Recalls
| Campaign | Manufacturer | Manufacturing date | Type | # of units affected | Date Owner notified Mfg | Recall Initiated by | Manufacturers of recalled vehicles/products | Report Recieved Date | Record Creation Date | Regulation Part Number | FMVSS Number | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SUSPENSION | ||||||||||||||||
| 07E009000 | L.K.I. ENTERPRISES, INC. | E (Equipment) | 3350 | 03/12/2007 | MFR | CHRYSLER GROUP LLC | 02/01/2007 | 02/01/2007 | ||||||||
| Defect Summary | Certain lki enterprises, inc., brand name superlift suspension, pitman arms sold as replacement equipment for 2003-2007 dodge ram 2500 and 3500 4x4 light trucks. due to inadequate heat treatment during production, the affected pitman arms may develop cracks in the upper splined attachment attachment to the steering output shaft. movement between the pitman arm and the output shaft may deform splines, resulting in premature wear and fatigue failure of the affected pitman arm. | |||||||||||||||
| Consequence Summary | Pitman arm wear or failure may lead to loss of vehicle control, possibly resulting in a vehicle crash. | |||||||||||||||
| Corrective Summary | Lki will notify owners and replace the pitman arm, if necessary. the recall began on march 12, 2007. owners may contact lki at 1-800-551-4955. | |||||||||||||||
| Notes | Lki recall no. 07-01pit.this recall only pertains to replacement lki, superlift suspension kits,and has no relation to any original equipment installed on dodge ram 4x4 light trucks manufactured by daimlerchrysler.customers may contact the national highway traffic safety administration's vehicle safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (tty: 1-800-424-9153); or go to http://www.safercar.gov. | |||||||||||||||
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| SUSPENSION | |||
| 03/10/2011 | 92000 | ||
| Driving at hwy. speeds when you hit a seam or bump on hwy. front end shakes violently. this happens at random times. you never know when it will happen.it is very dangerous. also known as (death wobble) there are many other dodge ram trucks with this problem. no one seems to be able to fix it. i have all the upgrades from chrysler & still have this problem, even though they say there is no problem. | |||
| 05/11/2011 | 137000 | ||
| Tl* the contact owns a 2003 dodge ram 3500. the contact was driving 70 mph when the contact drove over a road bump and the front end begin to shake violently. the contact took the vehicle to a local mechanic where the mechanic advised that the cause of the shaking was due to a design flaw with the front suspension. the contact did not have any repairs performed on the vehicle. the failure mileage was 137,000. | |||
| 05/11/2011 | 137000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2003 dodge ram 3500. the contact was driving 70 mph when the contact drove over a road bump and the front end begin to shake violently. the contact took the vehicle to a local mechanic where the mechanic advised that the cause of the shaking was due to a design flaw with the front suspension. the contact did not have any repairs performed on the vehicle. the failure mileage was 137,000. kmj | |||
| 05/11/2011 | 137000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2003 dodge ram 3500. the contact stated while driving 70 mph once the vehicle hits a obstacle on the road the front end of the vehicle shakes violently. the contact took the vehicle to a local mechanic. the mechanic stated the cause of the shaking is due to a design flaw with the front suspension from the manufacturer. the contact did not have any repairs done to the vehicle. the contact did not take the vehicle to a dealer. the failure mileage was 137,000. jo | |||
| 10/19/2008 | 107000 | 1 | |
| Driving at the posted speed limit, without warning, the truck made an abrupt lane change then i managed to gain control. what happen is that on this vehicle, the wheel bearing assembly is one piece and can't be greased or maintained in any way. it heated up and locked the front wheel causing a serious and violent turn at freeway speeds. *tr | |||
| 01/28/2005 | 13000 | 3 | 05/24/2003 |
| My 2003 dodge ram 4x4 diesel vibrates and shakes to the point that it feels as though i will loose control and it is obvious to those around the vehicle. this has happened on the interstate traveling at 65 mph over rough patches. it takes a steady grip of the wheel and tapping the brakes down to about 40 mph's to get it to stop. *ak | |||
| 05/15/2004 | 25000 | 0 | 11/20/2003 |
| 2003 dodge 3500 four door pickup 4x4 front wheels shake violently when traveling over rough patches of interstate. everything shakes, feels like the truck is coming apart. witnesses say the front wheels are steering left to right rapidly, however it feels like the tires are bouncing off of the pavement. this happens regularly at speeds above 65mph. when i slow to 40 mph the shaking stops. it is very hard to control the vehicle when it is shaking.*ak | |||
