Owners have filed 13 complaints on the Dodge Raider, covering 1987–1989. The system named most often is Seat Belts (9 reports). Worst years by volume: 1987, 1989, 1988; cleanest: 1988, 1989, 1987. 2 reports describe a crash. On average the car was 9.4 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Dodge Raider
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 13 Raider complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Seat Belts 9 Read
Front seat belt buckle recall repair refused due to unavailability of parts
Seat belt retractors failed
Owner received recall notice, contacted dealer and was told parts were not available. Recall# 95V103003
Visibility 2 Read
Windshield wiper mechanism jams where motor loaded, bolts get loose where wiper moves up/down, hole in sheet metal that holds wiper gets larger, causing wiper to jam under windshield, cracked windshield, impairs driver's vision, mostly in winter months.ak
The structure housing on the windshield wiper is defective, and wipers don't work . Please describe
Electrical System 1 Read
The vehicle suddenly took off backwards into a tree, the brakes did not work and the vehicle's ignition would not turn off. Tt
Service Brakes 1 Read
While driving 15 mph vehicle started to buck, then accelerated. Consumer applied brakes, but could not stop vehicle, rearended vehicle in front. Vehicle was totalled, no injuries
Raider years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Seat Belts | — | — | |
| 1988 | Seat Belts | — | — | |
| 1987 | Electrical System | 2 | — |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 12 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.1 |
| Worst single series | 2 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 9.4 years |
A model average of 1.1 hides a worst series at 2. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
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How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Raider?
By complaint volume, 1987, 1989, 1988 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Raider years are the cleanest?
1988, 1989, 1987 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Dodge Raider have?
13 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1987–1989. Of those, 2 describe a crash and 0 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.