I have 61000 miles on my 1998 Dodge Dakota. When I got my tires rotated I was shown that my upper control arms were worn out. I had heard a "chunking" noise when I turned. I don't understand why they are failing with so little mileage on my truck. I called the Chrysler corporation on December 28 & 29 to discuss the problem I was having. I had talked to three people, 1)whitney, 2)billy (12/28/04), and I talked with 3)carol (12/29/04). Carol had told me that there was nothing Chrysler could do and there was no one else I was able to speak with. I have read that there are recalls to the 2000-2003 Dakota's. why weren't the 1998-1999 included? they have the identical front end. Is there any way you could give me some answers to my question. Thank you.

- Las Vegas, NV, USA

Noises in front end, upper and lower ball joints on a 1998 Dodge Dakota 4-wheel drive defective. Lower ball joints replaced under warranty at 34,853 miles. Replaced lower joints again and upper ball joints at 59,629 at a cost of $1123.55. Luckily it was caught before any serious accident occurred. Your recall indicates year 2000-2003 but problem was there prior to that.

- Portland, CT, USA

The upper and lower ball joints on both sides broke, causing the greasing fit to leak. Consumer was concerned that the front end will collapse.

- Laurel, DE, USA

1998 Dodge Dakota, upper arm ball joint defect. A story on cbs news last night has prompted me to submit this complaint. September 2000, noise on the right front side of truck prompted me to stop at a Dodge dealer to check it out, found the right upper arm ball joint was so bad that the service manager said I could have lost the wheel on the highway at the speed limit causing potentially serious accident. The arm was replaced under warranty (34853 miles). I recently purchased 4 new tires for the truck and asked the dealer to do a front end alignment (59423), he tried and said he could not because the ball joints were defective. I had no indication at this time there was a problem with the ball joints until I tried to get an alignment to protect the new tires, I got a second opinion with the same response. I went to the Dodge dealer and confirms that all 4 ball joints in the front end were bad, lower and upper. Dealer said it happens occasionally, but I have less than 60,000 miles on the truck and it is my third ball joint on the upper front. This time there was no indication of a problem and it cost me over $1100 to fix as it was no longer under warranty was lucky since the there was no accidents, the problem was caught in time. There is no doubt in my mind that the ball joints used on the Dodge Dakota are defective and do not last, in my case the replaced ball joint in September 2000 lasted less than 24,000 miles understand there is a class action law suit in progress, can you provide any information on this, Chrysler/daimler needs to stand up and fix the problem before there is a tragedy.

- Portland, CT, USA