Tailgate lock recall notice

madtrucker2016 said:

OK you had your little fit now grown talk time. What would happen lets say you bring your truck into the dealer or even another repair place. The driver who is behind the wheel of your truck with your insurance gets out and the truck runs over someone ,guess what you would be held responsible because you were aware of the fact it was a recall on it. This is why its called a safety notice recall. But you seem like hell bent on your way

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If I bring my truck into a place like the dealer and they wreck it or they run someone over .Their insurance .Will cover it nit mine.

Regardless of what many may think, shifting gears with a round knob on the dash has a learning curve. If that is natural for you, congratulations. The rest is us, not so much.


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bankshot said:

Regardless of what many may think, shifting gears with a round knob on the dash has a learning curve. If that is natural for you, congratulations. The rest is us, not so much.


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Your thought process is broken then, as the process should include a shift to hold the vehicle stationary, regardless of the mechanism to do so.

I am familiar with the foot on the brake. Seems that has been standard for many years. The thought process isn’t the problem. Reaching for a gear shift lever, pulling it or pushing it To move or park. Not reaching for a round knob and turning it to park, drive, reverse. Same function for the air, radio etc. I am quite sure I am not the only one on this board that has reached for the gear shift lever, or turned up the blower on the air. I think it referred to as Rote learning. LEARNING CURVE

indept said:

Keep in mind things like this don't cure themselves, it's not IF but When it pops open. If someting falls out and causes someone to get injured or killed behind you, will you be ok with that? Just get it fixed and as for the autopark, big deal, so you have to fasten the seatbelt then sit on it if you want to backup with the door open.

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Not gonna do that, mainly because it's been about 2 years since it happened and my fear of non-caring and incompetent
techs at the dealership....

Got my official recall letter last week. Had the tailgate fix done today. In and out in less than 20 minutes. Quick and painless. Barely had time to check out the rest of the trucks on the lot.

reefer451 said:

So this is the 3rd outstanding recall on my '14 Ram 4x4 Hemi CC. The first one for the cruise control seemed so unlikely to ever happen and easy enough to over ride if it did that I just didn't worry about it. Then the second to make the trans shift into park if the drivers door is opened is so obnoxious that I never want that one done. Now this new one for the tail gate is something that I would like to get fixed.

Can I take it to the dealer and tell them I only want 2 of the 3 recalls done? I expect they would refuse. How prevalent are tailgate lock failures? I'd hate to dump a load on the highway but if it's like a 0.1% failure rate I might just ignore this one too.

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Yup, I had the exact same 3 recalls on my 2015 Ram. And chose only to get the transmission thing fixed. (They called it "shift interlock")


The service advisor just wrote on the work order that I refused the other 2 recalls.

They explained to me that, for instance, if the tailgate should fly open while the truck is being driven, FCA wouldn't be responsible for any loss I incurred from what was possibly in the bed.....

I'm like huh?? if that happened, how the fu*k am I supposed to prove that it was a faulty tailgate latch, and not just me inadvertedly not closing the tailgate all the way, thus it opening while driving. It's worked flawlessly from when I bought it brand new in 2015...if it ain't broke, don't fix it!!

As for the cruise control "issue", again, see above note...."if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

slacadjuster said:

Yup, I had the exact same 3 recalls on my 2015 Ram. And chose only to get the transmission thing fixed. (They called it "shift interlock")


The service advisor just wrote on the work order that I refused the other 2 recalls.

They explained to me that, for instance, if the tailgate should fly open while the truck is being driven, FCA wouldn't be responsible for any loss I incurred from what was possibly in the bed.....

I'm like huh?? if that happened, how the fu*k am I supposed to prove that it was a faulty tailgate latch, and not just me inadvertedly not closing the tailgate all the way, thus it opening while driving. It's worked flawlessly from when I bought it brand new in 2015...if it ain't broke, don't fix it!!

As for the cruise control "issue", again, see above note...."if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

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This is some very interesting deductive reasoning. Out of the three recalls you have, while you were already at the dealer, you chose to only have the recall that actually doesn’t matter performed. If the shift interlock fails, then you just have a truck that you can shift out of park without pressing the brake pedal, just like how vehicles used to be. For the other two, I’ll never get the logic behind “it hasn’t happened to me, so I’m not gonna do it”. Is that like, “I’ve been crossing the street my whole life without looking both ways, and I haven’t been hit yet, so why should I start looking both ways”

Is this the recall / part part in question?


Is so, that little 5¢ peice of rubber isnt worth the gas it would take to drive the truck in to the dealer. Hell, it's not worth the gas it would take to start the truck.

I got the tailgate notice in the mail a few days ago for my 2013 sport.

Im going to model that thing up in CAD and 3d print it using heavy duty TPU.

Jimmy07 said:

This is some very interesting deductive reasoning. Out of the three recalls you have, while you were already at the dealer, you chose to only have the recall that actually doesn’t matter performed. If the shift interlock fails, then you just have a truck that you can shift out of park without pressing the brake pedal, just like how vehicles used to be. For the other two, I’ll never get the logic behind “it hasn’t happened to me, so I’m not gonna do it”. Is that like, “I’ve been crossing the street my whole life without looking both ways, and I haven’t been hit yet, so why should I start looking both ways”

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"It hasn't happened to me, so I'm not gonna do it?" WTF are you talking about??

slacadjuster said:

"It hasn't happened to me, so I'm not gonna do it?" WTF are you talking about??

