Owners have filed 24 complaints on the Dodge RAM 50, covering 1987–1991. The system named most often is Seat Belts (15 reports). Worst years by volume: 1988, 1987, 1990; cleanest: 1991, 1989, 1990. 1 reports describe a crash. On average the car was 8.1 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Dodge RAM 50
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 24 RAM 50 complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Seat Belts 15 Read
Consumer was in a 4 car pile-up crash, her vehicle was the fourth car. Was driving approx. 20-32 mph. Wearing seat belt when the the crash occurred. The shoulder strap of driver side collapsed, allowing consumer's 110lbs upper body to hit the steering area and wheel; thighs bruised on arm rest
The seat belt for both passangers, does not lock to hold passangers in place in case of sudden impact
Recall does not apply to vehicle but seat belts are broken and are takata manufacturer offers no assistance. Tt the latch plate cannot be inserted into the buckle, dealer looked up VIN and stated there were no recalls
Service Brakes 2 Read
Antilock brakes failed
Brakes; failure on the brakes system when driving the brakes lock up
Fuel System 2 Read
Rear gas tank bracket failed (rusted trhough) allowing tank to swing down and skid along pavement. Accident avoided due to low speed and rapid stop
The middle seat belt buckle never locked at 68,66o miles. Tt
Structure 1 Read
The roof has caved in on the van. The roof sometimes pops up and back down again and has hit a passenger on the head.the van doesn't appear to be designed strong enough to withstand a roll over. The paint is pealing off of the entire vehicle. I noticed this back in 1995 but wasn't appointed to this church until 1999…
Suspension 1 Read
Driver's side wheel locked up while driving 70 mph. This caused the vehicle to spin around to the left on the highway. No injury or crash was reported. Vehicle was towed to a repair shop. Vehicle's front wheels bearing and front rotors needed to be replaced. Dealer was not contacted
Electrical System 1 Read
The engine ground wire was installed incorrectly, causing the sensors to burn out. The ground wire should have have been mounted on the engine block. Instead, it was mounted on the exhaust manifold. *ak (parts affected: throttle position sensor/idle speed control motor position sensor/engine coolant temperature…
Engine And Engine Cooling 1 Read
Engine making noise
RAM 50 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Service Brakes, Hydraulic | — | — | |
| 1990 | Electrical System | — | — | |
| 1989 | Seat Belts | — | — | |
| 1988 | Engine And Engine Cooling | 1 | — | |
| 1987 | Fuel System, Gasoline | — | — |
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 | 22 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.1 |
| Worst single series | 2 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 8.1 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
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
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- No ads, no tracking — and much more
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 RAM 50?
By complaint volume, 1988, 1987, 1990 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 RAM 50 years are the cleanest?
1991, 1989, 1990 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Dodge RAM 50 have?
24 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1987–1991. Of those, 1 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.