Cspc: The dashboard on my 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 pick up truck has become extremely brittle. It cracks without warning and sends shards into the passenger compartment.

- East Lansing, MI, USA

I believe I purchased the vehicle into thousand two and in approximately 2006, they dashboard started severely cracking and falling apart in pieces. I purchased a dashboard cover to try to hold the dashboard in place and prevent chunks of the dashboard from flying loose and hitting either myself or a passenger in the vehicle. On December 23, 2017, I was driving and a chunk of the dashboard flew out of the air conditioner vent and hit me in the eye. Luckily I was not hurt but I am very concerned this will not be the case next time. I don't have another vehicle to drive and I got an estimate for $1500 to replace it and I don't have the money to do this, neither should I have to replace it because I've done research and it was a major faulty defect on the manufactures part. Please contact me asap to resolve this issue so that I'm not injured or a passenger riding with me is not injured. My number is [xxx] and my email address is [xxx] since I have to drive this vehicle because I don?T have another one and can't afford to replace the dashboard, if anyone is injured due to this problem, I will hold the manufacture responsible. I'm unable to take any pictures of the dashboard because if I remove the dashboard cover, chunks of the plastic sharp dashboard will fall into the inside of the panel and possibly damage the vehicle even more. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Spring, TX, USA

The contact owns a 2001 Dodge Ram 1500. The contact stated that the dash assembly for the instrument panel failed and caused the controls to collapse inward into the dashboard. In addition, the air bag on/off switch was attached to the panel, the headlamp switch, instrument cluster, and other controls. The contact was concerned that the failure could cause electrical issues and prevent the air bags from deploying or operating correctly. The dealer was no longer in business. The contact stated that the failure has been occurring since 2009 and was initially informed that it was a cosmetic issue with the vehicle. The manufacturer was informed again of the failure and stated that since the vehicle was sixteen years old with 240,000 miles, it could not be serviced by them. The failure mileage was 110,000. The consumer stated the failure had been ongoing since 2005. In 2005 the failure was not considered a safety defect, but now that it is the vehicle is out of warranty due to age.

- Plantation, FL, USA

After about 11,000 miles the dash began to get cracks and fall apart. It gradually has gotten to the point that there are very large holes and pieces of the dash have gotten into the duct work of the vehicle. Also have been having electrical problems with fuses blowing. That is when I took the vehicle to vann Dodge in vineland NJ and reported the problem. They took photos and later called me and said the determined that the dash was failing because of exposure to sun!!! the vehicle is garaged or parked in the shade for most of its early life and cracks and chunks happened for no apparent reason, but this is probably their way out of fixing the problem. Now comes another problem or incident that happened to me because of this faulty plastic that was used to construct the dash. I was driving down the road and turned on my defroster and a piece of plastic blew out of the vent on the top of the dash or lack there of, and hit me in the face causing me to swerve and almost hit an oncoming car. I was lucky that the car avoided me or it could have been tragic. I went back to the dealership 2 months ago to have service on a different vehicle and questioned them on the status of any recall and they asked me for my VIN # of my Dodge Ram pickup which I provided and they said there is no record of me taking the vehicle to them for a inspection, which is totally false!!! they conveniently lost my records on my pick up!!!!! something has got to be done to prevent someone from being killed due to this fault of Chrysler Corp. I have put a replacement skin on the dash but there was not much left to adhere the skin to at a cost of nearly $300 but the pieces continually fall into the vents. Thank you

- Hammonton, NJ, USA

I purchased my 2001 Dodge Ram in 2006 with just a small crack or two in the dash. By 2008 the small cracks turned into large cracks and then the first part over the radio area as shown in picture fell in! at the time I had placed some items on the dash and had thought that caused it but when I started to clean it up more started to just break off so I didn't mess with it again! I contacted barrett Dodge in athens ga a week later and spoke with the service deportment. They told me there was no recalls and truck was out of warranty so at that time there was nothing they would do other than charge me a crazy price to replace it for my and then if a recall ever did happen they said I would probably get back at least half of my repair cost! that still meant I would have paid hundreds for the repair so I didn't do it. The main reason im looking into this again now in 2015 is because yesterday my 8 year old son was playing in the truck while I was working on it and he went to get a toy off the dash and his arm went through the dash and cut him leaving about a 1 inch long cut in his arm! this is now why im now 7 years later surprised that with all the complaints that are on the internet about this issue that Dodge has not stepped up nor have they been made to step up and help fix this issue! does somebody's child have to be seriously injured or god forbid die from a injury caused by the shape pieces of this dash before something is done about this! im now looking into getting this dash repaired mainly because of the safety for my family! I really have not been concerned about the cosmetic look that Dodge has been hiding behind for their reason to not fix this issue! but I will be dammed if im going to let this poorly designed Dodge dash hurt my family again!

- Comer, GA, USA

Dashboard became cracked and broken, with broken parts falling into wiring and controls below.

