– Complaints about the Ram 2500’s steering convinced the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to open an investigation in December 2018 that has now been closed seven years later.
The federal investigation began with 2015-2016 Ram 2500 trucks that suffered from steering drag failures.
NHTSA found the steering rod where the adjustable drag link connector, used to adjust the steering system, was held in place by two opposing jam nuts that could become loose.
Drivers complained that they lost all control when the tow connections came loose. And NHTSA determined that FCA used two types of tow hitches on the Ram trucks.
Ram trucks are equipped with four-wheel drive (4WD) and two-wheel drive (2WD) powertrains. The 4WD and 2WD trucks used tow hitches of different designs, but both used the same threaded connectors.
Chrysler announced a recall of 600,000 Ram 2500 and 3500 trucks in January 2019 after crash reports caused by steering malfunctions. But the recall did not involve Ram trucks that used the 2WD-style tow hitches.
However, NHTSA upgraded Ram’s steering loss investigation in December 2019 to determine whether two-wheel drive trucks should have been recalled. Regulators said they wanted to know why the 2WD Ram trucks were not included, and NHTSA wanted to know if the recall repairs were sufficient for all trucks.
The government used its own testing facility to conduct tests on both Ram 2500 4WD and 2WD trucks.
“The results of VRTC’s dynamic testing indicated that when the jam nuts are significantly under-torqued, they may further loosen during normal vehicle use on 4WD vehicles. Furthermore, VRTC testing does not refute FCA’s claim that the failure mechanism does not exist in the 2WD steering system.” — NHTSA
The Ram steering investigation is now closed because NHTSA has only received two allegations of drag link separations on 2WD Ram trucks, and there was no evidence that the problems were caused by loose jam nuts.
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