1997 Dodge Dodge Truck problems
NHTSA has received 29 complaints about the 1997 Dodge Dodge Truck, and 21% of them involve suspension. Next are electrical system (17%) and engine (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 29 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Suspension 21% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 1 and 3
- Injuries and deaths
- 1 and 0
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
What the data shows
Safety-related details: 1 complaint mentions a crash; 3 complaints mention a fire; 1 injury reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1997 ranks 10th most-complained-about out of 10 model years of the Dodge Dodge Truck with enough data (10 complaints in that window).
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
*** disregard any requests sent from me. *** they were sent in error. Meant to hit cancel button rather than continue/send. Again, disregard all requests sent by john ellis from disa eur 30403 box 159 apo ae 09131. Your charges are too high for research on a minor problem. *** do not process requests from me ***
Transmission will not shift out of first. When it is reverse it idles rough and tries to die. When it is in reverse it whines.
Changed tires(rear) 84xxxx miles/ three studs broke on each side. Nuts not cross/threaded. Retire engr. Said that it looked like metal fat.
1997 dodge ram has dashboard cover cracked in several places. Pieces have fallen down into the dash among the internal wiring. This is not just a cosmetic problem. If the pieces themselves do not short out the wiring and cause a fire, the jagged edges could potentially cut open an airbag upon deployment causing a bag failure during a crash.
For several years I have been experiencing a sudden loss of my headlights while driving my 1997 dodge ram 1500 with 82000 miles on it. I noticed that I experienced this problem much more often when operating the high beams for 10-15 minutes. I took it in to a service shop on two occasions but they could never diagnose the problem. On 12/28/08, I began smelling an electrical smell in the cab and the headlights suddenly went out. I pulled to the side of the road and turned the truck off.