Ram is recalling 306,165 pickups in the United States for an electrical issue that can lead to a fire. There are also 21,988 affected units in Canada and 12,590 outside of North America. That's a total of 340,743 vehicles. The company is advising owners of the affected trucks to park them outside until the repair is done. Specifically, the campaign covers these models that have 6.7-liter Cummins diesel engines and prior-generation heater-grid relays:
- 2021-2023 Ram 2500
- 2021-2023 Ram 3500
- 2021-2023 Ram 3500/4500/5500 Chassis Cab
Gallery: 2023 Ram Heavy Duty Rebel
The problem is that intake heater-grid relays can overheat. Replacing an electrical connector is the fix for the issue. There were two previous, smaller campaigns to deal with this, according to Ram.
Ram is aware of six fires from this issue. Five of those cases happened while the truck's engine was running. One occurred while the ignition was off. There haven't been any reported injuries.
Ram will begin notifying owners about this problem in March. However, customers who own one of these trucks can now enter their pickup's VIN into the automaker's recall site to see if this campaign affects them.
In November 2022, Ram announced a recall for 248,342 examples of Heavy Duty pickups in the US with the Cummins diesel engine that also posed a fire risk. In that case, heat and pressure could build up in the gearbox causing automatic transmission fluid to leak out of the dipstick tube and potentially causing a blaze
Ram introduced some updates to the Heavy Duty trucks for the 2023 model year. The 2500 and 3500 received an updated camera system with behind-trailer and blind-spot views. The Limited trim level got a 12-inch digital instrument cluster. New options included a digital rearview mirror with side camera integration and Trailer Reverse Steering Control for backing up more easily when pulling something.