- Greenville, SC, USA

The dashboard is literally crumbling into sharp pointed shards and have been flying into myself and my passengers. The shards are very sharp and I'm afraid if a piece should flyinto my eye while driving it could cause an accident.

- Hilo, HI, USA

When putting a bottle of soda on top of the dashboard it completely cracked and the bottle fell through into the void under the dash. The issue has progressively gotten worse over the years to the point where I do not even have a dashboard anymore. When I brought it to the dealer a few years ago they were not surprised, they were even complacent, saying yeah we've seen this some are just as bad as yours.

- San Antonio, TX, USA

Over the past couple of years my dashboard in my truck has gotten progressively worse, to the point where it is now in pieces. I am worried that other problems will start occurring because of the fragmenting of my dash and falling down inside the dash. The screws along the top of the dashboard are now only holding on little pieces of dash and are no longer serving in purpose to my knowledge. I have heard that this could lead to problems with the air bags suddenly deploying or not deploying at all. I am also concerned with the many other things that could happen as a safety issue for myself as well as my passengers. I know there are many other thing that go on inside the dash that could cause many problems if they fail.

- East Flat Rock, NC, USA

Dash board has cracked from exposer to sunlight. In past year it has broken into very sharp pieces above passenger side air bag and directly in front of driver. One can cut himself and I have just trying to dust or clean inside of truck. I am very concerned about what these sharp pieces of the defective dashboard would do in an accident and if air bags would push these sharp pieces into faces of both driver and passengers in front seat of truck.

- Spring Hill, TN, USA

Dash board completely cracked in half leaving large jagged edges of sharp plastic and exposing wiring. An accident would severely cut passengers with flying pieces of plastic.

- Browns Summit, NC, USA

The dashboards on Dodge trucks are clearly defective and a broken shard of the dash plastic lacerated my face when it came loose a flew through the cab of the truck from just normal wind turbulence with the winow open at freeway speed.

- Brentwood, CA, USA

The dashboard and the dashboard bezel have disintegrated and caved in, literally falling to pieces in chunks around me inside of the cab on this vehicle causing numerous problems, falling pieces from the dashboard have caused the accelerator to become jammed when pieces lodge in the operating system, electrical wiring has become exposed resulting in premature failures. The defroster vents have become dislocated because they are attached to the dashboard which for all intensive purposes no longer exists, thus they do not work properly causing lack of vision when the windshield fogs and is unable to be cleared of that fog at high speeds, the result is creating an extremely dangerous high speed situation. I do not understand what the problem is with Dodge these parts are very simple to install, there is no reason why Dodge cannot simply supply its customers with replacement parts and let us install them ourselves. These parts are all made of plastic and should cost no more than a few dollars to mfg. If Dodge were to supply these parts to all of the vehicle affected I seriously doubt that the cost would be more than 1M dollars and I would bet that the shipping would be more than the actual parts themselves.

- Arlington , VA, USA

The contact owns a 2001 Dodge Ram 1500. The contact stated that the dashboard was cracked. The contact also stated that the heating coil was leaking without warning. The failure has occurred on several occasions. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic, who diagnosed that the heater coil failed. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 78,000.

- Orangeburg, SC, USA

The dash has developed several large/long cracks which are growing and the clear coat is peeling on the hood, cab top, front fenders. I had my local dealer check w/Chrysler and the claim was denied. I have been a Chrysler owner since the 1960's and have never had this type of problem. I doubt I will ever purchase another Chrysler product since the quality has deteriorated and the manufacture will not correct the problems. This truck was purchased new in 2000 and I still have. My last new purchase in 2010 was a Ford automobile which has so far be excellent.

- Sophia, NC, USA

The contact owns a 2001 Dodge Ram 1500. The contact stated that the dashboard was cracking and deteriorating. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 150,000.

- Robinson, IL, USA

Sliced my hand on broken area of dashboard.

- Willis, TX, USA

In 2006, we observed a line crack in the dash. Took the truck to a Dodge dealership and was told it will cost over $1000 to replace dash. Too expensive, bought a dash cover to cover it up. More cracks developed over the years, and the dash is now broken. The deterioration from dash began to weaken the instrument panel. Cracks developed in the instrument panel, and now the panel is broken as well. We've never had a vehicle with dash and panel break apart like this Dodge Ram.

- Lago Vista, TX, USA

The dashboard in my 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 is cracking and having large pieces fall under the dash itself. I am worried that this could cause injury to driver and/or passenger in the event of an accident or accidental airbag deployment. Other issues could come from this problem due to all the wiring and other components that are under the dashboard.

- Blue Mound, KS, USA

The dashboard in my 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 is cracking and having large pieces fall under the dash itself. I am worried that this could cause injury to driver and/or passenger in the event of an accident or accidental airbag deployment. Other issues could come from this problem due to all the wiring and other components that are under the dashboard.

- Van Buren , AR, USA