Problems with 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 EQUIPMENT

The defective plastic dashboard on the 2001 dodge ram broke into fragments and stuck the drivers right eye causing temporary blindness and loss of control to vehicle. this has been a long time well known safety issue for thousands of dodge ram owners that nhsta still says is a "cosmetic issue" i almost killed my child do to your collusion with chrysler deeming this a "cosmetic issue"

The dash is cracking and caving in. radio isn't working now due to cut or burnt wires. the passenger side airbag could deploy at any sec with all the cracks and pieces fallen. *tt

Dashboard and cap is cracking up into jagged pieces. should the air bags deploy, severe injury could result from being punctured from plastic shrapnel much more than the cause of the airbag deployment. i feel the manufacturer should implement a replacement at no expense. *ln

On friday september 17, 2010 i was driving down highway 231 in lafayette indiana, when suddenly i realized i could no longer use the brakes on my truck. i tried to slow my vehicle by braking but my brakes were not working so i just let up on the gas. at this point my brake light came on as did my abs light on the control panel. i was still about 40 miles away from my home and still had about 30 minutes of driving to do before i reached my destination. i drove about 20 miles an hour with my emergency lights on and was prepared to us my emergency brake if i needed to. thankfully there was construction going on at the time on parts of highway 231 at the time, so parts of highway 231 were slow going anyway. however, the loss of my brake system should never have happened. i made it successfully home without injuring myself or anyone else on friday september 17, 2010. however, my truck is only 9 years only and this incident should never have taken place. when i returned home all of my brake fluid was poring out and was completely out of the master tank under my hood. furthermore, looking at the brake lines, the hard lines that lead to this problem revealed that severe rust had lead to the total breakdown and actually caused the hard lines of my brakes to brake in half, while i was driving. this should never happen in a nine year only vehicle, that is very well maintained. i have since replace my brake system with all new parts and bleed the brake system. i have also told people with whom i now have other dodge's about my incident, to at least check their brake system for possible rust so they do not have to go through what i have gone through. i have kept the old part, at least for a while, in case i need to prove that this really did happen and these were really bad parts that chrysler installed on these trucks. most of all i would like to know why there were no recalls on this after there were so many problems with this same incident. *tr

Spare tire is not properly secured which causes you to loose your spare tire which has happened to me causing damage to other parts cause cable is not strong enough to secure your tire proper and now i am like others i have spoken to with the same trucks has happened to them also. now i have to look for another spare and rear bumper due to damage done and dent to rear corner panel. this needs to be addressed to dodge so it can be repaired right so it is not a safety hazard to all other people on the road. *tr

My dash started cracking before i bought it back in 3/2009 but now the cracks are "holes". the dash is literally caving in. what is left is sharp edged pieces that can easily cut you. also, the wide open craters are allowing the hot texas sun to bake the wiring and has to be a contributing factor to the random intermittent electrical issues that seem to be cropping up periodically.

My front end rim and tire locked up at 59 mph-causing a severe swerve to the left/right-then i swerved into an 18 wheeler;air bags did not deploy;seatbelts were not unlatching prior to accident so not usable at the time. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2001 dodge ram 1500. the contact was driving approximately 45 mph when she noticed there were several large cracks in the passenger side dashboard. . in addition, the air conditioner was also leaking coolant. the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for inspection. the air conditioner coil needed to be replaced. the technician advised that the dashboard must be removed during the air conditioner service repair. however, due to the severe defects of the dashboard a replacement was required before the air conditioning repair could be performed. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure and current mileage was unknown.

Unbelievable problem to have on a truck that has been so pampered. rarely driven on less than paved roads, maintained religiously, immaculate interior. imagine my shock to discover several huge cracks in the dash! one starts at the top to the left of the steering wheel and runs all the way to the windshield, and the other intersects across. i have not yet taken it to the dealership for consideration, but after reading these posts i'm not holding out much hope for a reasonable resolution. what a ginormous piece of crap. *tr

Dash board on my 2001 dodge 1500 cracked replaced with new dash board and recracked within a month in a different area. *tr

I now have two ram 1500 trucks with dash top failures here in texas. i was hit from the rear in my 2000 ram 1500 and plastic pieces from the already cracked and cracking dash hit me in the face as it exploded on impact causing many minor facial cuts but none in my eyes. being blinded caused me to loose control of my vehicle. i then hit a telephone pole. air bag deployment occurred that cut both air bags on both sides with more shards of the dash. my 2001 ram 1500 also has a severely cracked dash and is getting much worse. this occurred within 6 months of purchase. chrysler corp. refuses to respond and the dealership will not respond with any help claiming they are not responsible plus they have no parts or any way to fix the problem. they claim there are no plans for the parts to be manufactured either. this problem has become an epidemic to ram owners and will someday become and cause serious and potentially fatality problems. accident reports are not showing the dash as a problem. they indicate the cracked dash was caused by the accident and is a result. insurance companies claim it is a manufactures problems. the owner takes the hit unless he can convince the insurance adjuster to total the vehicle. the present political situation nation wide is stopping my pleas to my representative on my complaints and pleas for assistance to fall on dead ears. dodge dealers are hiding the fact that a cracked dash ram 1500 trade ins are being junked to hide this major issue. thusly it is not getting the proper attention. at local auto auctions the dodge ram 1500's do not sell. as a note: there is also a major transmission problem as noted by most transmission shops all over the country. to my knowledge, nothing is being done to correct many and most of dodge ram 1500's problems because of the dashes. "get them off the road at the owners expense" is chrysler corporations plan as per the factory representative when he was cornered. i have bought my last dodge. *tr

