Power Steering Failure! Super Dangerous

[Bram2019]

In my opinion this is an engineering gaff. The whole rack is run by 5 wires. Power, ign on, ground and 2 bus wires. If any wire fails, the power steering fails. The ground in particular is stupid. It should directly connect to a point on the main ground cable stud on the frame or the battery IBS. Instead it is connected to a separate stud on the frame, so it is dependent on too many connectors plus the frame to maintain ground. Any corrosion or looseness and no power steering. But it is cheaper to do what they did. Less cable needed. On the DS trucks it is connected right to the Battery IBS. Some bean counter must have been at work. The original engineer who designed the DS system knew what he was doing. Unless there is some alternative reason to do this, it looks like FCA tried to save money.
If a recall happens, there will be some effort to fix the ground I would guess.

 

[RAM309702]

Bram2019, you are correct. That ground being an issue for most systems on these trucks is nothing new. There has been a TSB in regard to securing that ground for "stiff steering" out since late October. I apologize I missed post #98 in the middle of skimming 6 pages of this thread prior to my first post on this forum to try to give guys a little insight on what I have seen. It appears that bothered you to some extent. My bad. In any case, the real issue in these situations of overcharge goes well beyond simply cleaning this particular ground. Doing so will for sure temporarily cure the symptoms. However, a permanent fix needs to go far beyond that. This particular issue is a return circuit architectural problem, not just a clean it up once every 5k miles problem. Not getting into specifics was intentional.

Thank you so much for posing this, many of us here are very appreciative you took the time to make an account and report your findings.

Do you have any idea how the higher ups are discussing the overall fix? Also is this an issue on all RAMs, or just some of them?

 

[Bram2019]

Thank you so much for posing this, many of us here are very appreciative you took the time to make an account and report your findings.

Do you have any idea how the higher ups are discussing the overall fix? Also is this an issue on all RAMs, or just some of them?

All the 2019 DT new style Rams are wired like this. So potentially any of those could have this happen. Hit and miss. At some point an actual tsb may be issued. Not aware of one. But there is apparently a star bulletin addressing a parallel complaint according to another poster. Grounds are always issues in any vehicle. The problem here is it is tied to the power steering complaint

 

[greatone99]

All the 2019 DT new style Rams are wired like this. So potentially any of those could have this happen. Hit and miss. At some point an actual tsb may be issued. Not aware of one. But there is apparently a star bulletin addressing a parallel complaint according to another poster. Grounds are always issues in any vehicle. The problem here is it is tied to the power steering complaint

recall has been issued

 

[BluegrassRam]

recall has been issued

Do you have a copy of what the recall states?

 

[greatone99]

Do you have a copy of what the recall states?

its all over the internet ,182000 2019 rams recalled ,bad or loose ground ,causing power steering to go out

 

[greatone99]

Do you have a copy of what the recall states?

I just stumbled across it ,mines never messed up ,but as I can see others have

 

[Tom488]

its all over the internet ,182000 2019 rams recalled ,bad or loose ground ,causing power steering to go out

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/b...1/25/ram-1500-power-steering-recall/38955769/

 

[Tom488]

And some more info, including build date:

"FCA US LLC is recalling certain 2019 Ram 1500 pickups, to tighten an improperly secured battery ground-circuit fastener. Affected vehicles were built before October 25, 2018, and could lose power steering assist if the ground-circuit fastener becomes loose enough to create an open circuit. Steering ability would be retained in the event of a failure but it could lead to inconsistent steering feedback, which may contribute to oversteer or understeer, increasing the risk of a crash."

My truck was built 11-06-18, but the next time I have it in the air, I'll be checking this ground, and probably adding a little green Loctite.

 

[BluegrassRam]

I just stumbled across it ,mines never messed up ,but as I can see others have

Glad they are doing this!

 

[zman9119]

"by law they have 60 days to start the owner notification process"


I'm sure they will use all of those days before they start sending them out.

 

[Ram79hemi]

Where is this ground located?
Does anybody have any pictures?

 

[Rich]

And some more info, including build date:

"FCA US LLC is recalling certain 2019 Ram 1500 pickups, to tighten an improperly secured battery ground-circuit fastener. Affected vehicles were built before October 25, 2018, and could lose power steering assist if the ground-circuit fastener becomes loose enough to create an open circuit. Steering ability would be retained in the event of a failure but it could lead to inconsistent steering feedback, which may contribute to oversteer or understeer, increasing the risk of a crash."

My truck was built 11-06-18, but the next time I have it in the air, I'll be checking this ground, and probably adding a little green Loctite.

Careful with the Loctite, it may not promote a good electrical connection which is very important in this case.

 

[alacombe]

Power Steering Recall:

https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/...medium=email&utm_campaign=20190125-ram-recall

 

[Bacchus]

And some more info, including build date:

"FCA US LLC is recalling certain 2019 Ram 1500 pickups, to tighten an improperly secured battery ground-circuit fastener. Affected vehicles were built before October 25, 2018, and could lose power steering assist if the ground-circuit fastener becomes loose enough to create an open circuit. Steering ability would be retained in the event of a failure but it could lead to inconsistent steering feedback, which may contribute to oversteer or understeer, increasing the risk of a crash."

My truck was built 11-06-18, but the next time I have it in the air, I'll be checking this ground, and probably adding a little green Loctite.

Just be careful. The car complaints website says it's all trucks built AFTER 10/25/18.

 

[Tom488]

Just be careful. The car complaints website says it's all trucks built AFTER 10/25/18.

Yeah - that makes no sense. A manufacturer identifies a build problem, fixes it going forward, then announces a recall for the trucks that weren't built correctly. They don't identify a current problem, and issue an open-ended recall for all trucks going forward.

 

[Love2driveRAM19]

10/20/2018 build here, definitely watching this thread and any other updates/info.

 

[Jus Cruisin]

I'll call my dealer this week at some point later this week.

 

[alacombe]

My truck suffered from this issue and trust me its super dangerous. I was turning at approx 35mph and the steering just locked up very difficult to pull through.

 

[DSOOBY]

My truck suffered from this issue and trust me its super dangerous. I was turning at approx 35mph and the steering just locked up very difficult to pull through.

Yep, near impossible to steer without power. Glad it's gotten the recall put forth on it, I guess even though ours have been " fixed", I'm still taking mine in just to make sure that fastener is squared away. I'm sure it was buttoned down when the racks and PCM's were replaced though and that's what fixed the issue.