Dashboard is severely cracked and in pieces and passenger airbag housing is coming detached because of the cracked dashboard. Spoke with Dodge and filed a complaint regarding this issue. Dodge asked what should we do. Told them to replace the dash with no cost to the customer. Their reply was that the vehicle is more than 10 years old. I told Dodge that the vehicle is in "mint condition" besides the dash, I have owned older vehicles from different manufactures and never had a dashboard crack and fall into pieces. This dash on this vehicle is "poor" and not quality workmanship and should be replaced with no out of pocket costs to the customer. The rep stated that someone should be contacting me regarding this issue. I will wait and see. But not going to hold my breath on this one. I have seen a lot of complaints regarding this over the internet. This is a known issue and actions needs to be taken.

Dashboard is severely cracked and in pieces and passenger airbag housing is coming detached because of the cracked dashboard. Spoke with Dodge and filed a complaint regarding this issue. Dodge asked what should we do. Told them to replace the dash with no cost to the customer. Their reply was that the vehicle is more than 10 years old. I told Dodge that the vehicle is in "mint condition" besides the dash, I have owned older vehicles from different manufactures and never had a dashboard crack and fall into pieces. This dash on this vehicle is "poor" and not quality workmanship and should be replaced with no out of pocket costs to the customer. The rep stated that someone should be contacting me regarding this issue. I will wait and see. But not going to hold my breath on this one. I have seen a lot of complaints regarding this over the internet. This is a known issue and actions needs to be taken.

Update from Feb 10, 2011: Dodge contacted me yesterday and need to take the vehicle into the local dealership to verify that the dash is cracked and in pieces. I will be taking the vehicle in today. I hope that Dodge does replace the dash at no cost. If so, I will continue to be a Dodge fan. If not, I have found a great fix for the dash and will give it a try. I will continue to update on this issue until it is resolved.

My dash started with a small crack back in august and while I was Christmas shopping in december a HOLE fell through over the glove compartment. It is such an embarrassing spot that I keep my gloves over it so people cant see. I have always loved my dodge truck and would tell people to buy one but not now. After reading that so many others have had the same problem I dont know why the company hasn't recalled the dashes and fixed this. One of my co-workers husband and daughter have 99 dodge rams and they have the same problem. I came to this site really thinking that it must be a recalled to be disappointed. I am a teacher and live on a monthly income and cant afford the cost of fixing this problem and insurance doesn't cover. I am afraid that the whole dash will cave in and then what do I do? I can not believe that the dodge company hasn't done something to help people fix their dash with so many having the problem. After this now my headliner is loose from the windshield and I can put my finger between the windshield and the top. I am sooooooo sad that after 160,000 miles my truck is falling apart inside after trying to take good care of it.I would have to agree with my husband(whose dash and headliner is still in tact after 210,000 miles) and go with GMC.

Hard to believe Dodge is balking at this problem. I was really surprised to see how widespread this problem is. At first I blamed it on the hot Arizona sun, but after reading these complaints from all over the USA, I think not. This truck has been my baby for 11 years. With the low miles for it's age and being in pristine condition (besides the dash), I was hopeing to sell for top dollar so I could buy a new one. But now with this dash problem, how in the world can I get a good price?

I guess when I'm ready to buy new,it's going to be a Chevy. No offense Ford. And no Japanese Crap for me. It's a shame Dodge is so stupid and willing to lose so many customers.

My dash is all busted up with huge holes missing. Pieces fall down from under the dash all the time. I have a dash cover over it hiding it but it rattles really bad. I found online that dodge was replacing the dashes for a fee of about 100-500 (different cost per dealerships). I went to my local dealer but he told me that they were not honoring it since Dodge/Chrysler declared bankruptcy. Bogus. I am pretty ticked off about the lack of ownership from dodge on this issue. It's very apparent that the dash was created wrong and that they should replace them...

double the fun... two trucks, same problem. first, several things need to be understood about Chrysler/Dodge as they relate to the rampant dash cracking issues. 1) Dodge didnt make them.. the interior parts are generally farmed out to vendors who specialize in different items. 2) Daimler managed to ditch it's stake in Chrysler Corp and alleviate themselves of any repsonsilbility they shared as majority controlling interest. 3) Cerberus Management (think... GM, they did so well they almost killed GM too) lost it's stake in Chrysler in the recent bankruptcy issues.. and from the beginning showed no interest in doing anything other than trying to make as much money as they possibly could (which doesnt include allocating millions to repair a problem they inherited)

So, you have the two most recent controlling entities which were running the company when these dashes were made and you have to realize they dont give a Cr@p about fixing your vehicle. They were only in it for the money in the 1st place and whatever people at Chrysler/Dodge that really cared about the company and retaining it's long-time customers had no more than a snowballs' chance in hell at doing any good when it might cost the bigwigs a few million. We didnt warranty too many of these dashes while the vehicles were still under the factory warranty, but in the last decade they are all succembing to the elements.

When driving my truck for the 1st time after moving to a colder area.. you could HEAR the thing cracking somwhere inside when you turned or hit a bump. This truck always had a sunshade in it when parked outdoors and I'd made every attempt at keeping it out of direct sunlight since I bought it. The next thing I noticed was when using the defrost in cold weater, it pretty well immediately started splitting at from the vents in the top of the dash. Incidentally, I worked for a while in the salvage business in 2004-05, and inspected every 1996-2001 Dodge Ram we recieved... during that time I saw only ONE come in with a good dash. I've never bothered to take it to the dealers, both trucks never had dash cracks until warranty expired. been there, done that..

I'll never bad-mouth dealer employees in general, most want to help, but when you have TWO major global institutions that take over ( yes, it was a takeover.. not a friendly merger) like they did, you'd think that something of this magnitude would go a long way towards helping their image. Wont be my last Dodge, but wont be buying another new one. Another thing on the cost of the dealer repair... there are no 'new' dashes being made, only what stockpile remained after they quit making that bodystyle truck... so not only do you have the original (high) price, but semi-annual price increases that reflect the fact they have to occupy warehouse space for however many are still around, taxes, etc.. It's one thing that never really made total sense to me, they'll have stuff like this sitting around for 20 years and end up throwing it away. But, who in their right mind is gonna pay $800 retail for a hunk of plastic that wont be any better than the one it's replacing. Drop it to $200, I'd buy 3 or 4 of them, lol.