general problems of the 2001 Dodge Dakota

The contact owns a 2001 Dodge Dakota. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 30 mph and turning left or right, the steering wheel made an abnormal noise. The contact stated that it sounded like a gear was loose. The failure recurred. The vehicle was not taken to an independent mechanic. The manufacturer was not notified. The approximate failure mileage was 75,000.

I was making a right hand turn in a parking lot, going about 5-10mph, while I was turning, the brake pedal started pulsating very hard - drove forward in the parking lot - made a left hand turn started going forward and went to step on brake pedal and it would not move - pedal was rock hard and would not stop truck. After finally coasting to a stop I put truck in reverse - backed up in vacant part of the parking lot so I could put truck in drive and then swing wide into a parking stall and coast to a stop - however when I went to swing the truck I had absolutely no steering at all -front wheels would not turn. Had to have towed.

Steering intermediate shaft has alot of play gets worse on higher speeds found to be the universal joint on the shaft should be a recall very dangerous can cause lose of control.

The steering in my 2001 Dakota quad-cab has become very stiff to turn. It comes and goes, but concerns me since my wife sometimes drives my truck and I'm not sure if she could turn the wheel if she needed to in an emergency situation. I've done some research and found that the intermediate shaft is the culprit. This is a safety hazard and should be recalled.

Steering is so bad, I'm afraid while driving my 2001 Dodge ram 2w truck. While driving it feel like you are going to lose control and run into another car. It is a unsafe truck to drive, and I can not get the dealer I purchased from to do anything about it. They will not even speak with about the problems. I have left voice mail message for several managers and to date have not receive a call back.

Vechile difficult to control while driving on highway after hitting a moderate sized bump. Trouble started at approximately 18,000 miles and was not somewhat resolved for nearly 10,000 miles. While traveling at highway speeds and striking a bump with the driver's side front wheel, the front of the vehicle would shake violently and start to leave the lane of travel. The shaking and shuttering of the front end gave a feeling like the left front tire was either bouncing down the road or wobbeling. This was reported several times to the dealer and a contol arm and steering arm was replaced at different attempts to correct the problem. During this time frame, I expierenced excessive wear on the tires. A front end alignment has seemed to reduce the problem, but it would seem that if this was the symptom of the need for alignment, then the service center would have know this.

Truck does not steer correctly, actually dangerously, especially when towing ,but when not towing it just almost steers where it wants to. Dodge cannot find anything wrong, but I find there are other similar complaints on the -my car stats - website.

I would like to know why the 4x2 Dakota's are not covered by the recall. My 2001 rt has always made a poping sound when making sharp turns and is starting to "wander" and pull to the left. This truck has been very hard on tires. Last time in, dealer said everything was fine. Of course that was just before the warranty expired. All Dakotas should be covered by this recall, not just the 4x4 models.

Steering pull and poor handling. Ie wandering, drift, pull to the right even after alignment(s) at different shops including dealership. Problem has been ongoing since purchase of vehicle when new. Vehicle now has 65,000 miles and has worn 2 sets of tires and almost due for a 3rd set.