What 858 owners told NHTSA about the 2017 Ram 1500 Crew Cab Trx

Electronic Power Steering just stopped all of a sudden while I was going up the mountain into North Carolina that almost caused an accident the only reason it didn’t is because of the pull off right after the curve I was going through when I lost all steering! With the truck already in the pull off I stopped to see if I had lost a serpentine belt unaware this Ram is equipped with the EPS System. I had no phone service luckily someone came by when they did because of the snow storm seeing vehicles was few and far between! After letting the truck sit for about 20mins with the positive cable unhooked I started the truck and had steering again. So the nice gentleman that stopped said he would follow me to the nearest cell service area so I could call someone, No warning light the first time at all the second time the only warning light was service ABS system which shouldn’t affect having power steering. So I repeated the steps as I did the first time and had steering again the service ABS System light was gone and we made it 11 Minutes up the mountain before it happened again only this time all kinds of service lights came on all at once, Service Electronic brake system,Service ANTILOCK BRAKE SYSTEM, SERVICE ELECTRONIC SHIFTER, SERVICE POWER STEERING SYSTEM, traction control was disabled which isn’t good in snowy weather conditions and i had no choice but to continue 3mins to the next town with no power steering no traction control and all these other warning lights because it wouldn’t fix it anymore temporarily by in hooking the positive battery cable and waiting 20 minutes which I attempted 3 times with no success once we reached the town I was able to call and have someone come pick me and my truck up and brought a scan tool I cleared the codes only for them to come right back as soon as I would crank the truck! Had it professionally scanned with same results! Very dangerous issue! Yes it can be inspected yes professionally inspected $2300part only not labor to!

NHTSA ODI 11725472

My suspension didn't work. It was riding on the frame. The power steering is very difficult to turn. The front control screen is not turning on.

NHTSA ODI 11725150

Replaced the frozen suspension last year. Now that it’s cold again, similar codes are being thrown with new ones: Service Trailer Brake System, Service Air Suspension System, Service Electronic Braking System. To note, I’ve had a “Check Fuel Cap” code for years. It’s tied to 3 sensors along the fuel tank and absolutely nothing to do with the fuel cap itself. For the air suspension sensors (WHICH I’VE ALREADY REPLACED ONCE), and the fuel cap sensors— they all run nearly $300 a pop and that isn’t including labor. I personally cannot financially keep up with the vehicle’s maintenance costs. The fact that Canada had a class action lawsuit against FCA for the air suspension but we don’t is baffling. I pray nothing comes from these defective parts because I will be suing.

NHTSA ODI 11714667

The air suspension in my 2017 Ram 1500 Rebel has gone out once again. I’ve had all of the air bags and compressor replaced once before and it has already gone out again, causing a very bumpy and unsafe ride. It is currently cold where I live, however, this problem started again during the summer time and is not due to the cold temperatures. Ram needs to fix this issue as I can’t continue paying for a defective suspension. While looking online, this is an extremely common problem and I’m wondering what more it will take before there is a recall? Please let me know what can be done to get this fixed for good. Thank you for your time and help.

NHTSA ODI 11713556

My air suspension suddenly dropped out while I was driving and almost caused me to get into an accident. It was very cold outside.

NHTSA ODI 11711832

Steering goes in and out, stability control keeps acting up and light stays on, and service braking. Contacted RAM dealership, and was told that the recall was already completed before I owned it. It seems odd that the same symptoms are showing up again. I can’t drive the truck safely. The steering locks up and hard to turn. The anti-lock brakes are activated when using brakes.

NHTSA ODI 11707091

My rear airbag suspension consistently looses air pressure and drops to the lowest setting. The dealer is unable to find a cause of the issue. It is a safety issue because I use the truck to pull a camper and if I loose the rear air suspension while towing, I would loose stability and possible cause an accident. There are no warning lights that there is a problem with anything and the diagnostics performed by the dealer show no failure codes.

NHTSA ODI 11706701

The contact owns a 2017 Ram 1500. The contact stated while driving 35-40 MPH and hauling a trailer, the track bar fractured, causing the contact to lose control of the vehicle, and the vehicle veered into the passing lane, causing the trailer to swerve from side to side. The contact stated that upon shifting to neutral(N), the vehicle decelerated and stopped. The contact was able to drive to the residence at 15 MPH. The vehicle was taken to the Chrysler dealer however, no assistance was provided. The vehicle was then taken to a Chevrolet dealer, where an alignment was performed. The contact was later replaced with the track bar. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that assistance could not be provided because the vehicle was out of warranty. The failure mileage was approximately 157,000.

NHTSA ODI 11667740

Air suspension stopped working. Rear driver side drops with out noticed at anytime while parked or driving. My safety concern is that it will drop low enough while driving on the highway and cause for my truck to roll over. I have read about others having the same issues with the air suspension in the front, back or both. I was going to take it to the dealership but reading online from different souses and other that have the same problems the dealer had not fully fix the problem. Am not in the position to leave my vehicle in the services department of the dealership for then not to fix the problem.

