— Ram 2500 steering complaints convinced the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to open an investigation in December 2018 that has now been closed seven years later.
The federal investigation began with 2015-2016 Ram 2500 trucks that suffered from steering drag link failures.
NHTSA found the steering linkage where the drag link adjustable connector, used to adjust the steering system, was held in position by two opposing jam nuts that could loosen.
Drivers complained they lost all steering when the drag links separated. And NHTSA determined two styles of drag links were used by FCA on the Ram trucks.
The Ram trucks are equipped with four-wheel-drive (4WD) and two-wheel-drive (2WD) drivetrains. The 4WD and 2WD trucks used drag links with different designs but both did use the same threaded connectors.
Chrysler announced a recall of 600,000 Ram 2500 and 3500 trucks in January 2019 following crash reports caused by steering failures. But the recall did not include Ram trucks using the 2WD style drag links.
However, NHTSA upgraded the Ram steering loss investigation in December 2019 to determine if two-wheel-drive trucks should have been recalled. Regulators said they wanted to know why the 2WD Ram trucks weren't included, and NHTSA wanted to know if the recall repairs for all the trucks were adequate.
The government used its own testing facility to conduct testing on both Ram 2500 4WD and 2WD trucks.
"Results from VRTC’s dynamic testing indicated that when the jam nuts are significantly under-torqued, they may loosen further from regular vehicle operation on the 4WD vehicles. Further, VRTC testing does not refute FCA’s assertion that the failure mechanism does not exist in the 2WD steering system." — NHTSA
The Ram steering investigation is now closed because NHTSA has received only two allegations of drag link separations on 2WD Ram trucks, and there was no evidence the problems were caused by loose jam nuts.