1996 Dodge Ram Van problems
NHTSA has received 36 complaints about the 1996 Dodge Ram Van, and 19% of them involve transmission. After that come engine (17%) and wipers, windshield & visibility (14%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 36 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Transmission 19% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 0 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 0 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
None of these complaints report a crash, fire, injury or death. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 100% 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 1996 ranks 1st most-complained-about out of 6 model years of the Dodge Ram Van with enough data (27 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.
While driving, could hear wind noise coming through the door on driver's side, continued driving, later, checked door, door lock post where normally welded to frame/covered with sheet metal, came off. Dealer rewelded door post back to frame. Had to be redone again 6 months later. Water leak at rear seam. While cruise control was activated at 68 MPH, vehicle accelerated to 78 MPH and was climbing. While driving in extreme heat, the clutch fan engages, there is a loss of power, and there is very low fuel economy.
We submitted a letter to chrysler asking for a "goodwill repair refund" and had a phone call from the customer service center, al williams, stating that the three (3)year warranty had expired. We had explained that our leisure travel van with a dodge v8 360 engine only on 31,365 on the transmission. He said it did not matter. The chrysler dealership that replace the transmission with a rebuilt transmission from chrysler stated that he had never seen a transmission "chewed up" like ours.