NHTSA Complaint #10160694 — 2005 DODGE DAKOTA

2005 DODGE DAKOTA QUAD CAB V8 2WD. VEHICLE HAS BEEN TO ORIGINAL DEALER 3-4 TIMES. ONCE TO REPLACE THE REAR BRAKES UNDER A RECALL. AT LEAST 2-3 TIMES TO "FIX" A ROUGH IDLE AND A MISS AT LIGHT THROTTLE CRUISING SPEED. ORIGINAL DEALER CALLED IT A "FISH BITE." IS THAT A TECHNICAL TERM I MISSED? ANOTHER CALLED IT "BEAMING." I GUESS THESE ARE TECHNICAL TERMS LEARNED AT BIG CITY DEALER SCHOOL. DRIVING AT SPEEDS FROM 25-85 MPH TRUCK SEEMS TO RUN ROUGH. AND ALSO SEEMS TO HAVE LOST SOME POWER. MPG HAS GONE FROM 18.5 TO 15. HAVE BEEN TOLD EVERYTIME "WE RESET THE COMPUTER, NOTHING IS WRONG, ERGO IT IS "FIXED." NOT FINDING A PROBLEM IS NOT FIXING IT. TRUCK STILL RUNS ROUGH AT HIGHWAY SPEED. HAVE ALSO BEEN TOLD THIS IS "NORMAL." "THEY ALL DO THAT." FUNNY HOW THIS HAS JUST COME ABOUT IN THE PAST 3-4 WEEKS. BUT AT LEAST THE BRAKE PROBLEM HAS NOT COME BACK. AT LEAST ONE OTHER DEALER IS WILLING TO LOOK AT IT AGAIN AND TRY TO HELP. ORIGINAL DEALER HAS OFFERED NOTHING. I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HATE THIS TRUCK. *NM