2018 Ram turns on / stays on with no key

[Lamarsh]

As the title states, my new Ram seems to have a mind of its own. On two separate occasions I have gone to my truck to find it on, music blasting, no key in the ignition and the doors locked. This past weekend it happened and I was up all night thinking my neighbors were keeping me up with music, when the entire time it was my truck on all night playing music, all the while I had taken the key out, locked it and all.

Anybody else experience this?

 

[turkeybird56]

Nope, only thing I can think of is somebody trying to or has hacked your truck. If U think this is what it is, I would go and have key (both of them) and truck re-programmed different freqs (for lack of better word)...

Now, FWIW, on MY 19 Bighorn, push button start, I can leave running, lock door and walk away with FOB. I thought it would time out and or not go in gear w/o FOB present, not, the truck will still go into gear as long as was started with FOB, just FYI...

 

[Lamarsh]

Nope, only thing I can think of is somebody trying to or has hacked your truck. If U think this is what it is, I would go and have key (both of them) and truck re-programmed different freqs (for lack of better word)...

Now, FWIW, on MY 19 Bighorn, push button start, I can leave running, lock door and walk away with FOB. I thought it would time out and or not go in gear w/o FOB present, not, the truck will still go into gear as long as was started with FOB, just FYI...

Well one thing I do know about my 2018 is that sometimes the screen does stay on after locking the truck, for a few minutes, and I had asked about this and they said it's normal, and that sometimes it reboots and such. But to stay on all night, something has to be wrong, and I am thinking it has something to do with the fact that it's designed to perform certain functions when the car is already turned off.

 

[PolarisCobra]

My father-in-law had a Caddy that seemed to have a mind of it's own. Would lock itself when in the garage, memory seat would go to the wrong position, and other stuff as I remember.

After some searching, my brother-in-law found a 'lost' key between the seat and the console. Took the key out of there, problem solved. We think the buttons would get pushed when someone got in or out, or the seat foam would relax after a bit, activating something.

Move the seats all the way forward and back, dig around to see if there is an extra key stuck in there someplace.

 

[turkeybird56]

Check in your Radio setup display for engine power delay and see what set on. Because U can set up where certain items remain powered for up to (10) minutes,. But if you get out of your truck, after U have turned off, the radio will remain displayed till U open the Driver's Door. When U open door, that system which is also powering those certain options should shut down. If it does not, then something just is not right and needs to be diagnosed. If you dealer cannot fix, maybe another dealer as long as you can reproduce what U R talking about to show. If U have to, use phone make video to show, all IMHO.....

 

[werdna1977]

Well one thing I do know about my 2018 is that sometimes the screen does stay on after locking the truck, for a few minutes, and I had asked about this and they said it's normal, and that sometimes it reboots and such. But to stay on all night, something has to be wrong, and I am thinking it has something to do with the fact that it's designed to perform certain functions when the car is already turned off.

Unfortunately i dont think that this is normal behavior. I had a 15 and my 18 that the screen never stayed on once the truck was turned off and the door opened. Yes it will stay on until the door opens but then it turns off immediately

 

[hammy56]

Whoa...
Never heard of this. But last week I came back out of the store to find my driver seat adjusted all the way back and all the way down...(electric seat).
Truck was locked.

 

[Lamarsh]

My father-in-law had a Caddy that seemed to have a mind of it's own. Would lock itself when in the garage, memory seat would go to the wrong position, and other stuff as I remember.

After some searching, my brother-in-law found a 'lost' key between the seat and the console. Took the key out of there, problem solved. We think the buttons would get pushed when someone got in or out, or the seat foam would relax after a bit, activating something.

Move the seats all the way forward and back, dig around to see if there is an extra key stuck in there someplace.

Definitely no key lost between the seats, but I appreciate the thought! This issue has to be some issue with the computers system, hardware or software.

Check in your Radio setup display for engine power delay and see what set on. Because U can set up where certain items remain powered for up to (10) minutes,. But if you get out of your truck, after U have turned off, the radio will remain displayed till U open the Driver's Door. When U open door, that system which is also powering those certain options should shut down. If it does not, then something just is not right and needs to be diagnosed. If you dealer cannot fix, maybe another dealer as long as you can reproduce what U R talking about to show. If U have to, use phone make video to show, all IMHO.....

This is a good point. The other good point was made by the dealership I spoke to today, who said that there is a TSB about Rams staying on like how I described, and the main fix so far has apparently been replacing a faulty SOS button that is on the rear view mirror. Apparantly the SOS button somehow can allow the power of the car to be on without keys, and in some vehicles they are finding that the button engages without being pressed. Still sort of confuses me how that could keep my truck's power on all night long, but I guess it's a thought.....

