Owners have filed 8,336 complaints on the Dodge Ram, covering 1994–2014. The system named most often is Air Bags (1,078 reports). Worst years by volume: 2001, 2003, 2004; cleanest: 2014, 1994, 2000. 725 reports describe a crash, 265 a fire, 27 a death. On average the car was 5.9 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Dodge Ram
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 8,336 Ram complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Air Bags 1,078 Read
The contact owned a 2004 dodge ram 1500. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 40 mph, another vehicle crashed head on and caused the contacts vehicle to catch on fire. The air bags deployed ten minutes after the crash. The contact sustained injuries to the jaw, the teeth, and the face. Medical…
Tamara recall my finance was cut on his neck by the air bag when he was in a accident. The vehicle was in motion. ..updated 02/13/17 *bf
Vehicle was hit by another car on the front. The other vehicle was traveling at about 50 to 60mph. Driver's side airbag deployed, and driver's sweat pants caught on fire. Drive rhad two pairs of sweat pants on. Fire burned a big hole through the first pair, and singed the second pair of pants. If drive rwould not have…
Structure 480 Read
Tailgate was lowered while driving and both safety cables were attached. After encountering a dip in the road, the tailgate became instantly dislodged and very nearly injured two pedestrians. Allen samuels dodge refused responsibility and refused to repair tailgate - the service manager was also failure at customer…
I was involved in a minor collision with a small atv on public trails on dnr property in south carolina. While the atv escaped damage, the front bumper of my truck was a total loss. I would hate to see the amount of damage and the lack of protection if involved in a crash with another vehicle. Also, according to the…
Brakes failed when applied. ABS and brake warning lights came on with very little braking. After hard braking application the tires locked and slid about 5 inches in damp backtop and hit a car stopped at a light. Had plenty of time to brake but no or very little braking action. Later inspection showed that one of the…
Power Train 412 Read
Rear axle locked up while driving and snapped bolts to the drive shaft then drive shaft fell off onto the road. Truck came skidding to a stop. Rear axle will not turn at all
While stopping at a traffic light the consumer heard a breaking sound from the rear left side, but didn't think it came from her vehicle. Two hours later, the noise occurred again, but louder. The vehicle immediately started spinning in the left direction until it crashed into a ditch and hit a concrete barrier while…
2004 dodge 1500 quad cab 22k miles. Rear passenger axle end broke off causing no control of vehicle, thus the truck spins into a sign and damaged the passenger rear bed. Police report says that it looked like a manufacture defect of the axle. We went on line that night and found several cases they same. I contacted…
Electrical System 313 Read
I have a 2004, dodge 1500 slt ram, hemi sport, with 5422 miles on it, and on feb 21, 2005, I watched as my truck burned to the ground ( literally ), I smelled something like plastic or burnt wire while driving, just prior to discovering my ( now ) parked truck, smoldering in my back yard. I went to investigate the…
Dt: the vehicle caught on fire on september 21, 2005. The consumer was driving at 65 mph when it caught on fire. The consumer heard a pop sound coming from under the hood area. The engine started making a clanking noise and surging. When the consumer pulled over there was smoke coming from the side of the hood. And…
At around 8:00 am on october 12, 2006, there was a spontaneous combustion from the driver's dashboard of my 2004 dodge durango while it was parked in the garage (not even turned on). This incident nearly burned our condo unit which was above the garage and endangered my wife and kids who were still sleeping. Luckily,…
Steering 291 Read
Driving northbound on the 101 freeway in the far right lane changed to the center lane on dry asphalt pass a slower moving car and heard a loud noise. Face impacted the steering wheel .don,t recall anymore than that do have an accident report. Think the right rear axle broke or something in the right front suspension.…
The steering unit failed causing loss of control and collision with guardrail, due to design of the gas tank, which hangs 3 inches below frame, during impact with the guardrail, the fuel tank ruptured and caught fire, burning vehicle and injury/burns to consumers. Yh
On 05/08/99 the complaintant was involved in a single vehicle accident which resulted in significant physical injury (I.e., second and third degree burns) to the passenger, and complete loss of the vehicle and its contents. The cause of this accident was a defective steering mechanism in the 1999 dodge ram quad cab…
Service Brakes 261 Read
ABS failed, wheels locked up, vehicle collided with vehicle in front. Air bags did not deploy. Vehicle is a write off
The anti-lock brake controller in my 2004 dodge ram pickup truck caught fire and burned. The wiring harness completely melted through wires and all, and the brake control mechanism itself melted and burned. The part was inspected by chrysler but in their determination since I am the second owner of the vehicle they…
I was driving on the bypass and was turning on to the off ramp went to slow down because of red light and other traffic brakes would not respond had to swerve into the ditch to keep from hitting other traffic brakes would still not engage then I hit a advertisement sign and it stopped me the ambulance came and took me…
Engine And Engine Cooling 240 Read
I have an 04 dodge ram 1500 hemi,while driving the truck at any given time truck just shuts down completely.I have taken it back to the dealer several times and nothing was done to solve the problem.now last week I was driving up the street the truck shut off one more time causing me to hit a guide rail.I feel the…
The contact stated while driving 10 mph through the woods, the underbody skid plate collected massive amounts of road debris which caused a fire underneath the vehicle. This was determined after the contact observed large amounts of smoke and flames from underneath both sides of the underbody. The vehicle was driven…
Engine failure. On several occasions the engine would stall upon acceleration. My 2004 dodge ram 1500 stalled on me after driving onto a patch of ice causing my steering wheel to become difficult to steer and the truck started sliding down an icy street, off the road and down a mountain until it came to a stop on a…
Suspension 226 Read
While driving at 25 mph something in the front end popped followed by the left front tire separating from the truck. When this occurred vehicle sharply pulled to the left and collided with a pole. Vehicle was towed to a towing yard, then to a body shop. The body shop or the insurance company couldn't indicate what…
Both front hub/wheel-bearing assemblies have failed on my truck. My truck has 50k miles! The front wheel-bearing on both sides makes noises, sometimes sounds like it is catching or getting stuck. This has caused me to wreck in a ditch and is very dangerous. The noise starts out only once in a while, then seems to be…
The contact owns a 2004 dodge ram 1500. The contact stated that the front hub assembly broke and separated from the suspension while driving 10 mph. The hub assembly was brand new and was just purchase from an authorized dealer. The contact lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a curb, which caused damages to…
Ram 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Steering | — | — | |
| 2004 | Air Bags | 73 | 22 | |
| 2003 | Air Bags | 72 | 14 | |
| 2002 | Air Bags | 57 | 11 | |
| 2001 | Air Bags | 120 | 51 | |
| 2000 | Air Bags | 54 | 14 | |
| 1999 | Air Bags | 76 | 22 | |
| 1998 | Air Bags | 93 | 17 | |
| 1997 | Air Bags | 69 | 52 | |
| 1995 | Air Bags | 62 | 38 | |
| 1994 | Air Bags | 49 | 24 |
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 | 3,283 |
| Average complaints per series | 2.5 |
| Worst single series | 31 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 5.9 years |
A model average of 2.5 hides a worst series at 31. 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
- No ads, on every page
- 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?
By complaint volume, 2001, 2003, 2004 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 years are the cleanest?
2014, 1994, 2000 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Dodge Ram have?
8,336 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1994–2014. Of those, 725 describe a crash and 265 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.