Ok guys so here is my update. I am going to preface this by saying I LOVE the 2019 Rebel. I had the 2015 V6, 2017 V8 and bought the 2019 with all the bells and whistles to keep it long term as I have kids and starting to buy their cars in 3 years. This truck is/was to be my toy for a while but I am highly disappointed with this manufacturer defect. I would strongly encourage people to refrain from purchasing a 2019 Ram with a RamBox. This is issue is going to cause you more headaches and issues in later years in the life of your truck.
This is a bit lengthy and the purpose of it is to provide the group with enough information as opposed to going in circles trying to figure out this issue. So lets get into it.
I took my truck to Tuttle Click Ram in Irvine, CA. The Collision Center Manager is highly knowledgeable. His name is Robert Gegg.
This is my first ram with a rambox. It is a great functional option on these trucks but the 2019 definitely has a significant design flaw.
The challenge:
Plastic door on the rambox vs aluminum door. This is THE problem. The Plastic contracts and expands in heat and cold exponentially hence the warping. The door and the black cover on top will warp and overtime may very well need to be replaced as there is no fix for the warping.
Adding insult to injury:
1) The rambox door simply cannot be replaced. The plastic door is built into the rambox and the rambox is bonded to the body of the truck. The rambox with the door can be replaced but it’s an extensive process.
2) The plastic door when replaced will not be pre-painted and will never match the color tone on aluminum body panel. If you need to repair the plastic due to a ding or scratch it will not match correctly to the aluminum body. It will be visibly noticeable. The workaround, at an unnecessary extra cost, would be to spray the door and the entire aluminum side to match the color tone of the new plastic door. Aluminum is more forgiving when trying to match the color tone and blending is easier.
3) There is no support on the inside back of both the door and black cap on top. The plastic door and black cap on top will expand and contract in heat and cold weather. I live in Orange County, SoCal and its always hot here so that means my door will always contract inward creating gaps and the black top, from the pictures below with bow at each end and get worse over time.
4) To help my issue to a certain degree, the body shop could only move the striker slightly down on the inside where the door latches onto in order to pull the door down to have the door not stick outward and away from the truck. (as seen in the pics below). This did not solve the issue but did the following:
a. Closed the gap to a certain visible degree.
b. In turn created gaps by having the door push inward. The plastic door is not flush to the body but rather goes inward. Now my gaps are not exposed to the outside (up and away from the body) but now going into the truck as seen in the pics below.
c. I have to now slightly slam the rambox door to ensure the latch engages the striker.
d. The only positive item, there is a contour line on the door and body that now are uniformed to the aluminum. This is the only thing that was resolved from lowering the striker.
5) I am thinking from an resale value perspective as well and what the impact could be.
a. Known issue with 2019’s will drive down value if a fix is not offered by RAM.
The right solution is to have FCA replace the entire Rambox with an aluminum door. Anything the dealership will or can do is going to be a band aid b/c it does not eliminate the fact that the door is plastic and the black cap is plastic and has no internal support built into it to manage the expansion and contraction of the plastic.
At this juncture I would not recommend anyone buying a 2019 with a Rambox. There is no real solution to fix this problem with the 2019 rams. FCA needs to find a long-term viable solution – which is to do a recall and replace the the plastic door with an aluminum door.
This is a manufacturer defect, it needs to be fixed by FCA. If not then I will investigate lemon laws that can apply to this issue and will seek legal advice if the matter is not resolved. I am at a point where I do not want the rambox. I would rather have a RAM without it!