| 55000 | 1 | 02/01/2003 | |
| Tie rod ends wore out, making it difficult to steer vehicle. *ak the stabilizer bar and wheel bearing also failed. *jb | |||
| SUSPENSION - FRONT | |||
| 01/07/2009 | |||
| My 2003 dodge 3500 4x4 started about a year and a half ago, shaking very violently when you drive over a bump or uneven place in the highway and you're driving over 50 mph. i took it to a repair shop and they replaced the stabilizer shock and track bar bushings along with two rotors and hub seals. still it continued to shake. i now have taken it and again had that replaced along with having a kit of fixes the dodge dealership sells that is supposed to be a fix for this problem and a lot of other things, still it did not fix it. my mechanic was at his wits end and searched the internet where he found over two million sites for people experiencing the same problem with no apparent fix. i have spent over $1500 and it still shakes violently. i use my truck to pull loads and now i'm afraid to pull anything with it. i bought the truck brand new and had not had any trouble, except of course with the injectors which is another story, until now. if you do a search of dodge death shake, you will find there are millions of us out there. this is unbelievable how it can literally shake the steering wheel loose from your hand and take the vehicle off the highway. this very dangerous and i'm afraid dodge is trying to skirt the issue of a possible design flaw in the frame and suspension. all these trucks are bought to carry a load and i at times was pulling over 25,000 lbs. of cattle and the thought of having this happen then, would be a recipe for disaster. is it going to take someone getting killed to make dodge responsible for this? when there are so many of us, i think it is a definite design flaw and a very dangerous one. | |||
| 10/26/2009 | 99000 | 1 | |
| I have the death wobble in my front end. hit a bump at 55 mph + and the front end shakes so bad your forced to almost come to a stop. the dealer stated my drag link /tie rod assembly,steering gears and pittman arm are bad. i have never pulled carried an rv,never driven off road and keep my vehicles maintained per the manufacture. specs. why are these parts defective at 99k miles. check the dodge forums and you'll find a great many other owners in my position with way less miles. this is a defect,plain and simple. *tr | |||
| 10/17/2009 | 98900 | 1 | |
| Death wobble,front end shake. *tr | |||
| 08/02/2009 | 80000 | 1 | |
| The death wobble has happen several times- the last time was aug 2nd, 2009 on the freeway going 75mph passing a semi trailer, we hit a bump in the road the truck began to shake violently, my husband was trying to control this shake while going 75mph- it would not stop until we slowed down and pulled off to the side of the road. we almost cause an accident but thanks to my husband excellent driving skills he was able to avoid an accident. we have replace tierods, ball joints, steering box, tires, shocks, and more. i am afraid to get back into this truck. *tr | |||
| 05/17/2009 | 45000 | 1 | |
| Upper and lower ball joints have been replaced 6 times. during the most recent replacement mechanic determined the problem to be an irregularity in the machining process which prevents the upper ball joints from tightening properly, thus causing the failure of the new ball joints and universal which as also been replaced twice. i consider this an extremely serious safety concern which could result in a serious accident or death if it were to occur on a major highway at 55 mph. *tr | |||
| 10/21/2006 | 65000 | 19 | 03/21/2003 |
| 2003 3500 drw 4x4 diesel while traveling on improved roads/hiways above 40 mph vehicle hits pothole, expansion joint or uneven roadway, front end starts to jump violently, whole vehicle rattles and shakes until brakes are applied, service tech. from dodge dealer was present during duplication of event, has been in shop for over 1 week and they have replaced tie rod ends and ball joints and problem still exists, contacted damiler/chrysler and they state that customer replaced shocks with aftermarket product. vehicle unusable in this condition, very good possibility of injury or death as a result of this problem | |||
| 04/19/2006 | 48300 | 2 | 07/27/2003 |
| Upper & lower ball joints and bearings of the front suspension on a dodge ram 3500 4x4 truck. much like the dodge dakota trucks and the dodge durango. *nm | |||
| SUSPENSION - FRONT - CONTROL ARM - LOWER BALL JOINT | |||
| 12/08/2007 | 11000 | 1 | |
