Complaint volume
657 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
657 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2021 Ram 1500, grouped by component category.
657 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 105 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 37,057 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 83
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 47
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 44
POWER TRAIN 43
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 36
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 30
STEERING 24
FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE,ENGINE 22
AIR BAGS 18
STRUCTURE 15
657 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | On two separate occasions while slowing to make a turn or to come to a stop, the truck will shut off the engine, once it slows to below 5mph it will force itself into park and apply the emergency brake while still rolling. This is very unsafe when in traffic, and could cause a wreck. It has been at the dealership for two weeks and there is still no solution, and they have not been able to reproduce it yet. Both times there was no warning it was going to happen. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE | While traveling 15 mph across railroad tracks, the throttle stopped responding to the gas pedal and stopped accelerating. The vehicle made it three feet past outer track and began to roll backward, I applied emergency brake and put gear in park but dial would not move. I attempted restart 3 times without success; 4th time worked and was able to move forward to safe position. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Today 11/19 around 12:50pm Pacific Time I was picking up my kids from school and as I was going about 20mph and my truck braked out of nowhere then shut off. Nothing was with 50ft in front and luckily no one was behind me. This isn't the first time this has happened the first time was on the freeway as I was going 75mph and fortunate no on hit me then. This is a safety issues for owners and other drivers. Unfortunately my truck still has the issue of staying on at times which again is a safety issue and fire hazard. We have video on our security cameras that caught the dashboard blinking and no it's not any security light. My truck has been to the dealer twice already for these issues for about a month. The dealer couldn't figure out what was wrong they don't even know. A little over month ago Ram Customer care case manager (2nd one I've dealt with) called and she asked me if the dealer called me and I told her no one has called me but I have the same issues and some. She said she'd call the dealer for an appointment and after that nothing till last Wednesday 11/10 around 6pm Pacific Time I got a call from another case manager I missed that call as I was outside trying to get the truck to turn off and since then I have been returning her calls and nothing. I guess we'll just have to wait for something serious to happen before these issues become important to [XXX]. This truck is our family vehicle so why aren't these SAFETY ISSUES taken more SERIOUS? No warning lights came on dashboards before braking out of nowhere. Guess we'll just have to see what happens...We LOVE our RAM but [XXX] the issues it has. Can't upload videos on here they should change that. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6). | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | ENGINE | Driving around 25 MPH and slowed to make a left turn into a parking lot. At about 10 MPH the engine shut off. As I came to a stop the parking brake was automatically engaged. I had to put the truck in park, restart the engine and remove the parking brake to drive off. Thank god I wasn't stuck in the middle of the road. As I do my research this same issue has been reported by many etourque ram owners. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | ENGINE | This following has now happened twice, first time 9/7/21- second time 11/12/21. While slowing from approximately 35-40 MPH to make a right hand turn the vehicle shuts off - auto braking engages - must restart the vehicle. As stated, this has now happened twice (truck has 10K miles) - vehicle shutting off in traffic and applying auto braking is highly dangerous and placing myself and my passengers at risk. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | ENGINE | Coming up to a T junction where I had to stop and turn left, slowed to about 2 mph and accelerated into a left hand turn when truck's engine died, truck stopped and the parking brake was engaged automatically. The transmission didn't turn to neutral so minimal rolling just stopped in middle of road. Cars around me had to brake to avoid hitting mine. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | ENGINE | Engine has stalled multiple times while making turns, left or right. Was able to restart every time. Dealer cannot replicate and has not repaired. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | ENGINE | Driving 8-10mph in traffic when truck engine died. Truck stopped and engaged emergency parking brake. Was able to restart truck and go on my way. 2600miles on odometer, I have read many other owners experiencing exact same issue with eTorque. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | At approximately 9,000 miles I was turning left from a residential area traveling at 15-25 mph. During the turn, and without warning, the vehicle stalled. The vehicle shifted to park, the electronic parking brake engaged and the engine shut off. There were no warning lights before the incident and the incident has not occurred since. I pressed the start button and the engine fired and was operational. Of concern is that the vehicle stalled while I was being followed by another car. Fortunately, the other driver realized something was wrong and was able to stop before striking the rear of the truck. A certified dealership found no current or history codes when it scanned, and could not duplicate the issue. No repairs were done. