1998 Dodge Ram 3500 problems
NHTSA has received 134 complaints about the 1998 Dodge Ram 3500, and 15% of them involve brakes. Next are lighting (13%) and electrical system (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 134 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Brakes 15% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 13 and 17
- Injuries and deaths
- 14 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 94,000 miles 63 complaints with mileage
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%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 2 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 1 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 8 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 10 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 11 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 3 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 6 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 8 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 7 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 7 |
What the data shows
Of the 63 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 94,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 13 complaints mention a crash; 17 complaints mention a fire; 14 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 89% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1998 ranks 15th most-complained-about out of 20 model years of the Dodge Ram 3500 with enough data (66 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.
Consumer had an accident and air bags did not deploy.-also the rear brakes did not engage, causing vehicle to lose control and collide, resulting in 3 injuries.
Vehicle was involved in a frontal collision with a tree at 50 MPH and neither air bag deployed. Dealer and manufactuerer were notified. Consumer stated that before hitting tree head on, truck hit pickup at 70 MPH and air bags also failed to deployed. There were 2 injuries.
Nut fell off back of fifth gear, damaging the main shaft and causing truck to jump all over the highway. Dodge admits this is a known design defect, yet they will not issue a recall. A horse in the trailer being towed was injured in this incident due to the violent jerks and swerves involved. **dimsii ivoq entry posted after 12/12/02 cut over to artemis*762504
Dashboard cracked and caved in when I hit a bump while driving approx 68 MPH on the freeway (I- 15 northbound through las vegas). Plastic falling into the dashboard area disconnected several wires causing the headlights to go out as well as several other electrical accessories. Freeway was well lit enough for me to stop safely and call for assistance.