I purchase my Ram used a few years ago with 126,00 miles on it and it's been great. Recently the steering became unstable as in going around a corner and the wheels did not turn or straighten easily. Now it is unpredictable when the power steering partially kicks in and otherwise driving w/o any power assist at all. I tried to find out what as wrong but couldn't find a power steering reservoir anywhere. I looked up online and find there are hundreds of complaints of this very issue. It appears there is no easy way to repair the problem and I understand it could be very costly if the electrical unit is replaced. I am amazed that there was a factory recall for this very problem on previous models which suffered the same issue with the electronic steering but not for the 2017 model. I see where a class action suit is in the works and wish to add my name to the list of plaintiffs.
Very disappointing to buy a top of the line ram Laramie truck only to have the electronic steering go out a month after the warranty expires. Truck had just turned 60,000 miles. Repair cost was $3,670. Ram dealership quoted $4,500 to repair plus a front in alignment charge of $150. Lucky to have a local mechanic do the work.
Drove my truck to meet a family member about an hour from where I live, once I arrived my steering light Illuminated and steering wheel became inoperable. Had the truck brought back to my house and left it parked and called the dealer, they said it would be 2 weeks basically before they could get to it. During the wait I went out to my truck a few days later and randomly turned it on to check the steering and it was back, so I drove it to get new tires and about 40 minutes in operation the steering went out again. Brought it back home, let it sit untill my dealership appointment and the day of my appointment i got in my truck and the steering was back. Drove it to dealership amd just got a call that the whole rack is failure and needs replaced.
Third time this happend in a month. This time it did not happen in a turn, but while I was driving straight out of my jobs driveway. Still very quick failure, still a safety concern. Being a procrastinator it has taken me this long to realize I don't have power steering fluid but rather an electric power steering system. I've read it may be a fuse.
Making a left turn after getting the green light and the power steering again momentarily failed (2nd time) n the middle of the turn, very quick action but scary. Safety Concern
- Rick G.,
San Angelo, TX, US
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While approaching a stop sign on a side street the power steering failed. Just stopped working, got the red steering wheel alarm on the dash. It took 5 minutes, and restarting the truck three to four times before it came back. Had to coast back turning the truck to the curb away from the intersection to avoid blocking traffic. Fortunately there was a slight incline for me to do so.
While making a right turn onto a side street my power steering momentarily stopped in the middle of the turn. There was another vehicle at that intersection that I thought I was going to strike. It all happened and resolved so fast
Steering failed while driving down the road. Making almost impossible to steer to the side of the road. Truck had to be towed to shop. Part is still on order from Chrysler as its "back ordered" due to the strike.
Update from Nov 18, 2023: Truck as been fixed, Mechanic checked on recall for this issue with RAM was my model year was not covered. This issue is defiantly dangerous as it make steering very difficult to impossible.
The electric power steering goes out intermittently. It does not seem to have any rhyme or reason to when it occurs. I have noticed that the first time it occurred was after starting the truck and then going into reverse. Another time this occurred was again after starting the truck and driving forward through the parking lot. It seems to happen most frequently after starting the truck and moving through the parking lot or at slow speed on the roadway after leaving a parking lot. It has, however, happened while driving on the highway.
This problem causes the power steering to go out completely which causes the truck to become extremely difficult to steer. I almost ran off the road because I had such a difficult time navigating a sharp turn.
While driving to Laughlin on July 1, 2022, my 2017 Dodge Ram, on cruise control at about 70mph, began to shake violently, the engine began to decrease speed rapidly, and my wife and I were thrown towards the windshield. I had no control of the vehicle at all. The steering was not engaging - there was no hydraulic steering at all, the brake system would not work at all. The brakes just shuddered as I tried to apply them. I had no control of vehicle and I was almost rear-ended. The truck was shaking so violently that it was moving itself towards a diesel truck on the right side of us.
This is a safety issue which not only puts my family of serious injury or death, but also endangers the safety of the other drivers and/or family/friends. We have filed a complaint with the Riverside Dodge and Jeep dealer. As of now, the service assistant states his technicians are unable to figure out what the problem is.
I loaded up the kids for school before work today, but couldn't drive. Power steering maintenance light was on, and I couldn't turn the wheel. Scrambled to get kids to school on time with my wife's rig, but I never made it to work. Stayed parked at home. Checked on the truck a few times throughout the day, hoping it would fix itself... same issue. Tried again a 4th time later in the same afternoon, and magically it's working fine. Happening to so many other people, not sure why there's no recall yet. I'm glad it didn't fail while driving with the kids. I'm towing to dealer tomorrow morning for inspection.
Intermittent loss of power steering (EPS) on my 2017 Ram when taking left hand turns it gets hard and there is no power to straighten the wheel back, Looking on line I found recalls for 2015-2016 and 2019 Ram 1500 contaminated circuit card may result in an intermittent loss of power steering recall # 16v167000 and 19v812000 for the 2019 Ram, And looking on line I am see a lot of people are having same problem with there 2017 and 2018 Ram 1500, Why is there no recall for all of them with this problem ? It's only safety concern for 2015, 2016, 2019 Ram 1500 ?
I bought the vehicle with 50k miles it ran good for 10k miles at, at 60k miles the EPS started to act up, it was on and off for 3 days then it went out. Eventually the vehicle went ghost mode, nothing worked. It was dead. Dealership ran a diagnostic that lasted 5 days. It had a Faulty EPS module that was drawing too much power from the ECM preventing the vehicle from running. That was $500. Price to replace the EPS is $2500
Purchased the 1500 RAM 4 years ago new. Only have 49000 miles on it, with most of those miles highway miles and the truck has never been driven off road. On two separate occasions recently the power steering stopped working. Dealer would not take an appointment for almost two weeks to get it in. The called me this morning to say that the steering rack needs to be replaced and it will cost ~$3000. Of course, they are saying this is not covered by the power train warranty.
I am trying to figure out how a well maintained driven truck with less than 50k miles would need any repair that would cost $3000. This has to be some manufacturer defect. If RAM is not going to fix this truck under warranty, I will get rid of it and return to buying import trucks again. I have never ever heard of a steering rack needing to be repaired on any of the vehicles that I have owned over the last 30 years and almost all of them were driven more than 100k miles.
First failure May 2020. Right turn at 20 mph. No power steering. Non assisted steering still works. Drove to dealer and they had another Truck, same year in shop with same problem. They never duplicated problem and replaced steering rack. After shutting engine off, restarting enabled power steering again. Error code on dash (lost communications with power steering).
Update from Jan 9, 2023: January 9 2023 22,100 miles same issue returned. Driving straight 45mph power steering fails.
Able to steer if drive slow but no power assist. Shutting down engine and restarting 5 mins later
returned power steering. A scan of OBD2 gives same code as before: U11E8 Lost comunication with
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I purchase my Ram used a few years ago with 126,00 miles on it and it's been great. Recently the steering became unstable as in going around a corner and the wheels did not turn or straighten easily. Now it is unpredictable when the power steering partially kicks in and otherwise driving w/o any power assist at all. I tried to find out what as wrong but couldn't find a power steering reservoir anywhere. I looked up online and find there are hundreds of complaints of this very issue. It appears there is no easy way to repair the problem and I understand it could be very costly if the electrical unit is replaced. I am amazed that there was a factory recall for this very problem on previous models which suffered the same issue with the electronic steering but not for the 2017 model. I see where a class action suit is in the works and wish to add my name to the list of plaintiffs.
- Raymond E., Orleans, MA, US