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | Engine died while driving. There could have been a collision if the oncoming vehicle would have failed to stop in time. The problem has not been reproduced. Dealership could not find a code. There is an appointment scheduled 11/16/21 for the Dealership to inspect the vehicle again. This is the third time that this has occurred. 1st time was as soon as I pulled off the dealership lot with 34 miles on the vehicle. The 2nd time was at 300 miles on the vehicle and the 3rd time, the vehicle has 1022 miles. All these incidents has occurred in 3 weeks. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE | My new truck has less than 500 miles on it, and it was just purchased new last month. This incident has happened to me twice so far on the mornings of 10/31/2021 and 11/7/2021. Making a slow left hand turn, the vehicle turned off and and stopped in the middle of the intersection. The vehicle emergency brake also automatically was set when it stalled. The message on the dash said something like to restart, put foot on brake and push start button. This incident was very dangerous and could have resulted in an accident. I am lucky I was not hit in the intersection. In both cases, this occurred about a mile from my home and my initial trip of the day. Temperature outside was normal about 60 degrees. I have scheduled an appointment with the dealer for 11/9/2021 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,BACK OVER PREVENTION | On several occasions since purchase of a new 2021 RAM 1500 the backup camera has failed to work when in reverse. A black screen is displayed. Repeated efforts to turn the backup camera on by putting the vehicle in reverse or selecting the backup camera from the control panel resulted in a black screen. Repeated efforts to turn the vehicle off and on several times consecutively had the same result. I also tried opening and closing the tail gate with no positive result. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | POWER TRAIN,ENGINE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving about 5mph approaching an intersection my ram shut off without warning, said “apply brake to start vehicle” and as I rolled through the intersection with zero control at about 2mph it set its parking brake by itself. I had to move my shifter to park, apply the brake, restart the truck, and turn off the parking brake IN THE MIDDLE OF AN INTERSECTION. Thank God it was a small subdivision intersection at night so there was no traffic or myself or someone else could have been hurt or killed. No dash warning lights, no remaining lights, no codes thrown, no issue after restarting, no reproducible codes found by the dealer. Only 1,000 miles on the truck. I’m terrified of this happening again, but haven’t been able to replicate it myself or the dealer. It’s not safe and I don’t want to die as a result of this. It seems to be a major problem with the e-torque trucks based on forums. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | POWER TRAIN,ENGINE | The contact owns a 2021 Ram 1500. The contact stated while driving approximately 5 MPH, the engine suddenly shut off and the message "Put in Park" was displayed on the dashboard. The vehicle continued to roll away before automatically switching to the park position causing the vehicle to abruptly stop. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The manufacturer and local dealer were not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 6,113. | Crash: No Fire: No | 6,113 |
| Nov 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | While making a left hand turn at approximately 5-9mph, my engine turned off. I braked the vehicle to a stop and the Emergency break then automatically haulted the vehicle to a stop. Once stoped the dash read “press brake and push button to start”. The dash then read “park brake auto engaged press brake +push switch to release”. I then pressed brake and pushed switch to turn off E-brake. The screen then read “Safe-hold temporarily disabled” I then turned the truck on and the dash read “auto park disabled”. To sum up, the truck is auto parking while I am driving down the road. This occurred today (11-03-2021) at 9:50AM. Two times within 1 week this has happened. Beginning to occur more and more frequently. Has happened several times in the past and the dealership told me there’s nothing they can do because they can’t duplicate the issue. Ram will charge me for any further service appointments regarding the issue. Major safety concern. Video footage of incident available if requested. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 04-19-21, 05-18-21, 07-05-21, 09-19-21, 10-06-21, 10-30-21. Engine shuts off while making a right hand turn at approximately 10-15 mph. Emergency flashers automatically turn on, "Shift to P to start" appears on dash. I then brake to come to a complete stop. The truck then converts its-self from "Drive" to "Park" and engages the emergency brake. "Press brake and push button to start appears on dash". I press brake and push button to start vehicle. Vehicle then turns on and I disengage Emergency break. I then put truck in drive and turn off flashers. Dash then says "Autopark disabled" and I continue on. This has happened on all of the above dates. I was nearly rear ended when it occurred on 09-19-2021. I have video footage of two of the occurrences. Took truck to dealership on the following dates regarding issue: 04-29-21(3,232 mi.), 05-27-21 (4,227 mi.) , 06-11-20, 07-08-2021(6,295 mi). Chrysler service department said the issue must have been a "glitch" and could never duplicate the problem. Got a letter in the mail from Ram in July stating that I would have to begin paying for the inspections regarding the issue since receiving the letter. Have not taken it to the dealership since then. *** Other Issues *** -Can’t use park assist because brakes randomly lock up when backing out of my driveway or parking spots angled at a slope. -Truck quit honking when pressing lock button on 10-16-2021 – took to Dealership on 10-23-2021 issue resolved -Truck failed to shift on interstate- quit accelerating and revved up to 6,000 RPMS – 10-29-2021 -Truck would not accelerate at stop light 11-02-2021 and then tires spun out when it finally did accelerate. