— A Ram ProMaster nine-speed transmission lawsuit alleges there are problems with the transmissions because they do not engage eighth or ninth gears.
According to the class action lawsuit, the 2022-2023 Ram ProMaster vans are equipped with seven-speed transmissions advertised as nine-speed transmissions.
Claiming the vans have only seven usable gears, the ProMaster lawsuit alleges Fiat Chrysler told consumers the vans were upgraded to nine-speed models when the vans are too slow to ever activate the eighth and ninth gears.
The Ram van class action was filed by Victor Gonzalez and Stuart Glick. California plaintiff Gonzalez purchased a 2023 Ram Promaster and California plaintiff Gluck purchased a 2023 Ram Promaster. Both plaintiffs complain they believed their vans had nine-speed automatic transmissions.
The plaintiffs claim they paid more for the vans because they were advertised as equipped with nine-speed transmissions.
The lawsuit alleges the ProMaster vans are too big to stay in eighth or ninth gears, so Chrysler supposedly programmed the software to never engage those two gears. What was advertised as a nine-speed ProMaster van purportedly becomes a seven-speed van in real-world driving conditions.
According to the Ram class action, the 2021 Ram ProMaster final drive ratios are nearly the same as the 2022 models
"A final drive ratio indicates the gear ratio between the transmission and the wheels and indicates how much torque is available for the car to use for acceleration at a given engine speed. That both models’ final drive ratios are almost the exact same also indicates that the nine-speed Class Model performs nearly identically to the previous six-speed model, despite Stellantis’s promised improvements and increased pricing." — Ram ProMaster transmission lawsuit
FCA allegedly "concealed the truth" from consumers by advertising the transmissions by claiming the “higher gears . . . help lower engine rpm speeds.”
The plaintiffs say lower revolutions per minute "is generally preferred because it indicates that a vehicle’s engine is operating on a more efficient level, consuming less fuel and putting less stress on the engine components."
According to the class action lawsuit, customers did not receive the vans they bargained for.
The Ram ProMaster nine-speed transmission lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California: Gonzalez, et al., v. FCA US, LLC, et al.
The plaintiffs are represented by Wilshire Law Firm, PLC, and Bursor & Fisher, P.A.