Two problems related to front air bag sensor control have been reported for the 2003 Dodge Dakota. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
On August 2, 2010, in the early evening, my spouse, the sole occupant, fell asleep while driving our 2003 Dodge ram 1500 slt quad cab and hit a standard size steel street sign, a standard gauge guide wire for a telephone/power pole, and finally the telephone/power pole itself. The impact of this crash destroyed the truck. Thankfully, my wife was wearing her safety belt, and suffered only minor injuries. The guide/support wire had embedded itself into the front bumper and hood and had to be cut out. Amazingly, neither the driver nor passenger airbags deployed in this incident. As the power pole had broken in two, there were live electrical wires at the scene. Emergency crews took nearly 7 hours to clear the scene and restore power and cable to a localized area. She had been traveling in a sse direction on hesperia avenue in victorville, CA at approx. 45 mph. The weather was ideal for road travel: clear, dry, windless, with temperature around 95 f. The vehicle was well-maintained and had approx. 42,200 miles on it. I have done some research into this matter and found prior instances of similar airbag non-deployments in Chrysler vehicles. In my opinion, it appears that there are too few, and'or poorly located, and'or defective airbag sensors on this and other Chrysler products. This is not a total condemnation of Chrysler or the Dodge ram. We enjoyed this truck very much for over 7 years. We associate many happy memories with the vehicle, however this is a glaring problem that must be rectified. The likelihood of other catastrophic crashes resulting in injury or death is high. The aim of safety airbags is to reduce injuries and death. An airbag system failure from this high speed and high impact crash scenario should never occur. Please exercise all legal and ethical due diligence in all means and manner available to persuade/demand/force Chrysler corp. To recall this and other products in order to make them functional and safe for the public.
After starting the vehicle air bag warning light illuminated. Light stayed on while vehicle was being operated. Ealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem.