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.
Hello, I have a Ram equipped with the Air Ride Suspension. It has been a long on going problem for me. It has been a safety concern as it involves with the Suspension of the vehicle and at random moments the front end of the truck will drop all the way down to the bump stops making it impossible to drive or steer. I have noticed I am not the only one and that plenty of other people have delt with this issue as well.
The air suspension on this vehicle continuously fails I've had to replace the rear airbags multiple times as well as the air compressor it will fail while driving down the interstate if it sits overnight will come back out to a truck that's completely on the ground it will fail and drain all the air out of the rear airbags but not the front or the left side but not the right side especially in colder climates. The dealership near my house has told me that this is a major problem that they see all the time and the remedy that they suggested was removing the air suspension and replacing with a aftermarket air suspension delete kit or replacing the entire system which the front air spring and shock assembly each cost $1,800 the rear air spring costs $1,400 and the pump is almost $3,000 the lines all together add up to about $1,000 and the labor to have this done is another two to $3,000 Plus refilling the system with nitrogen the dealership said even doing all of this it might last 2 years it might last 6 months. I did buy this vehicle used and was unaware of the issues that this vehicle has had with this system when I purchased the vehicle I have now found that this is an extremely common problem that the manufacturer has ignored I'm lucky that I am a skilled and experienced driver and am able to handle these issues but if my wife had to deal with this it could have resulted in a major accident crash or her death. When the entire side of the vehicle drops two to three inches out of nowhere at highway speeds. And this is not a single occurrence this has happened at least a hundred times over the last winter and now became more prominent during the hot humid days of summer
The Front sway bar on my truck where the welds are rusted out. yes its available for inspection. independent service center has not been inspected no warning lights
Observed several instances of the OEM air suspension system becoming disabled due to cold temperatures. Vehicle would fail to adjust ride height to normal, DIC woukd display message AIR SUSPENSION NOT AVAILABLE and would ride as if vehicle has no suspension. Any attempt to adjust would display message SELECTED REIGJT HEIGHT UNAVAILABLE. On ice packed roads and bridges, the pickup would tend to wander after going over the bumps and uneven icy areas, at one point this evening putting the pickup into a mild fish-tail. Contacted a personal friend that is a mechanic at local Ram dealer and was told this is a well known problem with the Ram 1500 air suspension and is not a recalled item. I believe that as suspension is a key component for vehicle safety and handling, the NHSTA ought to mandate FCA to correct the issue through a comprehensive recall.
Air suspension will randomly deflate on one side of the vehicle making steering difficult at highway speeds. Hitting a bump or discontinuity in the road while the frame is sitting on the bump-stops (when suspension is deflated) can cause the tire to jump or skip, temporary loosing traction. It can go days or weeks without occurring, or it can happen multiple times in one trip.
- Gainesville, GA, USA
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Air suspension system fails in cold weather. Thousands of confirmed cases. https://www.facebook.com/groups/292298311479202 A class action in Canada. A whole business is taking advantage of removing these parts. airdelete.com My air suspension leaked out during a trip, warning lights, vehicle's air suspension dropped to the frame. No suspension resulted in a very bumpy, dangerous immediate driving conditions. Once the drive became bumpy, two hops for every bump in the road. Steering became difficult due to driver instability. Passengers became sick, vomiting due to bumpy ride. Passengers became unstable, hitting head on ceiling even while seat belted.
The service air suspension display comes on and instantly goes out with no stored codes according to dealership. While driving the rear air bags dump (deflate) completely empty. There has been times where this has happened at 70 MPH other times it has happened at 35-55 MPH. This causes the truck to bounce violently and have sway side to side when going over bridges and bumps. When I took it to dealership I was told they could not duplicate the issue, even after having it for 3-4 weeks. Again this doesn-??t happen all of the time day in day out, it-??s random for no apparent reason. This is a huge safety issue not just for me and my family but everyone on the road. Sometimes if you stop at a light or along the road it will air back up to normal ride height but on 12/18/2021 it would not air up.
I was driving down the road when the air suspension went out. My truck started bouncing and I almost lost control of my truck. I had to pull over and see what the issue was. The air suspension works whe. It wants too. It's very dangerous driving on the freeway when the suspension goes out.
Just like so many others, the air ride suspension service immediately message comes on at different times. The truck deflates to ride on no suspension and bounces and swerves every time you hit a bump. Super dangerous
The vehicle's air suspension system suddenly failed during driving. The air suspension system controls the ride height of the vehicle, and the ride height also impacts the vehicle's steering alignment. My understanding is that the issue is that the nitrogen air suspension system performs a self-check upon start-up and purges a small volume of air and ingests outside air, which contains moisture. During the winter months, this moisture gets into the suspension's compressor, and causes premature failure due to freezing. The cost of repair/replacement for this air suspension compressor is $1200, and will fail again when the same cycle repeats. Chrysler/Ram is aware of the issue, and there are tsb's about air suspension issues, and multiple customer care cases, but they refuse to issue a recall. If this system fails during driving it can cause a sudden loss of control due to vehicle geometry changes. I was on a highway when this happened, and had to pull over to the side of the road, as the warning said seek "immediate repair" of the air suspension system. I contacted Chrysler, which acknowledged the issue, and opened a case, but later denied the case. This issue is documented among many other Chrysler air ride suspension vehicle equipped owners. The only recourse is to replace the system with like parts (which fails again), or to swap the air ride system for traditional coils and spring suspension, which is costly. The air ride system is a costly factory upgrade. Had Chrysler disclosed issues with said system, I would not have purchased it, especially since this issue is most problematic for cold climate owners, where temperatures dip below freezing. One need merely google, "Chrysler air suspension failure" and it returns "about 1,260,000 results".
Air suspension failed again while driving. This causes the truck to sit uneven or all the way down to the bump stops. This has been an ongoing issue since fca introduced the system.
Air ride suspension fails in weather conditions below freezing. The truck loses all air ride functions and lowers all the way down to the bump stops. I was driving home from the lake when it started to drop. It is -10 degrees Fahrenheit. Within 5 miles my truck had lost all suspension and was sitting on the frame. It made the truck impossible to drive and I did not feel safe at all. I ended up going 10 miles per hour until I made it home.
The contact owns a 2015 Ram 1500. The contact stated that while driving at highway speeds, the air ride suspension deflated causing the vehicle to become difficult to steer. The contact stated that it became difficult to keep the vehicle align with the road. The contact stated that an excessive amount of effort was needed to steer the vehicle. The contact contacted heritage Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of logan (2900 N main St, North logan, ut 84341, (435) 752-0050) who stated that the suspension air bags needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The approximate failure mileage was 123,000.
Vibration at highway speed. Complained to two different dealerships and was ignored. I am a mechanic with 35+ years experience. I am absolutely certain that the problem is in the driveline and not in the wheels/tires. The vibration causes the truck to eat the tires. I am under 65,000 miles and on the fifth set of tires. Four different brands of tires. I've seen numerous complaints on this issue. I discussed a tsb with the dealership and was ignored again. After having my transmission repaired at the dealership under warranty, the vibration has gotten worse. I am reasonably certain the vibration causes the transmission problem that I recently had to have repaired under warranty.
The air suspension on my 2015 Ram 1500 has been failing (blowing fuses while driving, freezing up and failing to inflate before startup) each winter for the past three years. As mentioned above, the system can fail while operating the vehicle, due to blown fuses from an electrical short in the system. It also can just fail to inflate on cold days. The system apparently was not installed with an air drying capability causing these issues above and this should be expected in colder climates. The air suspension is a 'closed' system, but was built is capable of pulling in air from the outside under certain conditions (meaning it is not a closed system). Given the fact this ability was incorporated into the system, an air drying system should have been included as well. It is a critical safety concern when the system fails to inflate the air suspension and fca should have known it would fail. I would like to see a recall reimbursing people for the costs associated with fixing failures of this system (compressor and air bag failures) as well as the installation of a remedy (full replacement) to permanently fix the system.
The vehicle suspension fails at random times and the truck bounces violently, but not all corners of the vehicle, which causes almost uncontrollable swerving. The suspension then rides on the bump stops and hits all bumps very hard. Sometimes you can stop, shut down and restart, let the vehicle idle for a few minutes and it will solve the problem temporarily. You never know when it's going to happen and it can happen very swiftly. So far I've managed to control it, but am afraid that sometime when towing my travel trailer it will cause loss of control and be the cause of an accident with possibility of serious injuries. I selected a date below, but it has happened at least 10 to 20 times! you don't get the option to pick multiple dates. I have talked to several Ram dealers and none seem to have any idea what to do about it. Fiat Chrysler must address this issue before someone is killed or very seriously injured. I have no documentation because the dealers admit they have no idea, so I haven't take it in. Online forums for Ram indicate that there are many trucks exhibiting these symptoms. Once when it happened I was towing my travel trailer (approximately 6,000 lbs.) and it swerved so violently that my wife screamed and thought we were going to crash!
The contact owns a 2015 Ram 1500. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, there was an abnormal banging sound detected. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and the contact was informed that the rear axle needed to be replaced. The contact called addy's harbor Dodge Ram Fiat (4849 us-501, myrtle beach, SC 29579, (843) 492-7348) however, the vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was contacted however, no further assistance was provided. The contact stated the failure was like the failure listed in NHTSA campaign number: 15V661000 (power train). The failure mileage was approximately 67,500.
I have been experiencing the "death wobble" anytime a bump is hit while driving at speeds of 40 mph +, on the freeway the wobble is so bad that recently my truck began swerving all over the road and almost went off-road, until I could regain control of the truck. A bump on a turn is much worse. I am so fearful of the unsafe shaking of the front end while driving higher speeds that I now avoid the freeways and take alternate routes if possible.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Boise , ID, USA