2024 Ram 1500 with 1,300 miles wheel seperated from vehicle with no warning.

[Liza 78]

about 4 weeks ago I purchased a 2024 1500 Ram crew cab. I had driven it approximately 1,300 miles.
Last night while driving about 30 MPH We heard what sounded like an explosion, Violent lurch and a burst of sparks from the rear of the truck. we thought it was some type of explosion. got out of the truck to find the wheel had seperated from the truck and had hit an oncoming vehicle. the good news is nobody was hurt.

We were able to locate 4 lug nuts at within 200 feet of the incident. we located a 5th lug nut about 5 miles up the road with the stud sheared off still inside.

considering this is a new truck with 1,300 miles that hasn’t so much as hit a pothole, my only explanation is defective parts or they were not tightened properly at the factory. The dealership that sold us the vehicle is currently refusing any responsibility. any thoughts?

 

[HSKR R/T]

about 4 weeks ago I purchased a 2024 1500 Ram crew cab. I had driven it approximately 1,300 miles.
Last night while driving about 30 MPH We heard what sounded like an explosion, Violent lurch and a burst of sparks from the rear of the truck. we thought it was some type of explosion. got out of the truck to find the wheel had seperated from the truck and had hit an oncoming vehicle. the good news is nobody was hurt.

We were able to locate 4 lug nuts at within 200 feet of the incident. we located a 5th lug nut about 5 miles up the road with the stud sheared off still inside.

considering this is a new truck with 1,300 miles that hasn’t so much as hit a pothole, my only explanation is defective parts or they were not tightened properly at the factory. The dealership that sold us the vehicle is currently refusing any responsibility. any thoughts?

Definitely sounds like someone forgot to torque the lugs properly. Could have been missed at the factory. Dealer doesn't need to take responsibility, but it should be a warranty repair.

 

[SD Rebel]

Sounds like either a lack of proper PPI at the dealership to check the lug nuts and/or factory mistake of failing to torque them down correctly.

How they can refuse any responsibility means they are saying you did something wrong. Honestly, at just 1,300 miles, that's pretty insane. Assuming it wasn't my fault and I didn't do something myself, I would contact the dealership owner directly and Mopar as well to elevate this beyond the service manager.

If that got me nowhere, I would be contacting all the auto blogs out there and try to get my story out in the open and embarrass them to take responsibility. A harshly worded Yelp review isn't going to be enough in cases like this. As crazy as I am, I would stand at the dealership entrance (on the city sidewalk) with a sign telling everyone driving up they suck. Post that on whatever Stellantis social media I could get on. But hopefully, you won't have to go that far.

 

[Fatherof3]

First welcome to the forum . I’ve only read about that happening once before , same thing with his truck about 30mph. It sounded like it was defective lugs .

 

[Liza 78]

thanks, everyone for the responses. Ram has still not committed to fix this under warranty. It is still up under the air which puts me in a bad position because it’s all hitting my auto insurance. The claims adjuster was out today and took these photos. his thoughts are it must be a manufacturing defect.
What are your thoughts? It looks to me like something had been pinched in between when the wheel was torqued on…like a loose stud or something? and was pinched in there causing enough pressure to eventually make that one stud sheer off possibly.
anyways, the more information I get the more it looks like it has to be a manufacturing defect. any thoughts would be appreciated thank you!

 

[HSKR R/T]

thanks, everyone for the responses. Ram has still not committed to fix this under warranty. It is still up under the air which puts me in a bad position because it’s all hitting my auto insurance. The claims adjuster was out today and took these photos. his thoughts are it must be a manufacturing defect.
What are your thoughts? It looks to me like something had been pinched in between when the wheel was torqued on…like a loose stud or something? and was pinched in there causing enough pressure to eventually make that one stud sheer off possibly.
anyways, the more information I get the more it looks like it has to be a manufacturing defect. any thoughts would be appreciated thank you!

I'd say something definitely happened at the factory.

 

[Scram1500]

That's from the retaining screw that holds on the rotor from the assembly process, you can see the thread marks pressed into the rotor and rim

 

[HSKR R/T]

You can tell from the marks on the rotor that the wheel was never fully seated where that mark is. Notice how defined the edges of the wheel pockets are everywhere else in the rotor

 

[Liza 78]

You can tell from the marks on the rotor that the wheel was never fully seated where that mark is. Notice how defined the edges of the wheel pockets are everywhere else in the rotor

I did not even notice that until you mentioned it. Thanks so much.

 

[Rebel2022]

Was there any vibration that you noticed anytime in the 1300 mules leading up to this?

 

[Liza 78]

Was there any vibration that you noticed anytime in the 1300 mules leading up to this?

I really did not notice anything. I had been on the highway for about 30 miles earlier in the day. I’m usually pretty aware of vibrations or sounds.

 

[Liza 78]

That's from the retaining screw that holds on the rotor from the assembly process, you can see the thread marks pressed into the rotor and rim

Thanks for the info. Is it a screw that holds the rotor to a piece of assembly equipment during production?

 

[Scram1500]

Thanks for the info. Is it a screw that holds the rotor to a piece of assembly equipment during production?

It's a screw that holds the rotor to the hub as it heads down the assembly line before the calipers are installed. It must not have been fully tightend and fell out/ knocked out at the moment the rim went on, a true freak occurrence. The missing screw fell out of where you circled in red

 

[kdoublep]

I'm still trying to figure out how you found a lug nut 5 miles away. Good detective work.

Glad everyone's safe.

 

[Liza 78]

no i’m

It's a screw that holds the rotor to the hub as it heads down the assembly line before the calipers are installed. It must not have been fully tightend and fell out/ knocked out at the moment the rim went on, a true freak occurrence. The missing screw fell out of where you circled in red

View attachment 180058

Now I understand. Thanks very much. Just trying to make sense of how this could have happened. This is very helpful.

 

[Liza 78]

I'm still trying to figure out how you found a lug nut 5 miles away. Good detective work.

Glad everyone's safe.

thank you- yeah that last lug nut was definitely a crazy find. we had just about given up and were about to head home when we spotted it in the middle of the road

 

[Liza 78]

Sounds like either a lack of proper PPI at the dealership to check the lug nuts and/or factory mistake of failing to torque them down correctly.

How they can refuse any responsibility means they are saying you did something wrong. Honestly, at just 1,300 miles, that's pretty insane. Assuming it wasn't my fault and I didn't do something myself, I would contact the dealership owner directly and Mopar as well to elevate this beyond the service manager.

If that got me nowhere, I would be contacting all the auto blogs out there and try to get my story out in the open and embarrass them to take responsibility. A harshly worded Yelp review isn't going to be enough in cases like this. As crazy as I am, I would stand at the dealership entrance (on the city sidewalk) with a sign telling everyone driving up they suck. Post that on whatever Stellantis social media I could get on. But hopefully, you won't have to go that far.

thank you. I still don’t have word that it’s covered under warranty but I will absolutely go that route if I need to.

 

[Redz72]

thank you. I still don’t have word that it’s covered under warranty but I will absolutely go that route if I need to.

My thoughts on this are that it should be covered and Ram should go above and beyond just covering under warranty. Maybe reach out to a lawyer because you’re very lucky you came away unscathed, and others around you too. If this indeed was a result of negligence from the factory floor, and by all accounts it appears that way, you should be compensated for the havoc it is causing you. Just my .02 pennies.

 

[Willwork4truck]

thank you- yeah that last lug nut was definitely a crazy find. we had just about given up and were about to head home when we spotted it in the middle of the road

I often cant find my keys without assistance.

 

[frisby5]

I bet as soon as you mention a lawyer they will take care of you. Better call Saul !