Problems with 2004 Dodge Ram 3500 VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL

While driving on a busy interstate highway recentally and pulling a car trailer, i was returning home from a vacation when the throttle position sensor (tps) failed. this results in a "dead pedal" situation, where the engine falls to idle, and there is no 'drive' to the wheels. this situation is very serious as sometimes there is no where to pull off the interstate, due to traffic lane narrowing. my personal situation was that i was able to coast to the side of the road. to re-set the tps, you must stop, put in park, turn the ignition off, wait approx. 10-15 seconds, and then re-start. it should re-set and you can drive away, although a 'check engine' light appears. in my case, the tps failed a second time, a short distance away, and i had to repeat the steps. the second time it "worked" and i was able to drive home. this failure of the tps had a profound effect on me personally. there is no warning that this is about to happen. when it does happen, you have no throttle input and you must get off the road. all i could think about during those moments of panic, was being smashed into from the rear! i am aware this is an issue with my type of vehicle as i have done some follow up research on the internet following my incident. i want to inform you, that i purchased the vehicle new in 2004. this vehicle is immaculate, and all maintenance is performed at the local dealer. in car guys terms, this vehicle would be considered a "garage queen" and there would be no contributing factors such as lack of maintaince, dirt, road grime, or abuse. i am convinced this situation will lead to a serious accident, if not to me, then to someone else, and i want to inform you of this potential serious issue. i have spoken to the dealer/mechanic and the solution is a tps replacement, but in my opinion, this should never happen in the first place.

Engine revving to 3000 rpm and not idle down. had to ride brakes put trans in neutral or park to stop. breaks would not stop truck only slow it. shop found cod p0606 ecm/pcm communication failure. why did this not put the truck in limp mode or prevent it from starting. replaced ecm/pcm control module truck runs fine. very expensive 3400 dollars.

2004 dodge ram 3500 pickup cummins 5.9 liter diesel engine. 1/17/2009 under/over acceleration. vehicle is a "drive by wire" design. problem happened very sporadically. would only happen when vehicle and outside air temp was 20 degrees f or lower. problem happened about 4 times during the winter of 2007-2008. problem at that time was only under acceleration. i would be driving down the highway at between 55 and 70 mph. the tuck would suddenly not maintain speed and would not accelerate. pushing the gas pedal all the way to the floor would produce no response from the engine. check engine light comes on. after a few seconds truck drives normally again. this scenario has happened 8 to 10 times. over acceleration. this happened twice on 1/13/09. again truck had been sitting outside all day. started truck and all was normal for the first 5 or 10 minutes of driving. i was driving down the highway at a steady speed of 60 mph. with no input from me suddenly the truck accelerated very rapidly. the transmission down shifted and the engine rpm jumped up considerably. in my panic i stabbed the brake pedal and was able to slow the truck somewhat. after accelerating wildly for about 1 to 2 seconds the truck then went into the under acceleration mode. now pushing the gas pedal all the way to the floor would get zero response from the engine. this sudden over acceleration happened again about ten miles further down the road. luckily the roads were dry and there were no vehicles close enough to me to cause any crash. i replaced the accelerator pedal position sensor and so far the problem has not returned. this is a great concern because of what might have happened during the over acceleration. if the road was snow covered or icy the outcome could have been very serious or even deadly. *tr

Consumer noticed that the vehicle shifted gears on it own. while the vehicle was parked it shifted into reverse. consumer was able to maintain control of the vehicle, and pulled over. also, while applying the accelerator pedal vehicle failed to accelerate. after applying the accelerator pedal numerous times vehicle accelerated uncontrollably. however, consumer was able to maintain control of the vehicle, and drove it to the dealer for inspection. mechanic could not duplicate the problem. *ak the consumer parked the vehicle and was walking behind the vehicle and it started rolling backwards catching the consumer between the bumper and the car 8-10 feet behind it. the consumer was injured. *tc