer reading they reported it. It is not a maintenance schedule, not a diagnosis, and not a prediction about this car: two identical cars with different service histories are not the same car.
Complaints are filed voluntarily, mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers, and a failure mode with few reports has a wide window even when the median looks precise. Modes with fewer than 8 dated reports are shown without percentiles for that reason.
Where 33,750 miles falls on the curve
The three columns above sort the failure modes one by one. This is the same evidence in aggregate: every dated report on this model year, stacked up in the order the odometer readings arrived. The dashed line marked you is where your car sits. How much of the line is to the left of that mark is how much of this model year's reported trouble is, on the evidence, already behind you.
About 44% of the dated reports on this model year had already been filed by 33,750 miles. That is the share of the problems that show up in this record, not of the problems this car will have. A further 8 reports came in above the top of the scale, which is why the line stops short of the top.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
- Dashed the mileages called out above
A steep early climb means a car whose reports cluster young, which is the pattern of a defect rather than of wear. A line that only gets going past six figures is the opposite. Neither shape says anything about the specific car in your driveway, and a curve built from a few dozen readings can be moved by one owner with a talkative afternoon.
Full report for the 2003 Dodge Dakota Compare with another car
Questions this page answers
What should I expect at 33,750 miles on a 2003 Dodge Dakota?
22 of the failure modes owners have reported on the 2003 Dodge Dakota have a median report at or below 33,750 miles, and 4 more fall inside the mileage window where they are usually reported. That is a watch list drawn from other owners, not a prediction about this car.
How to use the three columns. The left column is the list to hand a mechanic before you buy, and to check the service history for if you already own the car. The middle column is what to budget for this year. The right column is not a reprieve — it is a reminder that a used car has a bill schedule, and this is roughly where it falls. All of it is drawn from 419 owner complaints about this exact model year, not from a maintenance manual. How the percentiles are computed.
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