Power Steering Failure! Super Dangerous

[alacombe]

While driving my work today I was taking a left turn and my power steering stopped working. My car had the power steering light pop up and also my screen in my gauge clustered said, "Power Steering Unavailable Service Required." I literally almost crashed into a huge electrical pole. due to my steering while becoming extremely stiff. My current milage is 2270.6 miles. About a minute later my power steering came back and my truck was fine. While parking my truck at work in the parking lot about 5 min. after the first failure my power steering failed again but came back within seconds. On the way home from work tonight my power steering failed and didn't come back for about 8mins/several miles. My power steering continues to fail then come back to normal then fail again.

This is a huge issue and super dangerous. See attached photos. @RamCares Please advise. @DSOOBY Please post your star case for this issue and also, your codes your car is throwing. @Jared B @devildodge have y'all heard of this issue? @202snowman any updates with your steering?

 

[alacombe]

I emailed the General Manager at the dealership I purchased my truck regarding this issue and I will also be dropping my truck off for service 1st thing Monday morning. I also emailed Ram regarding this issue too.

 

[alacombe]

So far the only code that I am aware of is from @202snowman that his car threw which was C2129-17 Battery Voltage: Circuit Above Threshold Code.

 

[202snowman]

No updates here. Hasn't done it since and can't replicate it

 

[356]

First, glad your OK. This could have been worse.

Don’t fail to notify the NHTSA. Safety issues should not be left only to the dealer and manufacture.

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/

 

[Haguilar]

Check out the posting from DSOOBY on October 5th. He had the same issue and had it fixed.

"Power Steering Failure"

 

[alacombe]

First, glad your OK. This could have been worse.

Don’t fail to notify the NHTSA. Safety issues should not be left only to the dealer and manufacture.

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/

Will do thanks

 

[alacombe]

Check out the posting from DSOOBY on October 5th. He had the same issue and had it fixed.

"Power Steering Failure"

He did not have it fixed its still occurring if you read his entire thread.

 

[alacombe]

https://www.carcomplaints.com/Ram/1500/2019/steering/steering.shtml

Here is a link with (2) other customers with power steering failures. According to this website this issue occurs when the truck gets into 2,000-9,000 mile mark

 

[Deleted member 85]

Wow.

Can't rose-coloured-glasses this one, that's just super ****ty. Fortunate you, and no one else was injured or even killed. Could you imagine if you were going through a mountain pass at a decent speed and it failed into a corner? =/

 

[alacombe]

Wow.

Can't rose-coloured-glasses this one, that's just super ****ty. Fortunate you, and no one else was injured or even killed. Could you imagine if you were going through a mountain pass at a decent speed and it failed into a corner? =/

You literally would be dead. I found 5 cases of this 2019 ram online of the people complaining of this and all seem to have a few thousand miles when this is occurring.

 

[devildodge]

I haven't heard or seen anything other than here. It seems that it is something other than the power steering itself as some of ththe fixes came back as something further upstream.

Very horrible situation for you to have to be in.

Just curious as I have no experience with electric powersteering, but with mine and other manual steering trucks I have owned, once at speed the power assist isn't really needed. It is just at slow speeds or stopped that it helps.

But, it seems with this new truck, it affects your steering ability at all speeds. That is dangerous to begin with.

Let me know your thoughts on this, as this seems very much like something that wasn't thought about much. My old 99 can be steered at slow or stopped, just got to power it a bit more, and at speed it doesn't seem to affect it at all...I need a new power steering pump in case you didn't notice.

 

[DSOOBY]

@alacombe , my truck has been in the shop for a week since they first replaced the steering rack and pinion, the codes mine threw was the same as @202snowman , being the 2129-17 which is apparently triggered by a high voltage reaching that module. I believe the codes thrown the second time we’re slightly different but the service advisor hadn’t seen them before so they had to send it to the shop and talk to Ram itself to get a translation on it.

They have been running through the wiring looking for a band ground or a loose connection that could be causing it, and simply can’t just replace the steering gear. Otherwise it will just reoccur. I’ll talk again with my service advisor tomorrow to get the star case number and we can start corresponding on a possible fix, hopefully.


It’s worth noting my dealer has seen about 4 of this type of issue and they had success replaceing the racks in those, mine is the first to come back. It’s j fortunate though because I’ll bet that this is going to become a much more prevalent problem with time as I’m seeing it come up more.

 

[DSOOBY]

https://www.ramforum.com/threads/2019-big-horn-steering-resistance.127800/

https://www.ramforumz.com/#/topics/257107

Here are links to the only other two threads I could find that sound like the same issue in other forums. They are worth a read but don’t offfer much help.

 

[RT70808]

@alacombe , my truck has been in the shop for a week since they first replaced the steering rack and pinion, the codes mine threw was the same as @202snowman , being the 2129-17 which is apparently triggered by a high voltage reaching that module. I believe the codes thrown the second time we’re slightly different but the service advisor hadn’t seen them before so they had to send it to the shop and talk to Ram itself to get a translation on it.

They have been running through the wiring looking for a band ground or a loose connection that could be causing it, and simply can’t just replace the steering gear. Otherwise it will just reoccur. I’ll talk again with my service advisor tomorrow to get the star case number and we can start corresponding on a possible fix, hopefully.