Unfortunately i dont think that this is normal behavior. I had a 15 and my 18 that the screen never stayed on once the truck was turned off and the door opened. Yes it will stay on until the door opens but then it turns off immediately

From what I understand though, our 2018s actually are supposed to remain on sometimes after we close the door. Not 00% sure of this, maybe mine really is faulty, but I do recall noting the fact that my screen remains on sometimes after I lock and close the door and they told me that is normal, and sometimes these new computer systems run updates and such after we exit and turn the truck off. This, however, usually only happens for a few minutes then turns off, and my music isn't on when this happens. What happened this weekend kept my sound system and everything on all night.

 

[turkeybird56]

IMHO I think the dealer is blowing Smoke at you. Any updates are done with truck running. Maybe different on 18, than MY 12, 15, and now 19. But I do not have the 911/SOS or Sirius Guardian since I only have a RA.8.4 straight radio, so who knows? Maybe. Would not surprise me there is power in the SOS system. Since I never hit mine in MY 15, dunno. Kinda trying to process how power to the SOS faulty keeps the entire system running instead of connection for assistance. Gotta love the Electronic Gremlins, kinda like the end of a rainbow too... Good Luck with your issue and please post back the remedy for other folks. Thanks///

 

[hotrod45]

I was out this evening and just sitting in my '17 with everything off. It was in a shopping center with a busy intersection, gas station, automatic doors and lots of traffic. Several times, the lights on the dash came on as if I had pushed the button to put it in "acc" position. I think it's stray RF with just a matching segment of the proper code. So things flashed on, but then went back off. If you're getting a repetitive occurrence, I'd try to have the fob/truck reprogrammed. That sounds like good advice to me.

 

[SitKneelBend]

I noticed today it appears that someone in the passenger seat will make the truck partially wake up in my 2014. The cluster will light up for a while then turn back off with passenger seat movement.

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[Bentgate]

Check your key fob. Mine went haywire. The panic alarm went off the other night at 2 am. Key fob would not shut off. had to use the other one. Key fob now unlocks door but will not lock, remote starts but truck does not recognize key when I try to start or shift out of remote start mode and panic alarm randomly goes off and can't be turned off. Very conceivable that the chip in the fob is bad and remotely starts your truck. Electronics, got to love 'em........

 

[RamCares]

As the title states, my new Ram seems to have a mind of its own. On two separate occasions I have gone to my truck to find it on, music blasting, no key in the ignition and the doors locked. This past weekend it happened and I was up all night thinking my neighbors were keeping me up with music, when the entire time it was my truck on all night playing music, all the while I had taken the key out, locked it and all.

Anybody else experience this?

Hi Lamarsh,
I understand why this would be concerning. We're happy to escalated a case for you so a Case Specialist can work with your dealer to help find a potential solution to this. Just send us a private message.
Lydia
Ram Social Care Specialist

 

[2018NightRam]

My 2018 has done this twice too. Walk outside and the radio is on with no one around

 

[BUBBARUT]

I had a 2018 1500 Harvest Edition loaner that did the same thing. Told the dealer about it and they said it needed an update. Took the loaner back and ended up getting the same loaner about a month later. Same thing happened. Came outside and the radio was on. Dash lights would come on and off at random times and intervals. Also had the back up camera go haywire. It froze on the display and made an awful buzzing sound thru the speakers. I turned the truck off, opened the doors and that did nothing. I was headed to the barn to disconnect the battery and all of a sudden everything went back to normal. The truck had 8.4 w/ Nav. They def have a problem that needs to be addressed.

 

[BuggyMasters]

Any chance a neighbor happens to have a dodge with the same frequency as yours?

 

[BWL]

My 2011 did this and it was the key fob. A little piece came loose and sometimes it would start the truck sitting on the table untouched. Also if the keys are programmed to memory they will adjust your seat when you use the fob to what it was set to.it did shut off when it timed out, but restarted over and over again.

 

[JohnnyMac]

I was up all night thinking my neighbors were keeping me up with music.

I bet your neighbors were up all night thinking the same thing... Except they were right lol.

 

[slacadjuster]

Well one thing I do know about my 2018 is that sometimes the screen does stay on after locking the truck, for a few minutes, and I had asked about this and they said it's normal, and that sometimes it reboots and such. But to stay on all night, something has to be wrong, and I am thinking it has something to do with the fact that it's designed to perform certain functions when the car is already turned off.

WTF?? Your TRUCK is exactly that, a TRUCK, NOT a car....if you don't even know that, maybe the problem is you and not your TRUCK

 

[SitKneelBend]

WTF?? Your TRUCK is exactly that, a TRUCK, NOT a car....if you don't even know that, maybe the problem is you and not your TRUCK

Wrong thread...

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