2013 Ram 1500 Complaint Log

On 07/17/2024 I got into the vehicle and after starting it I put it into reverse and started backing up and noticed that the steering was not working properly and than saw the warning lamp of a steering wheel with an exclamation mark next to it. So I have a Launch AUTO Smart Diagnostic Tool that I did use to find out that there was an active code for Electronic Power Steering Module. Yes it is available for inspection, no it has not been confirmed or inspected by anybody. The safety risks to myself & others is injury or death due to the uncontrollable steering.

I had a total loss of power steering while driving. It started as intermittent. Now there is no power steering at all.

The contact owns a 2013 Ram 1500. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH, the vehicle lost power steering functionality and the steering wheel seized. The message "Service Power Steering" was displayed. The contact pulled to the side of the road. The contact turned off and restarted the vehicle, and the vehicle responded as needed; however, the failure recurred several times while driving. The contact pulled over to the side of the road and the vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed and determined that the rack and pinion had failed and needed to be replaced. The dealer was contacted and informed the contact that parts were not available to repair the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.

Complete loss of power steering around turn. Nearly caused a major incident due to EPS failure.

The contact owns a 2013 Ram 1500. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH, the service power steering warning illuminated, and the power steering function became inoperable. The contact pulled over and stopped the vehicle. The contact turned off and restarted the vehicle and the power steering functionality had returned. The contact stated that the failure reoccurred the same day and the vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic. The vehicle was diagnosed, and the mechanic determined that the rack and pinion gears needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact researched online and related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 16V167000 (Steering). The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.

The contact owns a 2013 Ram 1500. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH, the contact became aware that the power steering was not functioning as designed. The contact stated that the steering wheel became difficult to turn and seized and jerked. There was warning light illuminated. The vehicle was able to restart but the failure recurred. The dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 208,908.

The contact owns a 2013 Ram 1500. The contact stated while driving 45MPH, the steering wheel seized, and the contact depressed the brake pedal because the steering wheel could not be turned. The vehicle was turned off and restarted; however, the steering functionality had not returned. The steering assist fault message was displayed. The contact towed the vehicle to the residence. The vehicle was not taken to an independent mechanic or dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that there was no recall on the VIN for the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 90,000.

While driving home my truck started making an unusual sound like a dry bearing rubbing in a bearing would make, and I found it difficult to keep the steering wheel centered, a little further down the road I made a turn while doing so the steering wheel abruptly cut back the opposite direction of the turn yanking the wheel out of my hands no lights on the dash illuminated nor were there any warning chimes,I was able to make the last mile home by keeping both hands on the wheel firmly. Upon an inspection of the underside of my vehicle I found that the electric power assist system was making the loud sound that I thought was a bearing, I also noted that the front sway bar was broken on the passenger side was broken, I turned the the steering wheel to one side then the other and again the power steering yanked it from my hand, at this time I haven't taken it to a garage or called my insurance company,if I had been in traffic or congested area it would have caused an accident but as it was I was traveling a country road

Tried to start my truck in the morning a nd the power steering system light came on. Steering wheel was hard to turn. Took my truck to the mechanic and he said there was no parts to be found the the computer said it was an internal problem in the EPS rack and pinion unit. Went to the Dealership and they sated that they could not help me cause the part was discontinued . No parts on back order or were even available anymore. There also were no aftermarket parts made for this either leading me to hunt down old parts off of junked Ram trucks. This truck is only 10 years old and I don't know how it slipped through the recall when every other truck of that age is recalled.

As I was driving suddenly the power steering emergency light came on on the dashboard and the steering wheel locked up creating a extremely dangerous condition. This all occurred without warning or any signs of a problem prior. My safety and others safety needless to say was in great danger.I called the dealership to ask if they had any incidents of this kind reported but they would not confirm... however a search on You tube and google verify many others have experienced this issue.

7/11/2024 Moving aprox 3 mph approaching a stop sign with slight right pressure on steering wheel the EPS failed. The steering seemed to “jerk” toward a center position. Service power steering light appeared on panel. I was able to continue home aprox two blocks but noticeable upper body strength required to move steering wheel. This will be a difficult situation for older. strength impaired drivers.

