Heated Wheel and Steering Wheel Buttons Don't Work

[New_Ram_Guy]

My 2022 Ram Big Horn was delivered in December 2021 and has about 3500 miles on it. A couple of days ago I noticed the heated wheel wasn't working. It doesn't come on automatically under 40 degrees and if I manually push the button it lights up but goes right out in a second, maybe two. No amount of stopping/starting seems to make any difference.

Today I noticed that all the buttons on the left side of the wheel do not function at all. None of the voice command buttons work (the phone is connected and can receive calls and texts through the Uconnect 5 system and on checking more I found that none of the directional buttons on the left will work to control the instrument display panel. Thus I'm not able to change display screens or look at eny vehicle parameters.

From what I've found Googling around it seems that maybe a new steering wheel and/or some control chip may be needed. Anybody here ever had a situation like this? I've got an appointment at the dealer for next week but I thought I would see if the collective expertise of the group might have other ideas and/or thoughts.

Thanks ........

 

[New_Ram_Guy]

So this has turned into something of a fire drill. The dealer has replaced the control module, some 'post' in the steering column, and a sensor. Nothing has yet succeeded. They have opened at least two issues with Stellantis engineering and the 'next best guess' is to replace a power inverter which will take another 2-3 days to arrive. I'll be lucky to get the truck back by Monday. So by the time this gets resolved it will have been at the dealer for two full weeks.

I understand that electrical issues are notoriously difficult to sole at times but it's getting awfully frustrating. Luckily the dealer has been reasonable and given me a 2022 Bighorn for a loaner now that my wife is back in town and needs her car back. So at least my camping trip this weekend will not be impacted. I just really wanted to pull the trailer with the new truck <sigh>.

What a mess!

 

[Andymax]

please keep us posted!

 

[mikeru82]

You didn't mention anything about them replacing the steering wheel, which to me is the most obvious thing given the symptoms you listed in your original post. Was that done?

 

[New_Ram_Guy]

Not to my knowledge. The service adviser has been pretty good about keeping me updated on their progress along with what they have tried and she has not said they have done that. I, too, would have thought replacing the wheel would be a good thing to try. All I can surmise is that they have some diagnostic tool that lets them see what buttons are pressed and that leads them to doubt the steering wheel itself is the issue. The crazy thing to me is the heated wheel malfunction and only the buttons on the left are not working. The buttons on the right for cruise control, etc, all work properly. You would think that if the wheel were dead none of the buttons or functions would work.

I really like the technology but sometimes the complexity can make troubleshooting issues very convoluted. I just want them to fix it so I can have my truck back. Driving the new truck just had a way of making me smile and brightening my day. Soon, grasshoppa, soon they will figure it out (I hope).

 

[mikeru82]

The crazy thing to me is the heated wheel malfunction and only the buttons on the left are not working. The buttons on the right for cruise control, etc, all work properly. You would think that if the wheel were dead none of the buttons or functions would work.

I'm thinking the opposite. The two sets of buttons are separate assemblies. I don't know if or how those relate to the heated steering wheel, but it's quite possible to have an issue with one switch assembly and not the other. I'd need to see a wiring diagram to see how the heating element relates to the rest of the electronics in the steering wheel. I've disassembled one of these steering wheels, and there are wiring connectors within the steering wheel. My first suspicion was that one or more either isn't plugged in all the way or at all.

 

[New_Ram_Guy]

So I got my truck back after about 10 days. I don't have the write up in front of me, but they confirmed the issues and got a particular error code. Following troubleshooting charts they replaced the Steering Column Control Module (SCCM) which promptly failed again with a different error code. Stellantis discovered/figured out that the Power Inverter Module (PIM) was supplying wrong/bad/incorrect power levels. The PIM and SCCM were replaced along with a switch controlling the buttons on the left of the steering wheel. They didn't really indicate to me if the SCCM/PIM failures were responsible for the malfunction of the left switch/buttons.

It was 41 degrees this morning so I had a good test of the heated wheel even though I had to turn it on manually. All was fine, as are the buttons on the left side of the wheel. So the vehicle is back to full health again but you can rest assured that I will be watching this very closely into the future.

In the end there was a cascading failure in the PIM module that wasn't immediately recognized in the troubleshooting charts. All things considered I thought they did a 'reasonable' job diagnosing this in a timely fashion but I had to wait three or four days to get the PIM after Stellantis had the potential solution.

And I really can't complain about the dealer's service. When I needed a loaner/rental they supplied one with no hassle. I expected a little Cherokee or something like that but they gave me a Ram 1500 that I used for a weekend camping trip while my truck was in the shop. So, all good now.