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER,BACK OVER PREVENTION | I am a courier and use my truck to deliver lots of material that I pick up at loading docks. The back up camera shows all shadows as simply black areas, and any details in shadow are absent. If my load obscures my rear view mirror I am backing up blind until the camera is itself in shadow. This is incredibly dangerous, especially if backing up around children. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | The incident is related to the truck’s engine and possibly hybrid electrical system. When pulling away from a light, the truck reached about 10 MPH and then stalled out. The electronics remained on but the engine would not start. This had happened once previously and the engine did start up after going through a key cycle. I was left stranded in the middle of a busy intersection, endangering myself and others on the road. Luckily some firefighters were close by to stop traffic and help me get the truck to a safe location. I had the truck towed to RAM on 10/22. I still have not heard back with their suspected issue and repair plan. The truck is at Arrigo Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram in West Palm Beach FL. I also found TSB-08-014-21 that seems related to my issue. I’ve passed this information off to the dealer as well. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2021 | POWER TRAIN,ENGINE | 2021 5.7L HEMI e-Torque with 5000mi. While traveling at approximately 25mph I slowed down to stop at a stop sign and the truck start shifting down as it should. At around 5/7mph the rpms drop below 500, no feedback when applying the gas pedal and the engine stops or sometimes is able to recover. When it stops, the truck shifts to P and applies the Parking brake. I’m able to start the engine back up every time this happens but there’s something wrong for sure. I’m able to replicate this issue every time the engine is cold or haven’t been running for a long period of time Took the truck to the dealer. They couldn’t find any codes or replicate the issue. Took it back to the dealer 2 days later after it stalled again. This time they were able to find 1 code. P1C64-00 - Hybrid perf. Engine speed below target during autostart. They called me saying they are replacing the eTorque system and got the truck back. After the repair the truck started acting weird again and stalled while towing my boat. I can provide videos if needed. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2021 | POWER TRAIN | I slowed down to take a right turn into a drive through when the engine shut off out of nowhere. I had to stop to try to start again. When I slowed down, the truck put itself into park and applied the parking brake, coming to a sudden stop. I restarted the engine and put the truck back into drive with no problems. This incident can pose a severe safety risk if, for example, I would take a left turn and the engine shuts off with oncoming traffic approaching. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2021 | POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | Was backing out of a parking spot truck shut off when restarted it was limited power and check engine light. 1920 miles. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2021 | SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE | engine stalls coming up to stop sign, no warning light, truck will not start until it comes to a comple stops, no power brakes, truck computer apples parking brake and you have to put in park and release brake before you can restart. This happen in the middle of a intersection with traffic on both sides of vehicle. no warning light. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2021 | STRUCTURE | The contact owns a 2021 Ram 1500. The contact stated while entering the vehicle, he noticed water leaking into the interior of the rear lamp coming from the top of the vehicle. The local dealer was contacted and informed the contact that the vehicle could be repaired using silicone to fix the failure. The contact was concerned that the repair would not fix the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 3,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 3,000 |
| Oct 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | While driving and making a right turn low speed 10 mph to 20 mph .. the car completely shuts off on me .. happened 2x within 2000 miles of each other . No engine codes or anything . I pull over to the side and put in park and car turns back on. Major safety issue if it happens during high traffic. Others are reporting the same issue with this vehicle and dealer cannot replicate the issue and give the car back and it happens again. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | Twice in one week the Truck has stalled in the middle of the road at very low speed. Maybe it a issue with the etorque. This can be very dangerous and may cause an accident. I have read about the same problem/same issue with this 2021 Ram 1500. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |