2004 Dodge Ram 2500 Steering Problems

Which parts fail

• Gear box (other than rack and pinion)
  4
• Linkages › Tie rod assembly
  3
• Column
  1

Components named in complaints (power steering, steering column, rack and pinion).

Mileage when the problem started

• Under 25k
  66%
• 25k–50k
  1112%
• 50k–75k
  1718%
• 75k–100k
  1920%
• 100k–150k
  2728%
• 150k+
  1516%

Owner reports

Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2004 Dodge Ram 2500 owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).

My vehicle had wat is known as the 3rd gen steering assembly. Which is known and reported by multiple consumers to cause wat everyone calls a death wobble " Death wobble happens in Jeeps, 4x4s, and trucks when rapidly rotating steering wheel components cause your steering wheel to move rapidly from side to side. This causes your vehicle to feel like it's about to fall apart and you want to hold onto the steering wheel for dear life." Which cause me to nearly crash multiple times and the only way to get it to stop is to slow to speeds below 30. So I did research on how to correct this problem I found the only true fix would be to redo the whole assembly with the 4th gen assembly. Now that my issue is fixed I'm now worried about other drivers of the same vehicles safety. And wonder why no recall was made even though the dealer know of the issue thus coming up with the 4th gen assembly.

The contact owns a 2004 Dodge Ram. The contact was informed that the vehicle had four notifications of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 13V528000 (STEERING), 16V352000 (AIR BAGS), 15V313000 (AIR BAGS) and 09E001000 (STEERING). However, the parts to do the recall repairs for both air bags are not available. Two local dealers were contacted and confirmed that the recall parts were on back order and it was unknown how long it would take for them to be delivered. The recall part for the passenger side was the part that is on national back order. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure.

dodge death wobble. this death wobble started prior to my 100000mile warranty expired, but by the time i drove the truck home, it was over the milage. After a lot of bs and a fee, Dodge "fixed" my problem. ( for a while) They have refused to re-repair their bad design since. .I've spent many hours and money temporarily repairing their front end design. If i hit a bump in the road while exceeding 55 mph the truck violently shakes and i cannot control the direction. I went off the freeway in Salt Lake this last weekend after putting new tie rods (again) on the front end. You know what this is ! Dodge has never remedied this situation. !

When driving over some overpasses on highways the "bump" causes the whole front end to shake and makes steering very hard to maintain. I have heard this called "the Dodge death wobble" and has been reported by many other Dodge Ram owners. I have had all of the ball joints and tie rod replaced. This is a highly disturbing occurrence when traveling at a speed of 65-70 mpr on a highway. This has happened to me more than once and is a very scary feeling, thinking my front tires are coming off. Is there a recall to correct this?

The contact owns a 2004 Dodge Ram 2500. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 13V528000 (Steering) and 16V352000 (Air Bags) however, the parts to do the recall repairs were unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repairs. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

In July 2014, traveling along a 2 lane highway, we hit a bump in the road and the truck started to violently shake to the point where we had to come to a complete stop on the road. Scared the entire family as we got out to see if we had a tire failure. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Continued on the vacation and had it occur 3-5 more times while in the truck. While on vacation, had the steering damper(stabilizer) and rotated the tires but that did not fix the problem. Upon return home, took it to a non-Chrysler service center as the local Dodge dealer was 3 weeks out on getting the truck in. They replaced both upper and lower tie rods joints, wheel bearings and aligned the vehicle. $2000 approximate cost plus the steering stabilizer and no fix. Took the truck on another extended trip on 4/3 and had it occur again. …

My truck is only used for towing a fifth wheel, thus the low mileage. On a trip, the truck stalled with no warning on the freeway, lost power, power brakes and power steering in the 2nd from right lane. I was barely able to pull it over and stop, in an unsafe area. 4 hrs later a tow for truck and 5th wheel was arranged. The tacoma Dodge dealer replaced the lift fuel pump with an in tank lift fuel pump. Apparently the block mounted pump "always fails around 70K miles", which is what my truck has logged. The heat kills the pump. I paid $2106.47 for the repair. The new pump failed in less than 6 months or 2K miles. The everett dwayne lane dealer has the truck now for two weeks, and cannot get the warranted pump replaced for another 2 weeks due to back order from mopar. …

Otherwise known as the "Dodge death wobble". The approximate incident date is the last time it occurred because I can't remember when the first time was. I attempted to have this issue resolved/ repaired by Chrysler multiple times just to get the runaround every time. This last time 02/16/2015, they had me driving 30 minutes to their shop, in treacherous driving conditions caused by 5 inches of sleet and snow received the night before. Then they ended up wasting over 3 hours of my time/day by not doing any work at all to my truck the whole time it sat in their shop and tried to make me pay in excess of $575 for any work they was going to do. I had already rebuilt the entire front end in mid 2013 and in 2014 I dumped $10000 into rebuilding the engine because it blew 4 of the 6 compression rings for some reason, I can't afford to rebuild the whole front end.......again. …

I was driving down I-15 at approximately 70mph and hit a small bump in the road. The front end started bouncing uncontrollably. Had to completely stop in traffic, which almost resulted in a big accident. This is not the first time this has happened. I was in traffic on Monday this week as well and the same thing happened twice at slower speeds and on both of these occasions was almost hit by an 18 wheeler. I am a female and trying to hold on to the steering wheel while it jerked violently back and forth was almost not doable. When is Dodge going to be held responsible for making a safe truck for us to drive? My mechanic told me that just about all of these trucks have this same issue and they won't fix it unless it cracks. This is not safe for drivers anywhere. Is it going to take a serious accident or death to get something done about this problem?

Traveling in a residential road at 30 MPH and hit a small bump in the road which caused uncontrollable violent feedback from steering wheel and forced my vehicle into the median. I purchased new shocks and dual steering stabilizer to possibly remedy the problem to no avail. I dropped vehicle at galeana Dodge of ft myers florida after viewing multiple recalls pertinent to my situation. They called and said that the recall only includes an inspection. Even after my explanation of not being able to drive over 30 MPH because of regularly occurring "death wobble" I was told that there is nothing they can do regarding the multiple recalls. I feel that the vehicle is unsafe to drive and the manufacturer, through galeana Dodge, should replace all the fault prone steering components. The Dodge Ram 2500 is currently at the dealer awaiting my pickup.

Related recalls

NHTSA investigations

Steering complaints in other Ram 2500 years