Vehicle
2019 RAM 1500
Manufacturer
Chrysler (FCA US, LLC)
Components
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,STRUCTURE,UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Dates
Incident: 06/01/2023
Filed: 06/10/2023
Owner complaint summary
My 2019 Ram truck has less than 41,900 miles on it.I drove it Thursday morning, but then was stranded.The vehicle wouldn’t unlock, lock, or start. Upon entering using the manual key, the vehicle wouldn’t recognize my key fob. My second key fob would not work either. I called a locksmith to see if he could reset the computer, but he couldn’t. So I called a tow truck. After giving them $100, the dealer couldn’t look at it for several days. Meanwhile I’m stranded without a vehicle. Luckily not in the remote wilderness. My truck sat for a week.The dealer called and said the RF Hub was bad. The RF Hub controls everything from the key fobs, ignition, alarm, brakes, door locks, all electronics, etc. $605 now paid to the dealer for them to replace this RF Hub that is mounted on the back wall of the cab under the rear window. Had this been in the middle of winter, or when I was at high altitude in the mountains last fall it could be a life or death situation.Being locked out and unable to move a vehicle, being stranded is dangerous. Particularly with health issues. What the dealer didn’t do is correct the problem.The back window frame on these Rams breaks and then leaks water into the cab.The leak shorts out the electrical equipment behind the rear seat.Thankfully it didn’t start a fire. A google search of the issue finds hundreds of complaints about the rear windows in these trucks. Imagine a young mother with little children out on the road when the vehicle leaks enough to fry the RF Hub! The Ram dealer charged me to replace the RF Hub, but didn’t bother to fix the problem with the rear window. I am taking it upon myself to attempt to stop the leak before I get stranded again because of fried electronics because of their faulty design. I have attached pictures of the problem.After paying the locksmith, tow, dealer, and pulling out the rear seats, drying all of the carpet, it is clear to see the problem with the rear window. Recall this.
Official record ID (ODI): 11526399. This page is the human-readable source link used across afterwarranty. The raw JSON link proxies NHTSA's public API for machine verification; prefer this page when reading the complaint.