Problems · by component
2011 Ram 1500 steering problems
45 owner complaints to NHTSA about the 2011 Ram 1500 cite steering, 7% of all 689 complaints for this model year.
Complaints
45
7% of all complaints
Crashes
5
Reported by owners
Fires
0
Reported by owners
Injuries
5
Reported by owners
What owners say about the steering
Verbatim from NHTSA complaints, newest first
“I was driving my 2001 Dodge Ram 20-30mph and experienced a total power loss, power steering, power brakes and clock reset. My husband was also in the pickup and can attest to issue. I am an older person so had a very hard time stopping the vehicle and attempting to steer it to the side of the road. Traffic backed up behind me before I could put on my warning blinkers.Eventually, I turned off and on the pickup and everything worked somewhat normally but the vehicle went into limp mode. I got home, had the vehicle towed to the dealership. I explained issue, requested a total diagnosis of everything that was wrong but most importantly, I wanted the total power loss issue diagnosed, pinpointed and resolved. because I don't feel safe driving until issue is truly diagnosed and fixed. I gave them my lifetimecarmaxplus warranty . The techs found a list of parts that needed to be fixed besides the power loss problem, but told me they couldn't fix the total power loss because no codes had been thrown. I explained that since there was a total power loss it was reported by other Dodge techs that no codes could be retrieved. I asked the service manager to ask his tech what…”
“This issue has been experienced more than 5 times and only occurs while turning. While making both left and right hand turns, the steering wheel locks mid turn and the engine completely shuts off resulting in the inability to turn in any direction. The first time this happened, I almost went into a ditch and today as I turned to cross an intersection, I lost all steering control and the truck shut down mid turn in the middle of the intersection. This left the truck immobilized in the intersection and facing into oncoming traffic. Following each incident, I put the truck in park and restart it as if there was no issue. There are no warning lights that appear prior to any of the incidents that would indicate an issue and the instrument panel goes dark each time the issue occurs. This is going to get me and/or my family killed one of these days. I have researched this online and there are countless reports from other 2011 Ram owners experiencing the same exact issue. How has a safety recall not been issued for this?”
“Yesterday, the Front Right Wheel completely separated from the axel while driving 25 mph. The truck veered sharply to the right, crashing into the driver's side of a fortunately unoccupied parked car, and continued to the right into the curb. I was not seriously injured, though my neck was strained. The tire and rim were destroyed, and it appears that the metal attachment from the wheel to the car was completely sheared through. There was also extensive Front End damage. Had I made it another mile to the parkway, this would have been a fatal injury to me, as well as other drivers. The truck was just inspected 2 days prior to this occurrence by a Certified Dodge Ram Dealer (NY Facility #[XXX]) with a clean health record. It is currently at the North Star Auto Body (516-781-2200) awaiting inspection by the Allstate Insurance adjuster (Claim # [XXX]). A police report was also filed. (Case #[XXX]) There was no warning to this catastrophic event.”
“WIN IGNITION UNIT CAN Turn off BY KEY FOB MOVEMENT WHEN DRIVING CAUSING ENGINE TO SHUT OFF WITH LOSS OF STEERING AND BRAKING Control *** Fuel pump remains on when vehicle is off and key fob is removed. Risk of fuel pump fire and electrial FIRE. **TIPM SHORTS AT FUEL PUMP RELAY CAUSING FUEL pump to continually operate and drain battery and risk of fire FUEL pUMP TO CONTINUALLY RUN AND operate RISK OF FIRE DAMAGE TO Surroundings. fuel pump runs WITH VEHICLE IGNITION OFF AND KEY REMOVeD CAUSING A DRAIN ON THE VEHICLE battery until battery is fully discharged.”
“In march/ 2020 my truck shut off 3xs going down the hwy with me and my kids in it . all without any warning. Upon the third event it caused my truck to began losing power to my headlights and tail lights and no hazards as well ? Which i thought was a very concerning matter especially at night... Very dangerous and it could have had one of us hurt or even killed . i payed 150 for a wrecker and hauled it to a mechanic that night . over the course of the next few days they checked it and no signs of the same thing recurring while at the shop . payed another 75 dollars amd drove truck for another couple months and then the same thing happening again . yet this time i was lucky enough to be just pulling out of my driveway . took to mechanic again paying a friend 75 to carry by tow dolly . only to be told nothing was wrong . its like my truck is possessed . later on the truck ended up shorting my fuel pump and my tipm costing me alot of money 1400 to replace the tipm. And 535 to replace the fuel pump . then 1 yr later again the security light on dash came on and bam it burnt my fuel pump up again , thus causing me to fork out another 535 plus a by pass relay harmess…”
“THE VEHICLE STOPS UNEXPECTEDLY WHILE DRIVING. THIS HAS HAPPENED ON A BUSY STREET AND HIGHWAY ALMOST GETTING INTO TWO ACCIDENTS WITH FAMILY MEMBERS IN MY VEHICLE”
Showing 6 of 45 reports. Read every report on NHTSA.gov.
Data from NHTSA Complaints API (owner reports, unverified) · synced Nov 6, 2026NHTSA vehicle page
Complaints are unverified owner reports to NHTSA and are not normalized for sales volume. One complaint can cite several components.