10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 5
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
52,641 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2008 Dodge Ram 1500 electrical problems

electrical problem

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2008 Dodge Ram 1500 Owner Comments (Page 1 of 3)

problem #51

Jun 012022

Ram 1500

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Vehicle caught fire in drive way while raining seems as though the ac blower resistor caught fire

- Vero Beach , FL, USA

problem #50

Oct 052021

Ram 1500

  • miles
Computer system failed. Apparently an electrical spike occurred and fried the motherboard. As a result the vehicle became totaly inoperable

- Middle River, MD, USA

problem #49

Mar 172020

Ram 1500

  • 145,000 miles
The contact owns a 2008 Dodge Ram 1500. Contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the rear windows and rear doors ceased without warning. Ron tonkin Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram Fiat (16800 SE mcloughlin blvd., milwaukie, or 97267 (503) 258-5800) was contacted and informed of the failure. The contact was informed that the VIN was not subjected to a recall. The vehicle was then taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the wiring harness needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was contacted and informed of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 145,000.

- Milwaukie, OR, USA

problem #48

Feb 082017

Ram 1500

  • 152 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

My truck has randomly been malfuctioning for almost 2 years, while driving the posted speeds 45-75mph the tuck has stalled out causing me to lose all power with my infant daughter I have run into a ditched, nearly escaped other passenger collisons I have had the interior lights and dash lights shut off while driving at night time on non-lit roads forcing me off the road thankfully no imjuries have occuried, it is all due to a faulty tipm that Dodge refuses to acknowledge and wont file a recall your company claims that there is no safety defect to warrant a recall from the tipm, but how many people will have to die families and children for Dodge to fix the issue, it is a huge safety issue I wont put my child back in the truck and I wont drive it by myself, its almost impossible to to steer my vehicle when I lose all power without warning doing 65mph hours on a freeway, it is by the grace of god I am still alive and havent been seriously injured and im not willing to keep taking the risks

- Norphlet, AR, USA

problem #47

Nov 022018

Ram 1500

  • 120,000 miles
Timp failure

- Rialto, CA, USA

problem #46

May 222018

Ram 1500

  • 64,000 miles
About 40% of the time when locking/unlocking the vehicle (either from the door control switch or the remote), the locking motor cycles over and over again. I've taken it to a couple of Dodge dealerships service departments and have been told they can't duplicate the problem even though a technician was standing right there when it happened. I was told this could potentially overheat and catch fire! this started happening within the first year of purchasing the vehicle new.

- Aurora, CO, USA

problem #45

May 232018

Ram 1500

  • 45,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

After I refuel, whether it's 10 gal. Or top it off, the truck will stall everytime as I drive just the first several miles(maybe as soon as 100 yards or up to 10-12 miles or so). It only happens when I come to a stop, like at a red light or at low speed making a turn. It always starts back up, not always easily though. Of course when this happens, power brakes and power steering is lost. This has put me in a couple of dangerous situations while making a turn and suddenly lose power steering. After it's stalled several (4-5) times, it seems to recover until I refuel again and we start all over. This is definitely a major safety issue and a recall needs to happen to finally fix this recurring problem that has been happening for some time now. I purchased this vehicle new and didn't have a problem for the first 40,000 or so miles. It now has 65,000 miles and this problem re-occurs with every single refuel.

- Aurora, CO, USA

problem #44

May 202018

Ram 1500

  • 168,000 miles
Discovered manufacturing defect at electrical plug that sits above left bank where the exhaust manifold meets the exhaust pipe. Furthermore, the connector sits right between the block and the firewall. The connector and it's wiring have an extreme turn off of the plug and created such tension that the plastic convoluted tubing was pulled back from the wiring. All of the wiring to approximately 6' back from the connector is bare and the wires are touching one another. I feel that if the route of the wiring had less of an extreme bend and there was something to secure the wiring was in place, there wouldn't be this concerning issue. I have contacted my local dealership and the fca and they refuse to look at it without charging me money. I am an electrician by trade and I fear that this could affect a multitude of vehicles. The truck will randomly shutdown while driving regardless of speed, , and when sitting idle at times. Also, there are times when the transmission fails to react to the commands given with the gear selector. I'm unsure whether this is related or not.

- Jacksonville, FL, USA

problem #43

Nov 202017

Ram 1500

  • miles
My truck caught on fire in engine area, engulfed back to the box whole truck destroyed! inspector not know what caused fire. Truck was totaled. Stationary for two hours at work.

- Morganville, NJ, USA

problem #42

Dec 142016

Ram 1500

  • 95,000 miles
When putting my turn signal lever to the left my right turn signal comes on. Sometimes the left will be working then it will switch over to the right. Turn my right blinker on and it stos then comes on again stops etc. Just never know what is going O happen. Village motors from millersburg oh said it was the wiring harness which they replaced 2 yers ago when I had the same problem.

- Greenville, NY, USA

problem #41

Apr 052017

Ram 1500

  • 125,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

This vehicle has given me many problems and most recently very dangerous ones. A few months ago on my way to work around 4am the drive shaft broke off and flew out at 75 mph. Luckily there wasn't much traffic during that time and the back part of the drive shaft is the one that broke off not the front so the truck didn't flip over. The truck has been repaired since then. Now a few days ago my pregnant wife was driving the truck and it turned off on her in the middle of an intersection while I was working out of town. On my return I found the electric throttle control light on at the dashboard. In doing some research I found that this is typically in relation to a bad fuel pump relay. I found this to be more than common on many Dodge vehicles and obviously a very dangerous problem to have. The fuel pump relay on my vehicle seems to be integrated into the tipm and not serviceable. There also seems to not be a recall for this problem. It now appears I am being forced to spend $1200 on a manufacturer defect. This vehicle has gone from being my daily commuter to a huge liability because I am not sure what will happen next.