The vehicle experienced a sudden loss of power steering assist while driving back to the house after work doing normal speed for the road leading there which is usually 35-60 mph. The steering wheel became extremely difficult to turn, requiring significant effort to maintain control of the vehicle. This occurred without warning and created a hazardous situation as the vehicle became difficult to maneuver. The power steering system is available for inspection upon request. The problem has been consistently reproduced under varying driving conditions, -e.g. City streets, turning, etc. The vehicle has not been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives, or others. There were no warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms prior to the failure. I could have been seriously injured or injured another as well. I did contact the manufacturer and they stated that they do not make this part any longer laughed at me and said good luck. I felt silly and that was the last thing I needed that day after almost wrecking the vehicle due to this issue.

Power steering faild

My vechile service airbag system light keep coming on when driving. I check my my storage memory on the cluster and there is nothing stored. I took it to auto zone where they hook up the computer and everything check out good. they said check to see if there a recall on it since everything check out and it is a saftely issue.

Power steering stops working at random times and I have very limited control of the vehicle. Service power steering light appears on the dash. This has happen approximately 15 times without any warning. My truck has been at Ram Dealer in Panama City since July 8, 2024. They say I need Rack and Pinion gear part #R8573449AA but they have not been able to find the part.

Electrical power steering went bad out of the sudden, and almost lost control of the vehicle. It was so hard to steer. I had to replace that whole EPS racking and pinion. New part was on back order, so my only option was to get a used part.

Power steering stopped working with no warning as the truck was being driven up a busy Highway at 65 MPH. Lost momentary control of the truck but was able to pull over and turn it off without incident. When it was restarted the engine light came on with an error message popping up. It was on a very busy highway but we were able to limp it home, going miles under the speed limit with emergency flashers on for safety. It is very hard to steer and the brakes do not seem to be working correctly now. After starting it again today to see if its still giving an error, another light is on regarding the ABS system and the power steering is not working at all. The truck is not safe to drive as and the problem has been confirmed by a local dealership and the truck is on a waiting list to see about further diagnostics & repairs. It is available for inspection at any time.

I am a 40 year tech. The electronic steering rack failed while driving with no warning. These steering racks are impossible to replace and are 3000 dollars. Even the used parts yards don't have any. This is rediculous I have a mint condition truck that's unfixable. It's a nation wide issue, everyone knows about

Loss of power steering still continues. Replaced the intermittent lower steering shaft. Still losing power steering occasionally. Turning left or right the wheel will lock up half way through the turn making me drive straight into on coming traffic. Vary scary.

Steering jerked while turning and needed extra strength to maintain control. This problem has happened multiple times in the last 24 hours. Upon looking at the nhtsa website I found an open investigation (RQ 23-003) and I feel like my truck would fall into the action/summary provided. I have been able to maintain control but there is no notice provided (that I have caught onto) and it is intermittent. The service power steering light does come on and very quickly turns off.

Vehicle encountered sudden loss of power steering while driving, nearly resulting in a crash. Vehicle steering tends to lock in a drifting angle, and recovery often requires a turn in the opposite direction of the intended direction to correct.

I have bought this truck used and have had problem after problem but as I replace parts the steering one day just stop working and aggressively the steering wheel yanks hard the opposite direction that I am going then it started working for a day and then it stopped working altogether then it will work and not I have looked all through the web to find some kind of answer to this problem and ask several shops if they have had any thing like it and one told me to go to y’all’s website and check for recalls but I have not found anything on my truck but I displays the same kind of symptoms as the recall for the 2013-2016 Ram trucks also it al stop working when I’m on the highway and going the speed limit of 65 -75 even as low as 10 MPH it feels like someone is trying to yank the wheel from you and you have to fight to get control with

No power steering suddenly. Checked fuses but those seem fine Unknown cause.

Unknown- The fuel tank strap came out of frame due to rust and now the fuel tank is sagging, we’re afraid to drive it anywhere especially with our children. We saw there’s a recall from 2009-2012 for the faulty fuel tank strap and ours is a 2013, we’re curious if ours was in the production line at the time of the faulty strap, is there anyway to find this out?

Power steering failure. Upon starting the vehicle, a 2013 Ram 1500 Bighorn, driver information center showed a power steering failure warning indicator. Turning the vehicle off and back on did not clear the warning. No prior warnings existed to show the imminent failure of the power steering system. Took the vehicle in for service and was advised the part and labor would be around $5,500.00.

