2004 Dodge Dakota pickup 4X4 had clunking from front suspension. Replaced upper ball joint.

- Sayreville, NJ, USA

Recall campaign : the vehicle's ball joints failed prior to recall notification 04V-596. The vehicle' S ball joints, rack and pinion steering and outer tire rods also had to be replaced. The consumer request reimbursement.

- Chesterfield, MI, USA

The consumer owns a 2004 Dakota 4X4. The consumer's vehicle has the same ball joint problem as described in the recall for the 2000-2003 models. The consumer wants to know why the manufacturer excluded 2004 Dakota.

- Benton, AR, USA

Consumer wants to know why are the 2004 models being excluding when the problem existed in the 2004, Dodge Dakota they have the same ball joints problems.

- Washington, DC, USA

A knocking noise was coming from the front of the vehicle. Consumer drove the vehicle to the dealer, and mechanic determined that the left and right upper ball joints needed to be replaced.

- Ramona, CA, USA

I own a 2002 Dodge Dakota [xxx]. I now have 40,000 miles on it. My front brakes (disc) needed to be replaced three times due to pulsating. This pulsating is attributed to rotors warping. The rotor warping is caused by too much heat friction in the front braking system. As a result, the rotors warp causing a substantial loss in braking power. The ball joints and control arms were also replaced under warranty because they were 'loose' and they made a clunking sound often. Since the parts were replaced, the same sound still occurs leading me to believe that the oem parts are faulty. I do not use this vehicle for medium or heavy loads at any time; I do, however, use this vehicle under normal driving conditions in the capacity of a passenger vehicle. Updated 07/24/2012 information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

- Deer Park, NY, USA

I am concerned the 2004 Dodge durango and Dakota are not being investigated. They have the same ball-joints!!. also Dodge know about the ball joint problem in 2003 but continue installing the ball-joints during the 2004 production run.

- Panama City, FL, USA

Consumer was making a right turn a loud knocking noise was heard coming from the front. Consumer drove vehicle to the dealer, and mechanic determined that the rack and pinion, and both front driver's side and passenger's side upper ball joints needed to be replaced.

- Wellsboro, PA, USA

2004 Dodge Dakota quad cab 4X4, purchased 8/16/04. Currently 2,200 miles on the vehicle. Within the first week of ownership, the vehicle developed rattling or clunking noises in the front end when traveling over bumps. Additionally, the vehicle is out of alignment, and pulls to the left when braking. Tire wear (although very slight @ 2,200 miles in not symmetrical between LH front to rh front tire). I will be taking the truck into the dealership @ 3,000 miles to have them look at the front end, as well as the alignment.

- Dearborn, MI, USA

I have a 2004 Dodge Dakota crew cab with about 6,000 miles on it. For several months it has been making a crunching sound from the front end on tight turns. I am aware of widespread upper ball joint problems on other Dakotas. The Dodge dealer says there is nothing wrong, but the noise is persistent, and there must be something wrong.

- Yorba Linda, CA, USA

On 10/22/03 I had upper and lower left side ball joints replaced due to noise and vibration with mileage under 32100 miles. On 7/20/04 the rear universal joint had to be replaced at 37821 miles. All repairs 100% my cost. Here we are again at 38340 miles; noise, clunking, and vibration in the front suspension. Back to the dealer.

- Union Grove, WI, USA

We just bought a new 2004 Dodge Dakota quad cab. We have just over 2000 miles on it, mostly expressway miles going to work. A few weeks ago my girlfriend (who ia a daimler-Chrysler employee) pulled out of her parking space at work to go home and got about 20 feet and the drivers front wheel fell off in front of the other employees going home. There was no nut on the upper ball joint, but the pin was still in place. And the following Saturday after the incident she found the nut (not broke) lying on our garage floor, right where we parked the truck. She could have been killed on the expressway going to work that day, or killed someone else. After the tow truck driver got there after 4 hours (he got lost), he pulled the Dakota up with chains on the flatbed tow truck while the truck was in park. Then when he got to adrian Dodge in adrian Michigan (where we bought the truck) he backed up to another tow truck, hooked up the Dakota with chains and pulled it off while still in park. Also he did some damage to the fender flare. We took pictures of the truck before it was towed. There was no body damage. We wanted a new truck, because we only made one payment and it was a factory defect, but adrian Dodge said that Chrysler said no, they would repair the damaged one. They said it was a factory defect, and because we bought it with a employee discount they couldn''t do anything for us. We are very angry about this. I think it was negligence on their part, because she drove to work without that nut on the truck. And because they towed it on and off the towtruck, it could possibly mess up the transmission. They fixed our truck and we have it back.

- Ottawa Lake, MI, USA