NHTSA ODI 11665133

WAS DRIVING MY TRUCK AND THE AIR SUSPENSION STOPPED WORKING. MY TRUCK IS ROUGHLY 2-3 INCHES FROM THE GROUND. BOTH OF MY FRONT TIRES ARE POINTING INWARD WHEN YOU LOOK AT IT FROM THE FRONT FROM THE WEIGHT OF THE MOTOR ON THE DEFLATED SUSPENSION. HITS SMALL BUMPS LIKE EXPLOSIONS. VERY UNSAFE TO DRIVE. IF I KEEP DRIVING IT THE WAY IT IS THE FRONT BALL JOINT OR WHEEL BEARINGS ARE GOING TO COME OFF. THE MANUFACTURER KNOWS THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THIS AND HAS NOT MADE ANY REASONABLE FIXES FOR IT. TOOK IT TO MY DEALER AND SO FAR I AM IN $2000.00 WITHOUT BEING FIXED. THIS NEEDS TO BE RECALLED BEFORE SOMEONE GETS KILLED. IF YOU READ SOME OF THESE MESSAGE BOARDS ONLINE THERE ARE HUNDREDS IF NOT THOUSANDS OF THESE VEHICLES DOING THIS. I CAN NOT DRIVE ABOVE 45MPH WITHOUT THE FRONT END BOUNCING UP AND DOWN VIOLENTLY.

NHTSA ODI 11643199

The air ride system automatically inflates and deflates while driving, the truck tilts to one side because it only raises one side. It effects driving and the vehicle pulls to one side

NHTSA ODI 11637281

Power steering failed while driving. Replace the power steering rack (dealership replaced it). It still failing due to the torque sensor or the steering wheel, a steering wheel angle sensor being faulty,. Very dangerous if the vehicles power steering randomly stops doing its job while in motion.

NHTSA ODI 11632060

The contact owns a 2017 RAM 1500. The contact stated while driving 50 MPH, the "Immediate Air Suspension Service Repair Required" warning message Illuminated. The contact pulled over to the side of the road and restarted the vehicle and the warning message functionality returned. The vehicle was taken independent mechanic where there was an unknown diagnosis. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact was relating the failure to a lawsuit article he read online. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 120,000.

NHTSA ODI 11632183

Truck was lowered to the entry/exit position using the adjustment buttons for the factory air suspension while in park when picking up my daughter from school. When attempting to raise the truck back to the normal ride height setting, the rear of the truck raised but the front did not and will not. Also the rear will not lower back down to match the front now either.

NHTSA ODI 11631972

Air suspension failure. Unsafe to drive with air suspension that will not hold or set air pressure for the system.

NHTSA ODI 11610652

Air suspension system is having numerous fault codes and operational issues, that have been occurring since January of 2024. The dealer just clears all of the codes and says there is nothing saved in the various modules, but yet I myself have a scanned trouble code listing showing the faults. The truck sometimes will be riding on the frame because the air suspension becomes inoperatable.

NHTSA ODI 11593039

The contact owns a 2017 Ram 1500. The contact stated while driving 45-50 MPH, the vehicle started shuddering violently and was pulling to the left and to the right. The contact was able to pull to the side of the road. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed that the front lower control arms had detached and the front subframe was fractured. The vehicle was not repaired. An unknown dealer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the VIN was not included in a recall. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 200,000.

NHTSA ODI 11586585

The air ride suspension system failed after a stretch of below-freezing temperatures, the front end was lowered and the rear end elevated. The vehicle had 91k miles on it and required a new compressor and valve block.

NHTSA ODI 11568451

Same issues as everyone else, cold weather north dakota, suspension errors, components were fully replaced last winter. All issues happening again. Loss of air, drooped side, .....

NHTSA ODI 11566454

Air suspension completely fails when the weather reaches below zero. When the air suspension fails there is nothing protecting the driver due to the bumpiness of the ride. Your head will constantly hit the headrest the entire ride. Air suspension can also fail while the truck is in motion.

NHTSA ODI 11565383

AIR SUSPENSION FAILURE

NHTSA ODI 11558410

On a irregular basis, would get warning messages and dash warning lights about " Service Anti-lock Brake system" , and " Service Electronic Brake System", and vehicle would start to immediately lose power and in some locations, would be on an open highway at highway speeds. Would have to pull off road to try and cycle truck off and on to regain operation. Getting rear-ended on the highway is NOT an option due to a faulty module or braking system...!! NO pre warning lights or symtpons, it just happens.

NHTSA ODI 11557578

While hard accelerating from a stop light and towing a moderately loaded trailer (~ 3,000 lbs), I felt the turbo engage and heard a loud bang and felt the rear end get wobbly. The truck pulled violently to the right and I instantly lost accelaration and heard something dragging on the concrete, I coasted into the left turn lane and got out to find my driveshaft had broke at the rear differential yoke and was resting on the ground, still attached to the transfer case. I hopped back in and put it in 4wd to power the front tires to limp to a safe location about 100 yards down the road. Upon closer inspection both upper control arm ends that attached to a frame via a bushing broke causing the differential to rotate to the point the rear u-joint yoke broke off the drive shaft. I called a dealer but the repair time was > 1month so I repaired it myself by replacing both control arms (with Moog aftermarket arms) and a new Mopar drive shaft. Upon closer inspection both control arm ends had poor weld quality (poor weld fusion) where the bushing loop attaches to the control arm shaft. They should not have failed given the normal driving and the low miles on the vehicle. This is definitely a manufacturers defect that could have caused a serious accident had the loss of control caused the vehicle to swerved into oncoming traffic. I still have the defective part if needed for closer inspection/testing. This incident was shared with FCA recalls but was not covered nor were they interested in the issue. I also have pictures on my phone that would upload properly but i could send in an email...

NHTSA ODI 11545565

Repeated alert to service electronic braking system. Had code read it said right front wheel erratic response from wheel speed sensor. Had sensor changed no change to error code, now the traction control light and passenger seat airbag light has come on. This is a 2017 ram tradesmen with approximately 70k mileage

NHTSA ODI 11525202

Air suspension issues at 50k miles my truck rides lop sided half the time. Some days it works fine other days the driver side is sitting lower than the passenger or the backs lower than the front it’s never the same issue. Sometimes it don’t work at all. Which is crazy with only 50k miles

NHTSA ODI 11510741