Malfunctioned ABS module. ABS , ESP, and trailer brake control not working. When ABS or ESP would be activated an error occurs and truck goes into neutral with neutral light blinking on shifter. ABS did not activate and almost hit a deer. ESP did not activate and almost spun into ditch. Working with dealer currently to confirm.

Electronic Power steering went out while driving the vehicle. Temporarily lost control while driving the vehicle. We took it to a dealer and they confirmed this is the same issue the previously recalled 2015-2016 trucks have and they cannot order the part needed to fix the issue as the part has been discontinued. The system says "national backorder with no ETA" however, the dealership said Dodge has discontinued the part entirely so they do not anticipate the part coming back and becoming available. There were NO prior warnings of any issues before losing control of the power steering. The truck has always had regular maintenance, oil changes etc. Very well maintained truck so this was unexpected. Now we are left with a truck that we cannot buy a part for with NO anticipated release date & Dodge still has not recalled the 2013 so there is nothing we can do. This is extremely dangerous to not recall as it will cause serious harm to future drivers with the same issue.

Electric Power steering failed during turn. Parked on side of road, turned truck off waited about 5 minutes and started truck, power steering was working but went back out after about 1 mile. After getting to work, I tried it again and power steering was working. Checked electrical system, battery and alternator are working correctly.

electronic power steering went out, while driving, like driving a 80’s model. Wheel lock and had to man handle the steering. Hard to tell how much fluid there when the system is sealed

Power steering went out but after restarting the vehicle a couple of time it worked for about an hour then completely stopped working.

While making low speed turns steering wheel rips out of hand and is momentarily uncontrollable, and very hard to handle. This issue has caused me to almost crash numerous times.

I lost power assist steering while pulling out of my doctor's parking lot yesterday. Fortunately I was able to get the pickup into an adjacent lot, but with much difficulty. I tried numerous times to turn truck off and back on but still no steering. I had a warning light flashing. I then disconnected the negative battery terminal and reconnected it. Warning light still flashed for a bit then went out and power steering worked. I called the dealer who I bought it from new in 2012. Red River Ram in Heber Springs, AR. I spoke with Shane, the service manager. He said they would not work on it because it is over 10 years old. I told him I was scared to drive it but he said he could not help. So I very cautiously drove home and parked. When I went to put the truck in to the garage again no power steering. The truck has had regular scheduled maintenance, stored inside, and only 104,000 miles.

All at once I have an ABS , Brake, Traction Control on instrument panel illuminated.Service Trailer Brake diagnostic message. Will not set cruise. 06/03/24. Am not driving for fear of failure and presently cannot afford diagnostic repairs. Just turned 100,000 miles and is not used for daily uses. Cannot believe a failure of this magnitude happened with very low mileage

ABS light would come on when driving periodically on and off. for a few months it felt like brakes were locking up, Steering was very difficult and hard like the steering wheel was locked making it difficult to turn the steering wheel. dashboard components would periodically turn off and restart. when driving it would make a grinding noiselike the brakes were locked, this would occur with the abs light on and off. the major incident when driving on the freeway. the speedometer completely failed, the digital and needle both were not working. the abs light and warning came on, i pulled over because the speedometer was not working at all, but i was able to drive. the abs warning kept beeping. i was able to pull off of the highway into a parking lot, and the truck shut off and locked. unable to restart the truck at all.

Driving and steering wheel stopped functioning i almost wrecked. The electric steering failed suddenly.

The contact owns a 2013 Ram 1500. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed and making a left turn, the vehicle began pulling in the opposite direction. Additionally, while in reverse(R), the steering wheel became extremely firm. The power steering warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 110,000.