It’s worth noting my dealer has seen about 4 of this type of issue and they had success replaceing the racks in those, mine is the first to come back. It’s j fortunate though because I’ll bet that this is going to become a much more prevalent problem with time as I’m seeing it come up more.

I experienced this issue @30 miles on my way home from the dealer the night I purchased the truck. it was listed in one of my posts labeled the road so far. Basically, they stole the rack from another truck and then gave me the lifetime warranty for free. No issue since.

 

[alacombe]

@alacombe , my truck has been in the shop for a week since they first replaced the steering rack and pinion, the codes mine threw was the same as @202snowman , being the 2129-17 which is apparently triggered by a high voltage reaching that module. I believe the codes thrown the second time we’re slightly different but the service advisor hadn’t seen them before so they had to send it to the shop and talk to Ram itself to get a translation on it.

They have been running through the wiring looking for a band ground or a loose connection that could be causing it, and simply can’t just replace the steering gear. Otherwise it will just reoccur. I’ll talk again with my service advisor tomorrow to get the star case number and we can start corresponding on a possible fix, hopefully.


It’s worth noting my dealer has seen about 4 of this type of issue and they had success replaceing the racks in those, mine is the first to come back. It’s j fortunate though because I’ll bet that this is going to become a much more prevalent problem with time as I’m seeing it come up more.

Yes, please get me the STAR case my truck is now at the dealership too.

 

[alacombe]

I private messaged @RamCares about this issue too. I filed a complaint onhttps://www.carcomplaints.com/Ram/1500/2019/steering/steering.shtml and a safety compliant with NHTSA.

 

[RBRK]

Damn, I had a bad dream last night that my steering locked up on the freeway, I got a spun around NASCAR style and was looking at the cars coming at me, waiting for impact. I don’t normally wear a seat belt and was thinking this is going to end badly, Then I woke up. I guess it was triggered by reading this thread again last night.

This is a bad deal for sure, hopefully something is figured out soon. Generally electric power steering is trouble free, but I guess the old hydraulic system is a lot more failsafe, basically, if the engine is running it worked!

I’ve never had an issue on my 13’ and the rack appears to be the same or similar. It’s probably a module or wiring/connection problem since the rack replacement obviously didn’t do it.

It’s also possible that the electrical connection at the rack is suspect, and the people that got a new rack, the fact it was unplugged and plugged back in was the fix and not the rack.

If you have had the steering go out and haven’t taken it in and are the type that wants to try something, I would see if you can disconnect and reconnect the electrical connector at the steering rack and see if you get the issue again. On a Honda there is a large wire connector for the motor and another smaller control side connector.

 

[alacombe]

****, I had a bad dream last night that my steering locked up on the freeway, I got a spun around NASCAR style and was looking at the cars coming at me, waiting for impact. I don’t normally wear a seat belt and was thinking this is going to end badly, Then I woke up. I guess it was triggered by reading this thread again last night.

This is a bad deal for sure, hopefully something is figured out soon. Generally electric power steering is trouble free, but I guess the old hydraulic system is a lot more failsafe, basically, if the engine is running it worked!

I’ve never had an issue on my 13’ and the rack appears to be the same or similar. It’s probably a module or wiring/connection problem since the rack replacement obviously didn’t do it.

It’s also possible that the electrical connection at the rack is suspect, and the people that got a new rack, the fact it was unplugged and plugged back in was the fix and not the rack.

If you have had the steering go out and haven’t taken it in and are the type that wants to try something, I would see if you can disconnect and reconnect the electrical connector at the steering rack and see if you get the issue again. On a Honda there is a large wire connector for the motor and another smaller control side connector.

I read on another website someone had their PCM replaced due to to much voltage/power being produced. @DSOOBY had some other part replaced. Appears FCA does not know how to fix this issue and are just replacing anything

 

[RamCares]

While driving my work today I was taking a left turn and my power steering stopped working. My car had the power steering light pop up and also my screen in my gauge clustered said, "Power Steering Unavailable Service Required." I literally almost crashed into a huge electrical pole. due to my steering while becoming extremely stiff. My current milage is 2270.6 miles. About a minute later my power steering came back and my truck was fine. While parking my truck at work in the parking lot about 5 min. after the first failure my power steering failed again but came back within seconds. On the way home from work tonight my power steering failed and didn't come back for about 8mins/several miles. My power steering continues to fail then come back to normal then fail again.

This is a huge issue and super dangerous. See attached photos. @RamCares Please advise. @DSOOBY Please post your star case for this issue and also, your codes your car is throwing. @Jared B @devildodge have y'all heard of this issue? @202snowman any updates with your steering?

No updates here. Hasn't done it since and can't replicate it

I experienced this issue @30 miles on my way home from the dealer the night I purchased the truck. it was listed in one of my posts labeled the road so far. Basically, they stole the rack from another truck and then gave me the lifetime warranty for free. No issue since.

Hello alacombe,
Please check your PM

Hello 202snowman & RT70808

Please send us a PM with you Vin, contact information best time to reach you. Also please please the question below:


1) How severe of a turn (provide speed during the occurrence) (is the steering wheel going to 9 or 3 like a clock face or 10 or 2 like a clock face)

2) Is there any form of braking involved? (tapping, riding etc while going into or coming out of the turn)

3) What size wheels ?

4) Type of Suspension: air or steel?

a. If air suspension what ride height are they at when this issue is prominent?

5) What size engine ?

Lamar
RAM Social Care Specialist