Any Ram pickup owners have this happen

E

ernman

Member
Here is a post from my sister in law on what happened to her while driving her new Ram Hemi Pickup.

Well... last night a screw fell out of the shaft on my steering wheel. I couldn't turn my wheel and almost got hit from behind (whoever was behind me should not have a license since they obviously don't know what BRAKE LIGHTS are. Life was almost over.... think about it.

The dealer told her that it was a once in a million chance that it could happen.
 
ernman said:
Here is a post from my sister in law on what happened to her while driving her new Ram Hemi Pickup.

Well... last night a screw fell out of the shaft on my steering wheel. I couldn't turn my wheel and almost got hit from behind (whoever was behind me should not have a license since they obviously don't know what BRAKE LIGHTS are. Life was almost over.... think about it.

The dealer told her that it was a once in a million chance that it could happen.
Click to expand...


tell him that will cost him that "million" :mad: that just ain't right
 
Steve said:
tell him that will cost him that "million" :mad: that just ain't right
Click to expand...

What ain't right, that a mass produced vehicle had a defective part in it that caused a problem?

It doesn't matter what make/model the vehicle is, there's always a chance of something going wrong or being defective when you're dealing with parts and assemblies that are produced in the hudreds or thousands at a time. QC will never catch every single thing that might go wrong, but they can get damn close statistically speaking.

Just chalk it up to bad luck and a total fluke. Understandably it was a potentially dangerous fluke, but ultimately no one was injured or killed. Just make sure the manufacturer is aware of what happened so they can look into what caused the part to fail and determine if additional QC procedures or re-engineering would help them prevent any other future failures. As long as they do take it seriously and issue a recall IF the problem is found to warrant it (as in the potential for failure is on a large enough scale) that's what counts.

People are way too sue-happy these days. I doubt very much that Chrysler is pulling a move from the Toyota playbook and sweeping obvious problems under the rug.
 
I agree. Thankfully no one was injured and there was no other damage. I would expect the free repair and maybe some kind of compensation. Maybe she'll get some complimentary service for the life of the truck...something. I would think the dealership and the corporate offices are both cringing about that situation
 
First off, glad no one was injured.

Dodge Ram, huh? Not surprising at all.

I have family that works at the Anniston Army Depot, and from the reports I hear the Dodge trucks (2005+) run the gamut of problems. Ford and Chevrolet seem to fare a lot better.

When I was truck shopping, the Dodge Ram was the only truck that was excluded from my list from the beginning.
 
I used to own a ram and that truck took on everything I threw at it. So you exclude the ram and buy a tundra? I think this video speaks for itself on saying that foreign automakers should just stay out of the truck game. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJZVUnOduH4&feature=related]YouTube - 2009 Truck Durability Test FORD CHEVY DODGE TOYOTA By Ford Motor Company[/ame]
 
Wow - that was quick. :D

In my personal testing, the Tundra beat out the Chevy slightly and the Ford pretty handily. But you can rely on baited internet videos if you want. ;) You know, because we all drive over some kind of road surface that looks like that every day.
 
well in no way am i a ford fan, so I know they are going to make there truck look way better, but i would imagine the toyota, dodge, and chevy went through the same testing as eachother.
 
All I meant by my comment was that I can go get you videos specifically made to make, say, the Tundra look better: i.e. where a Tundra is pulling a Ram by a tow chain while both of the are in forward gear (tug of war), where a Tundra embarasses a F-150 in acceleration, where the Tundra outbrakes, out-tows, etc all the other big trucks. They're not hard to find. The particular video you posted has a scientific explanation (I believe it's called harmonic vibration or something of the sort) and points out a particular "weakness" of an open channel design. It's been a while since I have read it, however, but the video does not point out the advantages of an open channel / flexible frame design such as flexibility off road and a smoother on road ride.

My "testing" revolved around real world aspects of what I expected a truck to do (as well as shared experiences from friends, coworkers, etc). Pull my boat, go, be safe, be comfortable, and hold some resale value (which is hard to do in the full size truck market). Based on all those factors, I like the Tundra. It also doesn't hurt that I had had some very positive experiences with the Toyota line of vehicles and some down-right horrible experiences with GM/Chevrolet. There's a list of (growing) things I don't like about the Tundra (mainly cosmetic). Thankfully, the steering column becoming inoperable while driving has not been one of them.

Sorry to ernman for going OT. Just sort of ironic had this been a Toyota vehicle, I can almost assure you a new bottle of QD+ that the repsonses would have been polar opposite. :)
 
ernman said:
Here is a post from my sister in law on what happened to her while driving her new Ram Hemi Pickup.

Well... last night a screw fell out of the shaft on my steering wheel. I couldn't turn my wheel and almost got hit from behind (whoever was behind me should not have a license since they obviously don't know what BRAKE LIGHTS are. Life was almost over.... think about it.

The dealer told her that it was a once in a million chance that it could happen.
Click to expand...

If it happens once, it can happen again.
 
The truck video really has the wrong name. I consider it a frame stiffness test and may not relate to durability. It would prove that Ford is superior for control on those kinds of surfaces but as said earlier it needs to be judged in balance with other attributes.

I looked similar videos and it looks like they tested/dissected other aspects of the competition. The one that seems to be so bragging is towing. It seems they all seem to be best in class...but what class....
 
JaredPointer said:
Just sort of ironic had this been a Toyota vehicle, I can almost assure you a new bottle of QD+ that the repsonses would have been polar opposite. :)
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Not really. My response wouldn't have changed a bit, except to say "My only concern is that Toyota would try to cover the problem up like has been proven they've done before; they would be wise to fix it right away" instead of "I don't think Chrysler is pulling a Toyota and covering anything up."

Nothing that isn't based in past practices!

:bigups
 
ernman said:
a screw fell out of the shaft on my steering wheel. I couldn't turn my wheel and almost got hit from behind.
Click to expand...

I would like to know more about this.. with extensive Knowledge of Dodges and AMERICAN made trucks this can not happen, All shafts are splined, they are made so its has a redundancy built in.. its a fail safe system. a screw falling out will not cause a steering failure.. a screw partially out could cause a jam is all I can see.

please feed me... I need more info on this event
Thank You

as a Dodge owner I have never seen nor heard of this happening... ever.

This will start the Shyt rolling..

when it was time for me to buy my truck I was looking for a no frills truck with 3 option I wanted/needed
1, it must have 4x4
2. it must have an 8 cylinder
3. it must have split rear window
Chevy/GMC being the most expensive on the market, came in around 29-38k then Ford came in at or around 22-30k with dodge falling on the bottom at 17-30k
the prices were all on lots and were from complete no options to fully loaded.
working with trucks for most of my life I wanted a Ford under carriage with Chevy horse power and Dodge styling.. yeah.. good pipe dream I know... I did end up with a Dodge Dakota with a 4,7l and have never been happier.. I do most all my own work except warrantee work and in the 8 years of owning it truck I have had only 1 Recall.. show me any other truck out there with that track record.

buy what you love
love what you buy
 
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