ELECTRONIC POWER STEERING FAILED WHILE DRIVIING WITH WARNING. FAILED SYSTEM IS AVAILABLE FOR INSPECTION ON VEHICLE DUE TO LACK OF RECALL FOR SPECIFIC VEHICLE. COMPONENT FAILED WHILE DRIVING SPEED LIMIT ON HIGHWAY CURVE ENDANGERING SELF AND OTHERS. PROBLEM HAS BEEN CONFIRMED HOWEVER RECALLS ARE NOT APPROPRIATED TO VEHICLE IN QUESTION. IT HAS BEEN INSPECTED BY MECHANIC SHOP WHO STATED DEALERSHIP MUST CORRECT. DEALERSHIP CONFIRMED RECALL INFORMATION. THE WARNING WAS NOT PRESENT AT TIME OF INCIDENT. THE WARNING LIGHT ON THE DASH ONLY APPEARED AFTER TURNING THE VEHICLE OFF AND BACK ON, MULTIPLE TIMES ON THE DAY AFTER THE INCIDENT.

*Power Steering locked up and you cannot steer the vehicle. * The steering locked up and almost caused me to hit the guardrail at intersection. * Have replaced Rack and Pinion but still locks up. *No warning or messages and no previous warning.

My electric power steering will not work all the time. If i let the truck run for 30 minutes, shut the truck off then start it again it will start working. Sometimes it wont work at all.

the electric power steering failed and loss power assist and then thankfully in a parking lot it completly locked up, no steering at all, if i was on the highway it would have been a bad crash,

ABS MODULE has gone bad. Only the dealer can replace it. This has been an issue for years with this part. My truck has only 80,000 miles on it. Talked with a fellow the other day and the same thing with his truck with only 40,000 miles.

When turning will jerk the wheel out of your hands and return to straight

Was driving and the power steering stopped working out of nowhere. And an icon popped up on dash of a red steering wheel with exclamation point. Now sometimes it will work but 98% of the time it doesn’t

As I was driving my steering intermittently became stiff, then steered fine until I was able to get home. Next morning to leave for work the steering wheel and exclamation mark were flashing on my dash and no power steering and unable to drive my truck. After work I checked the electronic power steering fuses (good), electrical connectors to the electric rack and pinion (good), disconnected vehicle battery for 45 minutes to attempt to reset ECU and that did not help either. Definitely a major safety issue as I was in the middle of turning while driving and unable to at that moment before it intermittently corrected itself which almost caused me to run into a road sign and another vehicle.

The power steering on my 2013 Ram truck went out - a warning light indicating power steering fault - service power steering. The vehicle was fine when parked in driveway & came out next day and power steering was gone. The vehicle was towed to a dealership and four days later we were told the fix would cost ~$3600 but the part required to fix it was on backorder and they had no idea how long it would take to get the part. Dealership suggested we contact FCA customer service to see if they would/could expedite shipping the part - I'm still waiting to hear back from them. The vehicle only has 44K miles on it - the truck has been sitting at the dealership for 3 weeks; no idea when they will be able to locate the part and when we will get our truck back. 44K miles and it is inoperable.

After parking my truck for the night, the steering locked up. When I went to start it in the morning, the electric power steering did not work. The code it gave was C2217-00

Failure of all steering wheel controls. with random cruise control suddenly activating ...transmission gear control self activation (will drop into lower gear causing driver to fly forward and vehicle behind to take evasive action). radio changes channels by itself. i found info that lead me to believe it was a clock spring issue. was taken to dealer. they diagnosed it as a steering wheel harness that had all the wires pulled out of the plug..800 to repair a 20 dollar wire harness... next drive after repair. buttons all worked again but radio still changing channels..cruise intermittent..gear dropping by itself still..almost rear ended again..back to dealer just to get told they could not do anything for a couple weeks..they are lucky this was not in inter on ice.... original symptoms could not change the display..stuck on tire pressure screen.. no phone control. no radio control. no cruise control , no gear shift control..but things would change on their own.. back at dealer again for further investigation

The steering stopped working completely on my 2013 Ram 1500 as I was trying to back out of my driveway. I had it towed to be repaired and the entire steer gear assembly is no longer functional and needs replaced however the parts are discontinued and no longer available.

The contact owns a 2013 Ram 1500. The contact stated while making a left turn, the steering wheel became extremely firm. The power steering warning light illuminated. The vehicle was steered to the side of the road and restarted; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken to the residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 150,000.

Power steering failure. Everything was working properly when parked. When started the next day, a steering wheel warning light flashed repeatedly and there is no power steering. Vehicle can be steered manually but is incredibly difficult. The vehicle has not been to a shop or the dealer yet.