Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | |||
| 12/31/2009 | 113871 | 1 | |
| 1999 dodge ram 1500 pickup has electrical problems with headlights. when switching from high beams to low beams. the high beams go off but the low beams do not come back on. i have had two dodge dealers plus another garage look into fixing this problem. both dodge dealers say they could not verify my complaint. the last dodge dealer performed another electrical wiring trace diag and claims all circuit operating as designed. yet they continue guessing at what might cause the problem and charge me for replacing parts they cannot verify where ever bad or even causing the failure of the low beams to come back on. the normal event is that when an oncoming vehicle is coming at me and i need to turn off the high beams. the high beams are turned off without any low beams coming on. this creates an immediate threat to life and property of both autos operating on the same section of roadway. this problem currently has been going on for about two months. after this second dodge dealer charged me for replacing another switch (another guess by their mech). it took me less than 30 seconds to show a witness driving with me what the problem is as the low beams failed to come on after only three attempts of switching high beams to low beams. yet dodge dealers still says everything is working as designed. there is clearly a defect here in design. to date it has not resulted in a crash but there is no telling when the low beams will fail to come on when driving and they are needed. the first time i had this problems was at mileage 77,439 back on 11/08/05. the problem seems to clear up after the first dodge dealer had replaced the multi-function switch. but now the problem is back again. so the second dodge dealer did not feel this switch would of gone bad again after just 37,000 miles of use on this switch. *tr | |||
| 03/04/2003 | 45000 | 4 | 07/10/1999 |
| I recently took my 1999 dodge ram 1500 pick up to my alignment shop and had to put a new tracker bar on it. which i replaced about 8 months ago at about 40 thousand miles.. and now i have to replace my steering box and my truck has just over 54,100 miles on it and i think that is a little ridiculous. ever since i bought my truck new in 1999 i have had to have the front end aligned in the first year, the second year, in the year 2002 and now on march 3 rd 2003 i had to have it again for the reasons i stated in the beginning. i had some electrical problems under the dash and in the steering column. my alignment shop says they have replaced a lot of steering boxes and the tracker bar even at 18,000 miles. i have called chrysler themselves and they won't do anything about it and i think they should because i believe that it is a result from a bad part from the factory. i have documented everything i have done to my truck. i have looked into the price of a new steering box and i have found that dodge wants over $600 and a parts house in my town can get the same dodge steering box for $205. i believe that i should not have to pay for the box what ever the price, because i believe it is new enough that they should be willing to have it fixed, to at least make a customer some what happy. i have never heard of a steering box going out at less then 100,000 miles. my father had a 1999 ram 1500 pick up and with less than 25,000 miles the motor lost 4 quarts of oil on our way to a old car show in montana but it never happened again so he did not worry about it and sold it and got a new 2002 ram pick up and he likes it so far, but a friend of mine has a 2002 ram and he is having a problem with his front end alignment. so i am wondering if there are other people having similar problems with their front ends on dodge vehicles. *jb | |||
| 04/26/2002 | 2 | 05/18/1999 | |
| On several occasions, vehicle stalled out when attempting to start. vehicle was towed to dealer where charging system check was performed and found that the battery was dead. consumer states service bulletin relating to the electrical circuits was never performed. manufacturer notified. vehicle is under warranty, but consumer is not sure what is covered. *tt | |||
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM - FUSES AND CIRCUIT BREAKERS | |||
| 09/03/2003 | 32200 | 2 | |
| 1998-2001 b-van (dodge full size). abs control module is protected by a 40 amp fuse. a 10 ga. wire comes out of the control module, then this wire y's out to two 14 ga. wires. it appears as though the abs pump or relay are sticking on these vehicles. then one of these 14 ga. wires overheats and catches the wiring harness on fire. the 40 amp fuse does not blow. the fire continues until the entire van is fully engulfed in flames. this van is located at the verizon repair garage, 4219 fritch dr. bethlehem, pa 18017.*ak | |||
| 07/13/2003 | 42500 | ||
| 1998-2001 b-van (dodge full size). the abs control module is protected with a 40 amp fuse. a 10 ga. wire comes out of the control module and then y's out to two 14 ga. wires. it appears as though the abs pump or the relay sticks on these vehicles. then one of the 14 ga. wires overheats and catches the wiring harness on fire. the 40 amp fuse does not blow. the fire then continues until the van is fully engulfed in flames. this van is located at the verizon fleet garage, 8600 rees st, new port richey, florida 346681.*ak | |||
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM - WIRING | |||
| 03/02/2004 | 111023 | 1 | 07/05/1999 |
| The consumer entered the vehicle, put on his seat belt and proceeded to drive home. while driving the consumer noticed that the belts tightened up. then, he smelled smoke. the consumer looked down, and saw smoke coming from the under seat. the consumer pulled to the side of the road, unlatched the seat belt, looked under the seat, and saw smoke and fire coming from the plug. *ak the problem occurred in the driver seat. the electric plug was unplugged to the seat belt. the plugs were replaced with a single stable plug. *sc *jb | |||
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM - WIRING - FRONT UNDERHOOD | |||
| 05/17/1999 | |||
| While driving on the interstate noticed a foul smell, which seemed to be plastic burning. consumer cut the air conditioning off, suddenly clouds of smoke poured from under the engine. consumer pulled over to discover there was a fire coming from under the hood. also, cruise control and abs have stopped working, and all 4 tires had to be replaced after 15000 miles. *ak *ml | |||
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM - WIRING - INTERIOR/UNDER DASH | |||
| 04/17/2003 | 45000 | 1 | 10/07/2001 |
| I have a 1999 dodge ram 1500 the dashboard in it is cracking and falling in leaving wires exposed to the hot sun it is cracked all around passenger air bag i don't know if air bag still works the exposed wiring looks like fire hazard and headlight possible head or tail light failure this vehicle only has 60,400 miles on it still a lot of life left in this truck except for the dash problem. the last dodge i will buy unless they stand behind there product good or bad. *tr | |||
| 04/08/1999 | |||
| Instrument panel is not working properly. the check engine & abs light keep coming on & stay. vehicle also fails to record any mileage. took to dealer & had cluster & connector for cluster replaced, but problem still exists. *ak | |||