In june of 2006 i noticed a hairline crack in the dash of my 2001 dodge ram 1500, which only had 36,000 on it at the time. i did not have it repaired thinking the dealer would just tell me it was usual wear and tear. since that day the dash has continued to crack and i now have a section where the cracks have connected. it appears there will soon be an area of the dash the size of a softball or larger where there will be a hole. this hole will be directly above the instrumentation. i have recently learned there are hundreds of similar complaints from owners of 1998-2002 dodge trucks. some of which have experienced electrical problems, such as their headlights going off. this has led me to voice a complaint with carcomplaints.com and the nhtsa. this is obviously a defect in material and/or workmanship at the chrysler corporation and they should be held accountable and replace these defective parts. this is a safety issue!! headlights shutting off as you drive down a dark road is a safety issue!! it is a shame, but it appears it will take someone either dying or getting seriously injured before anything is done to force chrysler to correct this problem. *tr

My 2001 dodge ram 1500 dash is completely cracked and has several holes in it where the plastic has caved in. i am concerned the holes and continued cracking will cause exposed wires to be burnt or severed, which could endanger the lives of the passengers in the vehicle. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2001 dodge ram 1500. the contact observed two small cracks around the vents attached to the dashboard. two months later cracks were present near the windshield on both sides of the dashboard and in the center with exposed wires. the dashboard was replaced at the contact''s expense. also, the air conditioner failed and was repaired at the contact''s expense. the contact filed complaint # 16254734 on may 1, 2007 with dodge due to news broadcast stating that the dashboards on the vehicles were cracking. the current mileage is 60,000, and failure mileage was 40,000.*ak updated 05/21/07 *tr

Over a period of a few months the freon in my pickup's air conditioning system escaped under pressure (when the a/c or defroster were turned on and engine running) into the cab of the truck. i periodically noticed an oily residue on the inside of the wind shield when the a/c or defroster were turned on, but thought little of it. simultaneously with the freon leaking under pressure into the cab, i developed serious medical problems including a diagnosis by a neurologist of polyneuropathy following ascending periphal neuropathy. i lost forty pounds in a two month period. i did not know the cause of my illness until the a/c stopped working due to a lack of freon, and the mechanic traced the leak to the inside of the cab. i have not fully recovered from the prolonged effects of breathing the freon.it seems there should be some sort of detector to indicate when a problem such as this occurs. since my dodge pickup had this problem, i suspect that others may have had the same malufunction, and would like to warn other drivers. fortunately, i was the only user of the truck and i am over 60 years old. my dr. tells me that the long-term effects of regularly breathing freon almost daily for several weeks is unknown and that i might recover from the neuropathy or possibly not. my weight loss occurred considerably in the arms and legs (consistent with periphal neuropathy associated with breathing freon). please warn others of this problem.*ak

I parked my pickup after work one evening went out the next morning and the dash was cracked. it is a 2001 dodge ram 1500 this was in 2004 the next morning i went out for work and the dash was cracked and has since completely caved in. some electrical components have stopped working. now i know this is a wide spread complaint but so far is not considered a safety risk. well why do we have to wait until some one is injured before it is considered a safety risk. is the wiring going to short out and catch me on fire or is my lights going to be the next thing to go out is the air bag going to deploy properly should i have a wreck, or will it just deploy while i am driving down the road for no reason. i have done nothing to correct the problem because i can not afford to. defective plastic was used in the dashes for several years and dodge refuses to correct the problem. maybe instead of waiting until something bad happens you should check on this problem now and maybe save someone from injury or save someone's life maybe mine. *tr

Several cracks in the dashboard. *bf small crack of 2 inches long within a week moved all the way across the dashboard and became 5 cracks as time went on. the consumer is having problems getting the problem corrected by dealer. *tc

I have a 2001 dodge ram 1500 slt. although i have taken extremely good care of this truck, the dash has cracked into a million pieces. it is about to fall in. i doubt my air bags would function properly in a crash, due to the decreased strength of the surrounding areas, and the fact that the top of the dash is about to fall into the air bag compartment on the passenger side. electrical wires can be seen through the cracks. every time i turn the blower on near the windshield, tiny pieces of dash that have broken off blow up and around the truck, often into my eyes. this certainly isn't safe, since i can't see with plastic in my eyes!!! this seems to be an extremely common problem. if you review the number of complaints listed about this same problem at www.carcomplaints.com, you will see just how many dodge owners are dealing with this. the plastic used to make the dash is obviously substandard, and all cracked dashes should be recalled and replaced at dodges expense. *tr

Transmission, brakes, air conditioning. *ph

Jack is too small to hold vehicle while tire is being changed on an incline. please give any further details. *ak

I was struck by lightening through the antenna while driving. i am having some medical problems and have yet to see doctor. i was tingled by theligtening, and sore from head to foot. is not a vehicle suppose to have arresters to prevent this from happening?