Complaint volume
644 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
Complaint records
2021 Ram 1500 Complaints
644 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2021 Ram 1500, grouped by component category.
644 Total complaints
26 Crash reports
4 Fire reports
17 Injury reports
Complaint data reflects consumer-submitted reports. A complaint is not proof
of a defect, recall, or manufacturer fault. Enriched severity fields come
from official bulk records when the complaint can be matched by ODI number.
Buyer interpretation
How to use these complaints before buying
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
Pattern to inspect
The most common categories are engine, unknown or other, electrical system. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 26 crash reports, 4 fire reports, 17 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 104 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 36,644 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to engine, unknown or other, electrical system?
- Can I see recent maintenance and repair records?
- Has the vehicle ever been towed, involved in a crash, or repaired for the same issue twice?
- Can we also check the recall record for this 2021 Ram 1500?
Used-car checklist
Use these complaints before the test drive.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
2021 Ram 1500
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2021 Ram 1500 complaints?
26 Crash
4 Fire
17 Injury
0 Fatality
36 Towed
14 Medical attention
What are the most common 2021 Ram 1500 complaint categories?
ENGINE 80
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 47
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 44
POWER TRAIN 41
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 36
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 29
STEERING 24
FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE,ENGINE 22
AIR BAGS 17
STRUCTURE 15
644 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Automatic emergency braking has failed to operate on several occasions, the warning flashes 'brake' but the truck never applies any brakes. If I was not able to slam on brakes myself and dive into another lane safely I would have crashed. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | We came to a stop sign. Went to press the gas to proceed into the road with on coming traffic. The truck started to accelerate and then the engine cut off. The emergency braking system was engaged and the dash light reflected that. After a few seconds we were able to restart the truck. Luckily just before we were hit by other vehicles since we were left in the middle of a busy road with morning traffic in both directions. I do not feel safe driving this truck. I quickly googled the issue and found many other threads of complaints with the same issue. Please do the research on this before people are killed! | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | ENGINE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Making a right turn under 20mph and the truck shut off on me . Got the "Shift to P to Start" message, followed by "Shifter Autocorrect Active", then after restarting got the message "Park Brake Auto Engaged Press Brake + Push Switch to Release" and "Safe-Hold Temporarily Disabled" and "AutoPark Disabled". | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | I almost died, when my truck stalled as I was entering a major thoroughfare. This primarily has to do with the auto start/stop option on my Ram, which if you do not come to a complete stop, and attempt to accelerate with this feature on, the vehicle stalls. This has happened to me several times, and if you go on the online forums it is happening to many other Ram drivers, it is a serious safety issue, as you have no control over the stall due to the computer. Basically, when I am coming to a stop and then accelerate with the vehicle at a slow crawl, 2-3 MHP, the truck stalls. Imagine rolling through a yield sign and your vehicle stalling, with oncoming traffic headed your way, serious safety issue. Extremely lucky to not have been involved in a crash with oncoming traffic headed my way going 55 MPH, I was able to stay in the yield lane. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE | Vehicle simply turned off while driving at slow speed. Once I pulled over and place it in park and started it back like nothing happened. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | POWER TRAIN,ENGINE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While traveling over a speed bump at approximately 5 mph, truck will stall, "autocorrect shift" and apply emergency brake. Vehicle is a 2021 eTorque. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE | Once again this truck is still having the same issues! I was on the local freeway going 60 and all of a sudden the truck brakes and shuts off while in in the express lane! [XXX]! How was our safety at risk? Really? I don't understand how these trucks haven't been recalled yet RAM recalled and bought back 2022 Rams due to defrosting issues. Apparently trucks breaking and stopping out of nowhere isn't a big deal but lets not make folks wipe their windows...So many of these Ram 1500 have the same issues and what?! STELLANTIS DOES NOT CARE! No warning lights came on yet again but just decides to brake and shut off. This isn't the first incident! Again I was fortunate to no get hit! But my nerves, mental/emotional status, and scares are enough injuries! Please see ram forms, social media, etc there are so many others with these issues that haven't reported to NHTSA! INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6). | Crash: No Fire: No Injuries: 1 Medical attention | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | I was driving down the road at 55 when the truck had a throttle error would not respond and shut down. I started it back up same errors would not go over 30 mph almost causing an accident causing someone to hit me from behind. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | While driving my truck at approximately 70MPH on the highway, the truck shut down. I was able to pull off the side of the road and dashboard showed the message of Electronic Throttle Control and the engine light turned on. This is the third report I have filed regarding this truck shutting down while driving and the 7th time this truck has randomly shut down on me since purchasing in July 2021. This has been on the dealership 2 separate times and is going in tomorrow for a third time for this issue, I no longer feel safe driving this truck and feel this incident should be address as soon as possible, | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | As I’m preparing to turn on the road the vehicle turns off and leaves me stranded in the middle of the roadway. The parking brake comes on and messages appear on the dash. This has happened multiple times with and without passengers in the vehicle. I’ve reported it to Lithia Ram Jeep in Calallen and was brushed off. I’ve taken pictures of the dash on a few occasions when it occurred. I am the first owner and it happened with less than 3-5 k miles. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | STRUCTURE | I purchased the new vehicle in May 2021. As a single individual, normally I am alone in the vehicle. While on a trip to Florida my niece was sitting in the rear-passenger seat with the window partially open and sustained a very slight cut on her forearm from the window. After inspection, there is a visible deformation of the glass. Back in Chicago I waiting until my first oil change was due and reported the glass defect to the dealer service department. The service manager decided that the glass was not defective but possibly damaged by transport from the factory. They refused to address the issue. I contacted Ram customer service and was told to keep visiting other dealers until I find one willing to address the issue. Auto door window glass is Tempered and if damaged during transport, would have shattered. Also as evident in the attached photos, there is no damage to the outside of the glass where transport damage would have occurred, plus the area where the defect is visible would have been enclosed within the door frame during transport. My concern is the possibility of another individual cutting themselves on the deformed glass. I am even more concerned that the structural integrity of the glass might be compromised by the defect and the glass shattering in a passenger's face without warning. | Crash: No Fire: No Injuries: 1 | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,BACK OVER PREVENTION | Truck showed "Service Electronic Throttle"... Truck has 13,000 miles on it. Along with the service code, rear view camera doesn't work, backup sensors don't work, and remote start will not operate. No apparent throttle issues, but concerned for safety with rear view camera and backup sensors not operating. It would be nice to have the remote start as its winter, but only an inconvenience for that matter. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | STEERING | Power steering intermittently fails. Loss of power steering while driving and service power steering warning message and beeps turn on during failure then shuts off when power steering restored. Loss of power steering nearly caused an accident. Symptoms started two weeks ago and increasing in frequency and severity. I am bringing truck back to dealer for investigation. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE | Vehicle has shut off on me a total of 7 time on me while driving since I purchased on Jan 2 2021. The first time this happened was about 2 weeks after I bought the truck. Each time has been about the same conditions. While driving at low speeds “around 5 mph” my truck automatically shut itself off. At this point it automatically engages the emergency brake. I then have to put shifter back in park, put my foot back on the brake to restart my truck then turn off the emergency brake. At this point I am able to shift back to drive and go. Two of the times this happened I was in a high traffic area where I almost got rear-ended. My vehicle does not throw out any codes and the dealership has not been able to duplicate. First time I took it to the dealer they had it for about 2 or 3 days. The second time they had it for 3 1/2 weeks. The 3rd time I took it in to a different dealer and they said they came across a bulletin somewhere that said the needed to change out the MGU, which they replaced yesterday. Hopefully this fixes the issue. A vehicle shutting down randomly is very dangerous. I have been reading a lot of forums and this seems to be a common problem that needs to get fixed or recalled somehow. The date and mileage on the next section are from the last time this happened. But like I said earlier this has been happening since early January 2021. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,LANE DEPARTURE,BACK OVER PREVENTION | Close call backing up Ram needs to fix this Y80 recall | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | I bought a new truck from a dealership with an open recall on it. I didn’t think anything of it, since they assured me they would fix it once they could. About a month after I purchased it, the dealer called me and told me they were not legally supposed to sell me the truck in the first place and that I had to bring my truck back to their lot indefinitely and leave it their until they could fix the recall, that currently has no remedy to it. I told them I was uncomfortable with this, and I didn’t think it seemed right. They told me they would call me back the next day, but it had now been a week later, and I have not heard anything from them since then. I’m not sure if this is the appropriate way to handle this, but I have been unable to get anymore information from the dealership, and the whole ordeal seemed very odd to say the least. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | I was driving on the highway when all of sudden my truck shut down, I coasted to the emergency lane and was unable to restart my truck, I waiting about 10 minutes, restarted my truck and had to keep pumping the throttle to keep it running to get to my destination. I was able to have an OBD reader connected to my truck at a dealership and there were 3 codes stored all relating to fuel. This happened to me in twice in November of 2021 and again twice on January 7th of this year. I also received another code at the dealership on January 8th regarding another recall. These combined total of 4 shut downs have put me and my family in extreme danger, this brand new truck is unreliable and we are hesitant to drive it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When starting to accelerate after turning at low speed, my 2021 RAM 1500 with the E-Torque engine will shut-off and the emergency brake will engage. A message will appear that says “Park brake engaged, press brake and push to release.” Truck has 5150 miles on it. This has occurred two different times while entering highway traffic. Very alarming as I’m sure you can imagine. The first time it happened I was on a lightly traveled road and was alone. Then today (1/9/22), It happened again, but this time on a much busier highway and my family was with me and we were almost rear ended. Not a fun experience and potentially deadly. After researching online, particularly on RAM owner’s website and forums I have found this to be a common complaint among RAM owners. They take vehicle to dealers and the dealers can’t replicate the incident and so they tell customers they can’t help them if it doesn’t happen when technicians drive the truck, yet they send customers away with a potentially deadly vehicle. I am getting an appointment with local dealer tomorrow but I expect the same answer. I sincerely urge the NHTSA to address this dangerous situation with Chrysler-RAM before serious injury or death occurs in these vehicles. Hopefully NHTSA can get RAM to acknowledge this situation and get something done before injuries or deaths occur. Maybe they will address this with a federal agency. They certainly haven’t with their customers. Thank you for your advocacy for the safety of the American people. