1997 Dodge Dakota

small pickup / Regular cab pickup

Crashworthiness

Rating overview
Moderate overlap front: original test

Key

  • G
    Good
  • A
    Acceptable
  • M
    Marginal
  • P
    Poor
  • Superior
  • Advanced
  • Basic

Some ratings use a scale of Poor to Good. Others range from Basic to Superior.

Moderate overlap front: original test

Rating applies to 1997-2004 models

Tested vehicle: 1998 Dodge Dakota Sport 4X2 p/u

The Dodge Dakota was redesigned for the 1997 model year.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Leg/foot, left
Leg/foot, right
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics
Dummy movement wasn't well controlled. There was far too much upward movement of the steering wheel and floor buckling tilted the driver seat forward and toward the door. After the dummy moved forward into the airbag, it rebounded toward the driver door, and its head hit the inside of the door above the armrest.

Action shot taken during the frontal offset crash test.

Post-crash damage shot.

Smeared greasepaint (inset photo at bottom right) indicates where the dummy's head dipped below the windowsill and hit the driver door during the offset test.

Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID CF98006
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm) 23
Left (cm) 18
Center (cm) 17
Right (cm) 15
Brake pedal (cm) 16
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm) 8
Right (cm) 6
Steering column movement
Upward (cm) 19
Rearward (cm) 5
A-pillar rearward movement (cm) 6

Driver injury measures

Test ID CF98006
Head
HIC-15 611
Peak gs at hard contact 163
Neck
Tension (kN) 3.9
Extension bending moment (Nm) 53
Maximum Nij 0.71
Chest maximum compression (mm) 23
Legs
Femur force - left (kN) 4.2
Femur force - right (kN) 2.3
Knee displacement - left (mm) 2
Knee displacement - right (mm) 0
Maximum tibia index - left 0.72
Maximum tibia index - right 0.99
Tibia axial force - left (kN) 5.5
Tibia axial force - right (kN) 5.5
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 96
Right 76

How the moderate overlap front test is conducted