Ram Trucks Under Federal Investigation After Reports of Rolling Out of Park

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a new investigation into 1,187,232 Ram trucks for a post-recall issue. It's a transmission-related failure, says the Administration's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI), but it's not a full-on recall just yet. Here's what to look out for.

Ram Trucks May Roll Away

The ODI's investigation covers Ram 1500 and heavy-duty (HD in Ram nomenclature) pickups from the 2013 to 2018 model years that were involved in transmission recalls in 2017 and 2018. The investigation will review the efficacy of recall remedies that occurred in 2017 and 2018. The two recalls covered nearly 1.5 million and 180,000 vehicles, respectively.

The issue covered under the recall, and thus, the investigation, affects Ram trucks with a column-mounted shifter. The brake transmission shift interlock (BTSI) system may have stuck open, allowing trucks to be shifted out of Park without a key in the ignition or pressure on the brake. Evidently, the concern was that the trucks could be knocked out of gear inadvertently, leading to an accident, injury, or both. As of July, some did occur. The NHTSA says the ODI received 14 complaints from owners and six death and injury reports - after the recall was performed.

What's Next?

ODI is opening a Recall Query (RQ) to review the effectiveness of the 17V-821 and 18V-100
recalls remedies, which aimed to fix the shifter issue. It also looks to understand the root cause of additional vehicle rollaway incidents and identify any other possible root cause that may affect the performance of the BTSI system. That'll take time, and likely a close look at the initial remedy.

Back in 2017 and 2018, Ram addressed the recall by updating vehicle software. It also examined and replaced the BTSI system hardware as necessary, though it seems this wasn't enough to resolve the issue. As of today, the ODI's investigation is still ongoing, leaving millions of trucks subject to a future recall for a second time.