Owners have filed 143 complaints on the RAM 5500, covering 2013–2025. The system named most often is Power Train (43 reports). Worst years by volume: 2018, 2022, 2017; cleanest: 2025, 2021, 2013. 9 reports describe a crash, 10 a fire. On average the car was 3.5 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on RAM 5500
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 143 5500 complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Power Train 43 Read
On I-40 eastbound mile marker 121 vehicle starts to shake and vibrate violently. I hear an explosion under the truck which cause a loss of power and had to fight with truck to get it off the road all why at a speed of 65 mph. Transfer case exploded cutting wire harness in half and rupturing the fuel line. Truck was…
Our transfer case failed (blow apart) causing a fire . We had the truck towed to our dealer and for the last three weeks dodge has not allowed the repair to proceed or provided us with contact information or a path forward. We have no truck or plan for it to be fixed. The truck was being driven on a highway at about…
The contact owns a 2022 Ram 5500. The contact stated while driving approximately 65 MPH, the vehicle failed to shift properly into the correct gear. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the air filter to be replaced.…
Service Brakes 26 Read
While operating my commercial truck , the trailer brake did not work and nearly caused a catastrophic accident. Upon inspection, trailer brake module has failed, power steering fluid leaking, Hydroboost leaking, I towed it to the dealership and they told me the truck is not safe to drive and the brake parts are back…
The contact owns a 2020 Ram 5500. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V759000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulics). The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed and towing a trailer, while attempting to stop the vehicle, the contact noticed that the vehicle failed to stop within a…
The contact owns a 2020 Ram 5500. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed during a heavy crosswind, the electronic stabilization system warning light illuminated, indicating that the system had deactivated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not…
Wheels 13 Read
The contact owns a 2016 Ram 5500. The contact stated while driving approximately 15 MPH and making a left turn the dual left rear tires had separated from the vehicle and the vehicle landed on the axle. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that he had the vehicle towed to a dealer…
The contact owns a 2016 Ram 5500. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 15 MPH the driver's side rear outer wheel suddenly detached from the vehicle. Upon inspection, it was discovered that all ten lug nuts securing the wheel had sheared off causing the failure to occur. The vehicle was taken to the…
This is a 2022 Dodge Ram 5500. The wheel studs broke off while driving on the interstate, and the dually tires came off. This is a major safety issue and the driver had a narrow escape. This same issue persisted through the 2012-2021 model years and RAM had a recall (Y26) for those years. I do not believe the issue…
Steering 12 Read
Our driver told us that he lost steering. At 35 mph on a open highway (which is confirmed by our gps). He also has a clean driving record and has been driving box truck for decades with no incident. Once steering was lost the box truck to slam in into the barrier twice , than roll onto its side. There where no other…
Center (drag) link as a part of the steering linkage assembly snapped after 40,000 miles. I was driving < 5 miles an hour attempting to park my vehicle when I heard a large snap sound, which, upon further investigation, was the center link that snapped in half. The vehicle had to be towed to the dealership for…
The steering shaft completely failed while driving. Thankfully the driver was leaving a customer and pulling out of a drive which he was able to drive into a ditch to keep from being hit or hitting others. The problem was fixed by Pliler International in Longview, TX. It has not been inspected by anyone other than…
Electrical System 10 Read
The contact owned a 2021 Ram 5500. The contact stated that the vehicle is a flatbed tow truck, and while one of his drivers was driving at 48 MPH, the tow truck driver noticed that white/gray smoke was emitting from under the hood. It was unknown if the smoke entered the vehicle. The tow truck was towing a vehicle on…
May 30, 2017 my 2014 ram 5500 diesel dump truck had a fire under the hood. There was extensive damage/melting from the fire. I purchased the vehicle new in april of 2015 and it was 'just out of warranty" at just over 37,000 miles on it. The source of the damage was determined to be the denso international alternator.…
Received notice 8 months ago that the electrical relay that is used for grid heater when starting the vehicle may catch fire causing the entire vehicle to burn to the ground. I contacted RAM immediately and they stated there is no fix available. 8 months later I contacted RAM again and they stated that a fix was in…
Suspension 9 Read
The contact's company owned a 2014 Ram 5500. The contact stated while driving at 60-65 MPH, he heard an abnormal loud sound coming from the rear of the vehicle. The contact stated the rear wheels detached and flew off, causing the contact to lose control of the vehicle. The stated the vehicle drove off the road, hit a…
The wheel studs broke going down the Interstate causing the wheels to come off into oncoming traffic. This caused damage to the wheel studs, lug nuts, brake calipers,brakes, rotors, rims and tires
Took the truck to the ram dealership to get the recall for the rear wheel studs replaced they did the job a few days later the wheel almost came off on the freeway. The mechanic didn’t tighten the lug nuts we caught it just in time before something bad happened. That was 12/11/2023. We took it back to the dealership…
Engine 7 Read
The contact owns a 2017 ram 5500. While the contact's husband was driving 50-55 mph, smoke emerged from under the hood and the engine caught fire. The driver extinguished the fire. The service engine and oil warning indicators were illuminated. A police report was filed and there were no injuries. The vehicle was…
Vehicle was taken to the dealership due to an issue where white smoke would appear when the engine is under load. Dealer was unable to repair the issue due to scheduling conflicts. Owner attempted to drive the vehicle to another location for diagnostics. Vehicle caught on fire on the way to another dealer location
I would like to report a major safety concern with the push button start system and programming on the 2019 and up 5500 cab and chassis with the 6.7 Cummins. On November 29th we had a 2019 Ram 5500 that went in the ditch and ended up on its side because of soft ground. It was laid fully on the passenger side. It was…
Fuel/propulsion System 4 Read
Owners manual and marketing documents for 2022 RAM 5500 contain incomplete and obsolete information about diesel fueling requirements causing increased safety risk for drivers. These documents imply that without B20 option / package, vehicle cannot be safely fueled with diesel that contains ANY percentage of bio mass.…
High pressure fuel pump went out contaminating the whole fuel system with metal fragements. Truck derated to 5mph. Sat at dealership for over 3 months dealer was not able to correct problem
There is a safety recall on my 2019 Ram 5500 rollback tow truck. The recall number is Y78. On November 17 My truck unexpectedly stopped working on highway M33 in rose city Michigan. I discovered there was a recall on the vehicle for a premature fuel system failure. I called the FCA they told me to take it to Thelen…
5500 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Air Bags | 1 | — | |
| 2022 | Electrical System | 1 | — | |
| 2021 | Electrical System | 1 | 1 | |
| 2020 | Air Bags,service Brakes,forward Collision Avoidance | 1 | 1 | |
| 2019 | Engine | — | 1 | |
| 2018 | Electrical System,unknown Or Other,back Over Prevention | 1 | — | |
| 2017 | Electrical System,engine | — | 2 | |
| 2016 | Electrical System | 2 | 1 | |
| 2015 | Electrical System | — | 1 | |
| 2014 | Electrical System,engine | 2 | 3 | |
| 2013 | Engine And Engine Cooling,power Train | — | — |
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 | 121 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.2 |
| Worst single series | 4 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 3.5 years |
A model average of 1.2 hides a worst series at 4. 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 5500?
By complaint volume, 2018, 2022, 2017 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 5500 years are the cleanest?
2025, 2021, 2013 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the RAM 5500 have?
143 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2013–2025. Of those, 9 describe a crash and 10 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.