2018 Ram 5500 problems
NHTSA has received 51 complaints about the 2018 Ram 5500, and 53% of them involve brakes. Next are wheels (10%) and cruise control (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 51 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Brakes 53% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 1 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 0 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 80,000 miles 23 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 | 6 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 0 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 1 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 4 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 8 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 3 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 0 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 1 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 23 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 80,000 miles. For brakes specifically, the median reported mileage is about 85,000 miles (12 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 1 complaint mentions a crash. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 95% of model years in our database.
It is also covered by 8 safety recall campaigns.
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.
I parked my truck and turned it off. Went inside and about 15 minutes later my truck rolled down a hill and went across a busy route 15 . The truck was still in park and the engine was off and the wheel was still locked at the bottom. It ripped the plow off my truck. I'm having a hard time with the dealership and my insurance is giving me a run around. They don't wanna cover my plow and wanna use used parts on it. I don't see why I should have to eat the damage. I did nothing wrong and I'm paying for it.
The frame has cracked! This isn't the first I've heard about these frames cracking either. There's a lot of complaints online about the dodge 5500 cracked frames
My truck from new gad turbo exhaust manifolds kept warping breaking bolts in the head everytime my radio quits and reboots and glitches after truck updates runs poorly with excessive egt and dealers tefused to do anything for me kept tellin me they didnt have proper tech or tools or was told all was nornal and my frint 19.5 wheel cracked in the middle with no impact or tire dammage radio wuits and freezes reboots several timex a day
On march 23, 2021, while driving on the highway, I started hearing the same humming noise I heard 8 months ago when I had the transfer case problem. This was the new transfer case the dealership had put in, and all of a sudden there was a loud bang/explosion sound from where the transfer case exploded. I was driving at 60 MPH and was not able to brake as I lost the brakes after the transfer case exploded.
The contact owns a 2018 Ram 5500. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the ABS, traction control, speed control, and engine brake became inoperable. There was an abnormal ding sound coming from the vehicle. The contact stated that several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V896000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted.