2015 Ram 1500
This year drew an ordinary 1,430 complaints for a Ram 1500 — the model's median is 665. What they were about is the unusual part: 7.8% of them mention emissions, against 1% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Ram 1500, which began in 2009 and ran to 2018. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 1,430 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 665 |
| Involving a crash | 79 |
| Involving a fire | 58 |
| Recalls | 18 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 19.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- emissions — 7.8% of this year's complaints, against 1% across the other years of this generation (7.5×). Owners wrote it as: emissions, lag, performance.
- ecodiesel — 6.9% of this year's complaints, against 1.3% across the other years of this generation (5.4×). Owners wrote it as: ecodiesel, settlement, ram ecodiesel, 1500 ecodiesel.
- throttle — 6.7% of this year's complaints, against 1.7% across the other years of this generation (3.9×).
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
I RECENTLY HAD THE APPROVED EMISSIONS MODIFICATION PERFORMED ON MY 2015 RAM 1500 ECODIESEL. SINCE THE MODIFICATION, THE TRUCK HAS A TERRIBLE LAG WHEN I TAKE OFF, SOMETIMES UP TO 5 SECONDS. THIS HAPPENS WHEN I PUT MY FOOT ON ACCELERATOR AND TRY TO GO. THIS LAG…
AFTER CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT OF ECODIESEL AND AFTER AEM INSTALLED (MODIFICATION OF ECM AND TCM FOR EMISSIONS) THERE IS A SUBSTANTIAL LAG (TURBO, TRANSMISSION) THAT RESULTS IN THE VEHICLE NOT ACCELERATING- LIKE YOUR DEAD IN THE WATER. WHEN PULLING INTO A BUSY…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20V475000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 19V347000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 18V486000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 18V332000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 21V632000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V757000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 17V821000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 17V824000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 18. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Ram 1500 was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2015 Ram 1500? What happened to yours?
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