- Stockton, CA, USA

problem #40

Feb 122017

Ram 1500 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 68,860 miles
The contact owns a 2008 Dodge Ram 1500. While driving at an unknown speed, the four wheel drive stopped working independently and the four wheel drive warning indicator illuminated. The dealer diagnosed that the totally integrated power module needed to be repaired. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 68,860....updated 05/19/17

- Hudson, NY, USA

problem #39

Jun 062016

Ram 1500

  • 35,000 miles
The contact owns a 2008 Dodge Ram 1500. The contact stated that the heat failed to transfer from the front dashboard area, floor area, and the defroster failed to function properly. The vehicle was not yet inspected and diagnosed by a mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was notified of the failures. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 35,000.

- East Peoria, IL, USA

problem #38

Dec 052016

Ram 1500 8-cyl

  • 115,000 miles
My truck has quit functioning 3 different times (days). All dash lights come on and there is no communication between the accelerator pedal and engine. Most times it is still running but I cannot make the vehicle move. The last time the engine died completely and I could not restart the vehicle. I have had it towed 3 times to the dealership, they have made repairs based on what they thought was wrong, only to have it stop exactly the same 4 or 5 days later. The first repair was condenser, oil pressure regulator and battery cable, the second repair was the brain. This third time they have had the truck for 3 days and yesterday they called and said they do not know what is wrong, it doesn't give them codes when on computer. I do not feel confident nor safe to drive a truck that just stops when I'm driving. I have found other complaints on a website carcomplaints.com and have found 10 other complaints with very similar vehicle problem. I am leaving work each time this happens and am thankful I am not traveling home during rush hour; I'd likely cause an accident. It has been very expensive almost $2000. And still no truck. First occurrence about 10nov, 2nd occurrence about 16nov, 3rd was 5dec.

- Gilbert, AZ, USA

problem #37

Mar 152016

Ram 1500

  • 71,000 miles
Intermittent shut down at any time. Crank position sensor wire shorting out against engine block. Poor design, wire should be enclosed in such away there is no chance of this occurring.

- San Antonio, TX, USA

problem #36

Sep 262015

Ram 1500

  • 52,000 miles
In September 2015 my truck engine shut off on I-20 w after a hard brake at highway speed while approaching a trailer with a wide load on a bridge overpass. I was the lead vehicle and had the left lane momentarily blocked until I could restart the engine. After shifting to park, it took two attempts to restart the engine. Then, in December 2015 the exact same thing happened in the city after a moderate stop at a red light, again holding up traffic until the engine was restarted. After traveling about one tenth mile the engine quit again as I was approaching a red light. The first instance was a hard break situation to prevent an accident but the second two shutdowns happened with light breaking when approaching a red light. When the engine had to be restarted, it required a couple of attempts before it would engage and then ran rough for a short time before smoothing out. Each instance was while I was driving in a straight line. The first time at highway speed of 70mph and the last two at 30 or 40 city mph. I have not had a problem with this since the last time but I have been extremely careful to lightly apply the brakes when possible. I read on the internet that I am not the only one that has had this problem so that prompted me to file this report. I feel the problem is associated with a engine electronic control of some sort or other. The engine is the veriable 5.7L hemi. My wife has been so upset with this happening, she refuses to ride in my truck anymore. I have not reported this problem, mostly because I have been in the market for a new truck. But, I don't want to trade until I find out if this problem is subject to a recall. This all happened after I had my truck serviced for the air bag recall.

- Killeen, TX, USA

problem #35

Dec 212015

Ram 1500

  • 25,000 miles
The contact owns a 2008 Dodge Ram 1500. The contact stated that while driving 35 mph, the tipm system malfunctioned causing the instrument cluster to illuminate and flash intermittently. The vehicle was diagnosed that the tipm needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 25,000.

- Bowling Green, KY, USA

problem #34

Dec 102015

Ram 1500

  • 27,000 miles
The truck has less than 30,000 miles and needs a new tipm per Dodge dealership diagnostics. Every light on the dash will flash and the gauges become disabled. Sometimes it is continuous sometimes it's only for a few seconds. The cargo lights will come on in the middle of the night and will drain the battery. The gauge lights come on when sitting in park, while driving and even when the truck hasn't been in use. Random electrical functions will blink.

- Bowling Green, KY, USA

problem #33

Jun 102011

Ram 1500

  • 35,829 miles
Both left and right tie rods failed at 3 years old and 4 years old and we replaced them out of pocket. All 4 O2 sensors failed at 5 years old but dealer failed to diagnose this correctly while the truck was still under warranty and we had to replace these and the PCM, which burnt out because of the defective O2 sensors, after the truck was not under warranty any more. The airbags are defective and Chrysler does not have the parts to fix it and we can't sell the vehicle as it is. Chrysler states it is not part of the buyback and now we are stuck with an unsafe vehicle that we can't sell.

- Lake Orion, MI, USA

problem #32

Oct 052015

Ram 1500 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 215,845 miles
The contact owns a 2008 Dodge Ram 1500. Upon turning the vehicle to the off position and removing the key, the engine continued to run. The contact removed the battery cables, but the engine still continued to run. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 215,845. Updated 02/26/16

- Strawberry Plains, TN, USA

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