Two problems related to body have been reported for the 1997 Dodge Dakota. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Locked vehicle in four wheel drive high, started going through flat pasture, either brakes locked up or front pumkin turned up and locked front wheels up, lost control and rolled onto driver side.
I noticed another complaint dated 3/1/2004 as the fail date and an internal use date of 7/6/2005 of this same problem. The paint on the roof of the cab stared peeling off and paint on various other areas of the truck. The bumper was the first to go. I would say this started about after the truck was 4-5 years old. I once had this happen on a two year old Nissan truck and Nissan repainted the entire truck an said it was defectively painted.