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | While driving to the highway out of my neighborhood my truck lost all power, I was able to pull over to the side, read the message, “electronic throttle control”, wait a few minutes and restart my truck and continue on my way, I had lost complete acceleration and my truck shut down, I had no throttle power, again later that night returning home my truck again shut down and showed the message “electronic throttle control”, again I was able to pull off the side of the highway, wait and attempt to restart which I was able to do after about 10 minutes, again I lost complete acceleration again I had no throttle power but was able to put on my emergency flashers and coast to the side of the road, this is the 4th time this has happened to us and the second time our new truck has been in the shop for this and other issues, our local dealership does not understand the severity and life threatening issues associated with this, we could have lost our lives has we not recognized the loss of power and safely coasted to the emergency lane. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | ENGINE | My 2021 Dodge RAM 1500 eTorque just stalls while driving. It's happened twice in the last 2 weeks. Both times were making a left hand turn going approximately 10-15 miles an hour. The engine just stalls. No power steering and limited brakes. While rolling to a stop, the e-brake comes on automatically causing a violent stop. This is a known issue. It's been in the shop for 2 days now and they can't reproduce it and are giving the truck back today. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | My Ram truck with a Ecodiesel engine completely died and stalled. It would not restart. Luckily I was not on the interstate or highway. I was only in a parking lot, but had to have it pushed out of the driving lane and into a safe area. The truck is only 6 months old. After having the truck towed to the dealer, they notified me several days later that the fuel pump had gone out and likely damaged the entire diesel fuel system. This is one of the Bosch CP4 fuel/injector pumps that are currently on recall on HD Rams and under investigation by the NHTSA. There were no warning indicators or symptoms beforehand, it simply stalled and would not restart. The vehicle is available for inspection, but has not been inspected by the manufacturer, only the dealer at this point. The vehicle has been in the dealer repair shop for nearly a month now. Some of the parts needed for repair are on back order and the dealer cannot tell me how long it will take to get them in. The only good news at this point is that the dealer has said that it is under warranty. One key concern I have is that they are going to put the same Bosch CP4 pump back on. Considering, that by all the facts I can gather at this point, that CP4 pump is either defective or the wrong pump to use with U.S. diesel fuel, I don't feel good about the dealer putting the same pump back on the truck. Was hoping this could help with your agency's investigation, including looking at the 1/2 ton diesel Ram trucks that use the same pump as the Heavy Duty Ram trucks. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING,STRUCTURE | The contact owns a 2021 Ram 1500. The contact stated that upon taking the vehicle to the car wash, he noticed that the headliner had turned blue. The contact stated that the inside of the rear end of the vehicle was corroded. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed that water was leaking through the rear taillight on top of the cab into the headliner and rear end of the vehicle. The dealer installed silicon in the gap between the rear subframe and the rear taillight; however, the failure had been recurring. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but provided no assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately was 3,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 3,000 |
| Jan 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 2021 Ram 1500 Laramie crew cab with the Hemi etorque has 10k miles. Today traveling at approximately 35 mph I slowed to yield at a round about but did not reach a complete stop, as I went to go my truck went forward into a very busy round about and the engine shut off completely. I stalled, rolling into a 2 lane roundabout on a busy road, fearful for my life. Center screen stated to place vehicle in park before starting. I placed my flashers on and mid panic attack managed to think enough to restart the engine. I placed the shifter dial into Park and restarted without any issue. The emergency brake had become engaged at this time. I was able to release that and safely exit the roundabout. I did cause a backup and was left in a potentially lethal situation. Very very scary. No issues after this. Had my husband check truck when I got home, no error codes detected. I do not know if it is related but I do on occasion feel like there is issue with the auto start/stop feature “sticking or hiccuping” when I do not come to a complete stop (our area had many round abouts) | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE | When attempting to make a turn on a back street after a partial rolling stop the vehicle stalled out. The engine cut off and I was fortunate enough to be able to coast to the side of the ride without harming anyone else. The vehicle automatically applied hazard lights, engaged the parking brake once I came to a complete stop, and signaled for me to "push to start" the vehicle again. Prior to that occurring no warning signs were given that the vehicle was having any issues. I was able to restart the truck but this is the 2nd time something like this has occurred since owning this brand new vehicle. This created a potentially hazardous situation as the people behind me had no warning and if I were to cut out into a busy street I would have been hit. I'm fearful of this happening in a busy area while with my family. The dealership/manufacturer has not looked at this vehicle since the incident. I am scheduled to bring it in next weekend. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | ENGINE | While driving the MIL chimed , check engine light is active along with low battery gauge illumination and low battery warning light , in park vehicle idling is erratic in drive or reverse idle is erratic also with spurts of motion, no active or stored codes are present but MIL is active | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |