RAM lighting rant...

[NoMoFoMoCo]

I've owned my truck almost a year now. I love it except for the lack of lighting control. It's just such lazy engineering to me.
- Why isn't the accent ring the DRL?
- Why is the accent ring BRIGHTER in the headlights OFF setting than it is when the Parking Lights are on?
- Why are ANY lights even on when I choose OFF?
- Why can't I kill the dash lights fully?
- Why do the dash lights turn ON to what seems like their brightest setting when I turn off my truck?
- Why do I have to manually dim the dash lights because they're too damn bright at dusk?
- Seriously, why can I dim the interior footwell lights and not the dash?????

These shouldn't be issues with a $50k vehicle. It'll always be the little things... and these have bugged me for nearly this entire year. I imagine they'll continue to bug me until I go back to being a Ford guy or at least a non-RAM owner.

 

[ferraiolo1]

All of those issues, except the first one, are the same on some of the new ford and gm models.


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[BowersFJ]

So why did you buy a Ram ?


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[LaxDfns15]

Almost all of your "issues" are most likely safety compliance related items.

1. Because they're not bright enough.
2. The headlights need to be the brightest light when they're on, and during the day if the accent lights were any dimmer you wouldn't see them.
3. This annoys me too, but it's probably related to safety.
4. Safety.
5. Probably safety again.
6. User annoyance. My personal opinion is they're fine and if they're too bright I take half a second to flip the dial to the night setting.
7. You can dim the dash with the dial right next to the ambient lighting dial. You want them all the way off? See 4.

 

[Scram1500]

My gripe with the dash dimmer is that it basically has three settings, dark, dim, and welding arc

 

[djevox]

I’m angry, grrrrrr

 

[Grimgreg]

The sudden beam of sunlight the dash lights emitted when I turned the truck off after dark was a shock the first time, but happy to have such bright gauges. The truck I had (03 Nissan Frontier) you could barely see the gauges day or night. They were at the bottom of 3" long black cylinders, so no daylight reached them. At night, they had one tiny LED per tube, behind the gauges, about as bright as a candle 5 miles away.

 

[Idahoktm]

I've owned my truck almost a year now. I love it except for the lack of lighting control. It's just such lazy engineering to me.
- Why isn't the accent ring the DRL?
- Why is the accent ring BRIGHTER in the headlights OFF setting than it is when the Parking Lights are on?
- Why are ANY lights even on when I choose OFF?
- Why can't I kill the dash lights fully?
- Why do the dash lights turn ON to what seems like their brightest setting when I turn off my truck?
- Why do I have to manually dim the dash lights because they're too damn bright at dusk?
- Seriously, why can I dim the interior footwell lights and not the dash?????

These shouldn't be issues with a $50k vehicle. It'll always be the little things... and these have bugged me for nearly this entire year. I imagine they'll continue to bug me until I go back to being a Ford guy or at least a non-RAM owner.

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

I've owned my truck almost a year now. I love it except for the lack of lighting control. It's just such lazy engineering to me.
- Why isn't the accent ring the DRL?
- Why is the accent ring BRIGHTER in the headlights OFF setting than it is when the Parking Lights are on?
- Why are ANY lights even on when I choose OFF?
- Why can't I kill the dash lights fully?
- Why do the dash lights turn ON to what seems like their brightest setting when I turn off my truck?
- Why do I have to manually dim the dash lights because they're too damn bright at dusk?
- Seriously, why can I dim the interior footwell lights and not the dash?????

These shouldn't be issues with a $50k vehicle. It'll always be the little things... and these have bugged me for nearly this entire year. I imagine they'll continue to bug me until I go back to being a Ford guy or at least a non-RAM owner.

I'm coming from 20 years of GM products. Got tired of GM's underwhelming and lagging interior updates.

Didn't even look at Ford because I need my truck to keep working like a truck.

 

[mikeru82]

If you're ranting about insignificant things like this, I'd hate to see what your reaction would be if you experienced something like an engine or transmission failure. I can't say I've had any issues with anything you complained about. I really don't know which lights are used for DRL's. I'm not sure I've even tried turning the lights off manually, or why I would need to. Same with the dash lights. I haven't noticed any issues with the dash light brightness. It seems a little silly to switch brand just because of these "issues", but I would suggest you test drive at night the next time you are shopping for a truck.