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slacadjuster said:

It's worked flawlessly from when I bought it brand new in 2015...if it ain't broke, don't fix it!!

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....soooo, because the tailgate hasn’t failed since 2015, that means it’s not going to happen?
Or, rather than prevent it before it happens, it’s better to wait for it to happen?

Jimmy07 said:

....soooo, because the tailgate hasn’t failed since 2015, that means it’s not going to happen?
Or, rather than prevent it before it happens, it’s better to wait for it to happen?

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If it ain't broke, don't fix it

I opened my tailgate up to get the dimensions so I could 3d print the part.

It's a good thing I did, because even though I've never had any issues, the overtravel tab on mine is either broken off or was never there to begin with.

The part is about halfway finished printing.

After having mine apart and seeing what's going on inside, I would recommend getting it fixed, even if you've not had any trouble yet. That cheap folded metal tab is thin, and succeptible to breaking. Once that tab breaks, all the stress from the locking solinoid working, is held by a thin plastic loop attached to the key lock.once that metal tab breaks, that plastic loop WILL fail eventually, and allow the latching mechanism to rotate too far in the wrong direction. After that happens, the next time the door locks activate, the tailgate will open.

Honestly, I don't see signs of metal fatigue where my overtravel tab should be. It looks like my 2013, which IS subject the recall, never had the tab.

Edited to add:
I got the part in. A perfect fit.
It sounds different now. It used to make a loud clunk sound, followed by a 1 second buzzing sound. Now it's just a soft clunk.

Just so I don't have to try taking and uploading pics, the video I posted on the previous page does a decent job of showing the issue and the fix.

Jimmy07 said:

....soooo, because the tailgate hasn’t failed since 2015, that means it’s not going to happen?
Or, rather than prevent it before it happens, it’s better to wait for it to happen?

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I guess he'd rather cause an accident and possibly kill someone rather than have a free recall done???

I got the notice for the front gas tank strap-apparently it has only failed in their testing-no reports of failing or accidents. My issue is what is involved if you read on You tube-4-6hrs labor-lots of things being disconnected under hood etc. Now why couldnt they just add an extra bracket or even a ratchet strap for extra support just to be safe should it rot out. My truck is Krowned yearly and I have the luxury of staying home from work when the snow and salt are both flying around. Could the dealerships be over-charging FCA for a much more involved repair than needed. I expected maybe 1hr in and out. I dont want my truck back after they go messing around under the hood with all the things that they say are going to be done-to fix a gas tank support strap? It runs beautiful now and dont want their "techs"screwing around under my hood when none of it seems relevant to a gas tank support strap! It may never run the same again if some junior starts messing around with parts that were set precisely from the factory. Anyone have any advice on this?

tomb said:

I got the notice for the front gas tank strap-apparently it has only failed in their testing-no reports of failing or accidents. My issue is what is involved if you read on You tube-4-6hrs labor-lots of things being disconnected under hood etc. Now why couldnt they just add an extra bracket or even a ratchet strap for extra support just to be safe should it rot out. My truck is Krowned yearly and I have the luxury of staying home from work when the snow and salt are both flying around. Could the dealerships be over-charging FCA for a much more involved repair than needed. I expected maybe 1hr in and out. I dont want my truck back after they go messing around under the hood with all the things that they say are going to be done-to fix a gas tank support strap? It runs beautiful now and dont want their "techs"screwing around under my hood when none of it seems relevant to a gas tank support strap! It may never run the same again if some junior starts messing around with parts that were set precisely from the factory. Anyone have any advice on this?

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A ratchet strap will rot eventually. They most likely remove the tank & weld or bolt a new bracked which the existing steel type straps attach to. Not sure what they touch under the hood but, besides disconnecting the battery so they can undo the fuel pump connector safely. As far as failing in tests only there were reports in this forum of it happening in some forum members trucks.

All these complaints in this thread, someones spiking your dope with paranoid powder.....

I got the letter in the mail last week so i'll have to schedule the work with the dealer, or perhaps i'll get the part and install it myself. i've seen the install video and its a piece of cake. in the meantime my tailgate won't go anywhere anyways if the part decided to fail

Untitled by RAM RSM, on Flickr

indept said:

A ratchet strap will rot eventually. They most likely remove the tank & weld or bolt a new bracked which the existing steel type straps attach to. Not sure what they touch under the hood but, besides disconnecting the battery so they can undo the fuel pump connector safely. As far as failing in tests only there were reports in this forum of it happening in some forum members trucks.

All these complaints in this thread, someones spiking your dope with paranoid powder.....

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Ive never seen a woven ratchet strap wear out in 30yrs weve been using them to ratchet tons of granite slabs onto our trucks in all weather imaginable-seems like the repair could be done without even removing the tank-but thats my opinion anyway.

tomb said:

Could the dealerships be over-charging FCA for a much more involved repair than needed. I expected maybe 1hr in and out.

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You don't understand how warranties\recalls work, do you?

FCA dictates the time alloted for a recall. The dealers quite often lose money on recall work.

I hope I dont need anymore recall education-3 is enough although I am sure people will say that is not many--It is a pain in the ass-embly!