| 2003 dodge ram 3500 4x4. death wobble possibly due to defective ball joints. dealer would not address during warranty. progressively worsening. hazard on the highway due to death wobble. happens at speeds over 55mph when hitting any bump with both front tires. *tr | |||
| 06/26/2007 | 21406 | 2 | |
| I have a 2003 dodge quad cab 3500 5.7 hemi with 21,432 miles. i have replaced both lower ball joint after failures. the ball joint separated on each occasion and damaged the rims on the inside. *tr | |||
| 12/10/2004 | 1 | ||
| Reading your comments about dodge durango and dakota gave me some satisfaction of my issue. i have 03 dodge ram with inferior/faulty ball joints. i have attempted to get the dealer to address without success. the argument is over how much play is allowed. independent shops will not align and say this is a common problem with dodge. i contacted dodge to attempt to get information on the number of owners with similar complaint and was informed that it was proprietary information. this generation of dodge must use a different ball joint than the prior generation. i saw your alert and was curious if it included the ram pick up? any help would be appreciated. *jb | |||
| SUSPENSION - FRONT - CONTROL ARM - UPPER BALL JOINT | |||
| 12/08/2007 | 11000 | 1 | |
| 2003 dodge ram 3500 4x4. death wobble possibly due to defective ball joints. dealer would not address during warranty. progressively worsening. hazard on the highway due to death wobble. happens at speeds over 55mph when hitting any bump with both front tires. *tr | |||
| 11/11/2004 | 28000 | 1 | 08/01/2003 |
| Lost control of vehicle on a mountain road. front left wheel fell off, leading me into a rock. vehicle is total loss and i have had physical damage on my face from it going through the driver door window on impact. dodge has denied my claim even though there is a recall on dakota's for same problem. | |||
| 09/04/2004 | 13000 | 1 | 09/05/2003 |
| Front ball joints were defective at 13,000 miles.*ak | |||
| 12/10/2004 | 1 | ||
| Reading your comments about dodge durango and dakota gave me some satisfaction of my issue. i have 03 dodge ram with inferior/faulty ball joints. i have attempted to get the dealer to address without success. the argument is over how much play is allowed. independent shops will not align and say this is a common problem with dodge. i contacted dodge to attempt to get information on the number of owners with similar complaint and was informed that it was proprietary information. this generation of dodge must use a different ball joint than the prior generation. i saw your alert and was curious if it included the ram pick up? any help would be appreciated. *jb | |||
| SUSPENSION - FRONT - HUB | |||
| 01/09/2005 | 54000 | 1 | |
| While driving at any speed consumer heard a grinding noise coming from the front driver's hub. dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem. *ak | |||
| 08/29/2004 | 88732 | 1 | |
| The hub on the left front broke in half while driving 75 mph. vehicle drifted to the shoulder of the road. consumer had the vehicle towed. consumer contacted the manufacturer, who told him that they will not cover the cost of repairs. *ak | |||
| SUSPENSION - REAR | |||
| 10/01/2003 | 17000 | 1 | 05/28/2003 |
| After about six months of purchasing the vehicle new the rear end makes a winning sound. dealers are unable to fix the problem. *ak | |||
| SUSPENSION - REAR - AXLE - NON-POWERED AXLE ASSEMBLY | |||
| 04/20/2004 | 76258 | 2 | 11/15/2002 |
| 2003 dodge ram 3500. 76000 mile. rear axle seal leaking onto right rear emergency brake pads. loss of rear end fluid. had the transmission and rear end serviced at local dodge dealer at 30,000 and 60,000 miles. they stated both times the rear end was low on fluid. but could not figure out where the fluid went to. during a recent brake pad replacement the technician removed the right rear wheel to turn the disk, and found the problem. the local dealer stated they had the seals but when they arrived they were the wrong size. several phone calls later the technician was able to located the correct size but they could not be delivered until the next day. also there has been a clicking noise comming from the right front of the truck for some time. i assumed it was the shock. but again the technician doing the brake job found the upper a arm ball joint was warn to the point of allowing side to side movement of the tire. the left (or drivers side seemed to be good.) but since my truck would be down again i have decided to replace both a arm ball joints. my business depends on me being able to travel 200 or 300 miles a day, so maintenance is a must. but it seems a whole bunch of stuff is going wrong just after my warranty expires.*ak | |||