 

[eye exaggerate]

Put one of these puppies under a seat

-I wonder if touchscreen has a required amount of juice to operate properly. Just a guess, though. I agree that there *should be more than the 2 operating brightnesses ..es

 

[AV8OR]

More for your wishlist -

(1) There are times I want to run the engine but have all the lights off, zero, zilch, nada. Like at a store and the wife is inside and I’m sitting in my truck with the engine running. People driving behind me looking for a parking spot think I’m getting ready to back out but they don’t know my wife, I’ll be here for a long time.

(2) Option to set my lights on time in 5 or 10 seconds increments instead of 30 second increments. My neighbor would appreciate a shorter headlights on time when I’m heading out at 04:30 in the morning.…..same for when I come home at 02:30.

(3) Option to have the cargo bed lamps only operate from either the cab and / or the bed switch.

(4) Additional puddle lamps that are frame mounted under the doors or better yet an entire row of a strip of LEDs that run the full length under the retractable steps protected in a channel when they extrude the rail. When I open my door my puddle lamp is now behind the door and out under the mirror.

(5) An OEM upfitter switch panel just like the Jeep Wranglers have.

(6) Puddle lamps under the rear bumper that come on when the bed lights are on and a dedicated puddle lamp that lights up my retractable step.

(7) Two KC Cyclone V2 LED under the hood

(8) Swap the positions of the two dimmer rotary thumb rheostats. When I feel the big knob for the headlights then I can move over just one position to find the much more used dash dimmer.

(9) Individual reading lights for the outboard back seats.

(10) A push button to enable the Automatic High Beams instead of the OEM two different headlight positions on the switch. When the button is pushed in the headlights are in the automatic position just like the way it works right now. When the button isn’t pushed then you have a normal low / high beam headlight stalk.

 

[AV8OR]

If you're ranting about insignificant things like this, I'd hate to see what your reaction would be if you experienced something like an engine or transmission failure. I can't say I've had any issues with anything you complained about. I really don't know which lights are used for DRL's. I'm not sure I've even tried turning the lights off manually, or why I would need to. Same with the dash lights. I haven't noticed any issues with the dash light brightness. It seems a little silly to switch brand just because of these "issues", but I would suggest you test drive at night the next time you are shopping for a truck.

My father went to his grave never owning a car with power windows, just one more thing to break.

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

If we're sending Ram a list of demands, I'd like a few things on my next truck:

1. Disable the tailgate release button when a trailer is connected.
2. Maintain all of my trailer settings and configs when I turn the truck off.
3. Keep the settings for heated/ventilated seats when I turn the truck off.
4. Full screen Android Auto.

 

[Bigbags85]

Everything going to max lighting when the truck is off is the one that annoys me. It probably wouldn't be so blinding if they programmed the interior lights to turn on when the truck turned off but they didn't for whatever reason.

 

[Le_Slacker]

my only gripe from your list is that some lights are still on when switched to off, and can't totally turn off dash lights...

and only time this is an issue is when we go to the drive-in....
I've been able to make all that work well enough for the drive-in with the Tazer.... but I've also started taking a portable radio instead

 

[NorthStar]

Now I feel bad for wasting everybody’s time as it appears my rant about not having a GAU-8/A Avenger 30mm cannon mounted in the grill is minor.

 

[Le_Slacker]

Now I feel bad for wasting everybody’s time as it appears my rant about not having a GAU-8/A Avenger 30mm cannon mounted in the grill is minor.

I read and reread your post, and nowhere am I able to find the word dual

 

[TNRamGuy]

Now I feel bad for wasting everybody’s time as it appears my rant about not having a GAU-8/A Avenger 30mm cannon mounted in the grill is minor.

One time that oem is better

 

[AV8OR]

Now I feel bad for wasting everybody’s time as it appears my rant about not having a GAU-8/A Avenger 30mm cannon mounted in the grill is minor.

Will that fit on a EcoDiesel or only work with the Hemi?