2009 Dodge RAM 1500
This year drew an ordinary 679 complaints for a Dodge RAM 1500 — the model's median is 566. What they were about is the unusual part: 6.2% of them mention defrost, against 0.9% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 679 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 566 |
| Involving a crash | 29 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| EPA combined | 15 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- defrost — 6.2% of this year's complaints, against 0.9% across the model's other years (6.6×). Owners wrote it as: defrost, hvac, knocking.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
WHILE STATIONARY, THE HVAC SYSTEM WOULD NOT DEFROST THE WINDSHIELD. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DIAGNOSED OR REPAIRED. THE [VIN] WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 90,000.
THE DEFROSTER FAILED TO CLEAR THE WINDSHIELD. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER. THE TECHNICIAN DIAGNOSED THAT THE HVAC ACTUATOR GEARS WAS FAULTY AND NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE [VIN] WAS MADE AWARE OF THE ISSUE. THE APPROXIMATE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 12V474000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 13V038000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Dodge RAM 1500 was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2009 Dodge RAM 1500? What happened to yours?
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