This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
The defective plastic dashboard on the 2001 Dodge Ram broke into fragments and stuck the drivers right eye causing temporary blindness and loss of control to vehicle. This has been a long time well known safety issue for thousands of Dodge Ram owners that nhsta still says is a "cosmetic issue" I almost killed my child do to your collusion with Chrysler deeming this a "cosmetic issue"
The vehicle is a 2001 Dodge Ram truck. The dash board has cracked and poses a safety hazard by dangerous sharp pieces. If I was in an accident one of these pieces could inflict potentially severe injury.
Dashboard and cap is cracking up into jagged pieces. Should the air bags deploy, severe injury could result from being punctured from plastic shrapnel much more than the cause of the airbag deployment. I feel the manufacturer should implement a replacement at no expense.
My dash started cracking before I bought it back in 3/2009 but now the cracks are "holes". the dash is literally caving in. What is left is sharp edged pieces that can easily cut you. Also, the wide open craters are allowing the hot Texas sun to bake the wiring and has to be a contributing factor to the random intermittent electrical issues that seem to be cropping up periodically.
I have a 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 slt. Although I have taken extremely good care of this truck, the dash has cracked into a million pieces. It is about to fall in. I doubt my air bags would function properly in a crash, due to the decreased strength of the surrounding areas, and the fact that the top of the dash is about to fall into the air bag compartment on the passenger side. Electrical wires can be seen through the cracks. Every time I turn the blower on near the windshield, tiny pieces of dash that have broken off blow up and around the truck, often into my eyes. This certainly isn't safe, since I can't see with plastic in my eyes!!! this seems to be an extremely common problem. If you review the number of complaints listed about this same problem at www.carcomplaints.com, you will see just how many Dodge owners are dealing with this. The plastic used to make the dash is obviously substandard, and all cracked dashes should be recalled and replaced at Dodge expense.
- Johnsburg, NY, USA
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My front end rim and tire locked up at 59 mph-causing a severe swerve to the left/right-then I swerved into an 18 wheeler;air bags did not deploy'seatbelts were not unlatching prior to accident so not usable at the time.
I parked my pickup after work one evening went out the next morning and the dash was cracked. It is a 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 this was in 2004 the next morning I went out for work and the dash was cracked and has since completely caved in. Some electrical components have stopped working. Now I know this is a wide spread complaint but so far is not considered a safety risk. Well why do we have to wait until some one is injured before it is considered a safety risk. Is the wiring going to short out and catch me on fire or is my lights going to be the next thing to go out is the air bag going to deploy properly should I have a wreck, or will it just deploy while I am driving down the road for no reason. I have done nothing to correct the problem because I can not afford to. Defective plastic was used in the dashes for several years and Dodge refuses to correct the problem. Maybe instead of waiting until something bad happens you should check on this problem now and maybe save someone from injury or save someone's life maybe mine.
In June of 2006 I noticed a hairline crack in the dash of my 2001 Dodge Ram 1500, which only had 36,000 on it at the time. I did not have it repaired thinking the dealer would just tell me it was usual wear and tear. Since that day the dash has continued to crack and I now have a section where the cracks have connected. It appears there will soon be an area of the dash the size of a softball or larger where there will be a hole. This hole will be directly above the instrumentation. I have recently learned there are hundreds of similar complaints from owners of 1998-2002 Dodge trucks. Some of which have experienced electrical problems, such as their headlights going off. This has led me to voice a complaint with carcomplaints.com and the NHTSA. This is obviously a defect in material and/or workmanship at the Chrysler corporation and they should be held accountable and replace these defective parts. This is a safety issue!! headlights shutting off as you drive down a dark road is a safety issue!! it is a shame, but it appears it will take someone either dying or getting seriously injured before anything is done to force Chrysler to correct this problem.
I now have two Ram 1500 trucks with dash top failures here in Texas. I was hit from the rear in my 2000 Ram 1500 and plastic pieces from the already cracked and cracking dash hit me in the face as it exploded on impact causing many minor facial cuts but none in my eyes. Being blinded caused me to loose control of my vehicle. I then hit a telephone pole. Air bag deployment occurred that cut both air bags on both sides with more shards of the dash. My 2001 Ram 1500 also has a severely cracked dash and is getting much worse. This occurred within 6 months of purchase. Chrysler Corp. Refuses to respond and the dealership will not respond with any help claiming they are not responsible plus they have no parts or any way to fix the problem. They claim there are no plans for the parts to be manufactured either. This problem has become an epidemic to Ram owners and will someday become and cause serious and potentially fatality problems. Accident reports are not showing the dash as a problem. They indicate the cracked dash was caused by the accident and is a result. Insurance companies claim it is a manufactures problems. The owner takes the hit unless he can convince the insurance adjuster to total the vehicle. The present political situation nation wide is stopping my pleas to my representative on my complaints and pleas for assistance to fall on dead ears. Dodge dealers are hiding the fact that a cracked dash Ram 1500 trade ins are being junked to hide this major issue. Thusly it is not getting the proper attention. At local auto auctions the Dodge Ram 1500's do not sell. As a note: There is also a major transmission problem as noted by most transmission shops all over the country. To my knowledge, nothing is being done to correct many and most of Dodge Ram 1500's problems because of the dashes. "get them off the road at the owners expense" is Chrysler corporations plan as per the factory representative when he was cornered. I have bought my last Dodge.
Bought a 2 yr old durango with 60,000 miles on it at carmax. At 116,000 miles it started knocking. I took it to allen samuels dealership and they claimed the engine failed. We replaced the engine at our cost for 6K, because we still owed 7K on the vehicle. We bought new tires as we decided to keep the vehicle and try to recover some of the cost. 3 months later, the new engine failed, the vehicle died as I was exiting the freeway and turning under an overpass. I wasn't aware the vehicle had died, until I realized the power steering had gone out when I tried to turn. The dealer is going to replace the engine this time, but we have decided we need to cut our losses and get rid of the vehicle. We cannot afford to keep a car like this. We have 4 children and this is the vehicle that we travel in as a family daily. It is totally undependable and unsafe.
The dashboard on our 2001 Dodge Ram pickup cracked only after a year. We took it so the dealership in mcalester, ok (riverside Dodge) and they refused to fix it. They said it was not covered under warranty. Now there is an 8 inch hole in the dashboard and numerous cracks over the entire surface and even on the inside trim work. Since first reporting this, it has come to my attention that there are hundreds if not thousands of vehicles exactly like ours with the same problem. We feel that Dodge/Chrysler needs to recall this and take care of this dangerous problem. We have seen and heard of reports on the internet about electrical problems, etc that worries us too.
Unbelievable problem to have on a truck that has been so pampered. Rarely driven on less than paved roads, maintained religiously, immaculate interior. Imagine my shock to discover several huge cracks in the dash! one starts at the top to the left of the steering wheel and runs all the way to the windshield, and the other intersects across. I have not yet taken it to the dealership for consideration, but after reading these posts I'm not holding out much hope for a reasonable resolution. What a ginormous piece of crap.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Brentwood, CA, USA