Parking brake light won’t turn off

[RAMHON]

Took my truck into dealer for warranty replacement of my backup camera (covered no problem). I pointed out to dealer new problem of parking brake being engaged with no indication of the light being on. There were several instances that the parking brake was partially engaged and no indication/warning of it being engaged. Dealer said after inspection that the entire parking brake system needs to be replaced - and is not covered under warranty.?

Opened a new case with FCA hopefully they will be helpful as they have with prior issues (sunroof leak, manifold bolts, backup camera etc.)

 

[RAMHON]

Took my truck into dealer for warranty replacement of my backup camera (covered no problem). I pointed out to dealer new problem of parking brake being engaged with no indication of brake the light being on. There were several instances that the parking brake was partially engaged and no indication/warning of it being engaged. Dealer said after inspection that the entire parking brake system needs to be replaced - and is not covered under warranty.?

Opened another new case with FCA hopefully they will be helpful as they have with prior issues (sunroof leak, manifold bolts, backup camera etc.)

 

[SitKneelBend]

Took my truck into dealer for warranty replacement of my backup camera (covered no problem). I pointed out to dealer new problem of parking brake being engaged with no indication of the light being on. There were several instances that the parking brake was partially engaged and no indication/warning of it being engage. Dealer said after inspection that the entire parking brake system needs to be replaced - and is not covered under warranty.?

Opened a new case with FCA hopefully they will be helpful as they have with prior issues (sunroof leak, manifold bolts, backup camera etc.)

I'd be interested to hear how it goes.

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[PoMansRam]

I know I've mentioned it in other threads in regards to the parking brakes on 4th gen Ram 1500's, but if you own a 4th gen (probably 3rd as well), live in the rust belt and don't exercise the parking brake a lot, I'm talking 3-4x per week, every week you WILL have issues once the truck is 2-3yrs old.

The issue is the little lever actuators that the cables yank on, that protrude through the backing plates will seize up over time. When you mash the P-brake pedal, the levers get yanked forward. When you release the P-brake pedal, the spring tension inside the P-brake assembles in the hat of the rear rotors should retract the levers fully rearward. This mechanism gets corroded and will be junk it you don't catch it in time.

This happened on my 2017 Ram 1500. I have it partially freed up, but it's still not 100%. My truck was barely 2yrs old with ~45K miles on it when I discovered the sagging cable. I used a bunch of penetrating oil through the rubber boot on the levers and a hammer and chisel to work them back and forth.

You'll know you have issues when you see the P-brake cable sagging. It's because those levers aren't retracting rearward, taking up the cable slack.

The dealer fix like stated above is $1300+ USD. Talk to any Mopar shop tech. They're all too familiar with this repair.

 

[RAMHON]

As an engineer/pilot etc. it seems to me that this is an obvious engineering
flaw and another clear candidate for a recall. Simple solution- parking brake engaged parking light should be on and driver alerted somehow it’s engaged......

Ram Cares?

 

[PoMansRam]

It is for sure a terrible design. A coworker of mine had the whole thing re done on his 2016 Ram 1500 about a year ago. Luckily his extended warranty covered the whole $1300 bill.

Like said above, the mechanism is built into the backing plates, so the rear axles need to be pulled to replace the assemblies.

I'll be doing pads and rotors all the way around on my 2017 in a few weeks so I'm hoping when I have it pulled apart I'll be able to free mine up.

 

[RAMHON]

Just heard back from FCA - so far they are declining to cover parking brake repair under my Mopar Vehicle Protection warranty. I requested a supervisor to further review case which is pending. This is illogical as they are claiming I intentionally drove with parking brake engaged? Seriously comical!

Any suggestions to escalate beyond supervisor review? I have about had it at this point with Ram and ready to trade it in and be done with it!

 

[CVX20]

I know I've mentioned it in other threads in regards to the parking brakes on 4th gen Ram 1500's, but if you own a 4th gen (probably 3rd as well), live in the rust belt and don't exercise the parking brake a lot, I'm talking 3-4x per week, every week you WILL have issues once the truck is 2-3yrs old.

The issue is the little lever actuators that the cables yank on, that protrude through the backing plates will seize up over time. When you mash the P-brake pedal, the levers get yanked forward. When you release the P-brake pedal, the spring tension inside the P-brake assembles in the hat of the rear rotors should retract the levers fully rearward. This mechanism gets corroded and will be junk it you don't catch it in time.

This happened on my 2017 Ram 1500. I have it partially freed up, but it's still not 100%. My truck was barely 2yrs old with ~45K miles on it when I discovered the sagging cable. I used a bunch of penetrating oil through the rubber boot on the levers and a hammer and chisel to work them back and forth.

You'll know you have issues when you see the P-brake cable sagging. It's because those levers aren't retracting rearward, taking up the cable slack.

The dealer fix like stated above is $1300+ USD. Talk to any Mopar shop tech. They're all too familiar with this repair.

In addition to using the parking brake regularly you really should service your brakes once a year at least if you're in the snowbelt area as the PO from Canada is.This would meen totally dis-assembling the parking brake shoes,hardware etc,cleaning everything,lubing everything and re-assembling.This along with cleaning and lubing the cailper slides and pins.Warr. doesn't do a lot for brake issues like this never mind extended warr. doing this and documenting this would help.Oh and don't forget to properly adjust the parking brake shoes.

 

[Tim Garceau]

It's the shoe pad mating method, *$35 and a couple hours of labor to get the rotor off. Let it soak in blaster overnight to loosen it up.

 

[CVX20]

One question I do have is, my extended warranty (purchased at time of new sale) by a company called CNA denied the repair under warranty because they see it as a rust/corrosion issue. So the question is, what is RAM's rust corrosion guarantee? Anyone know?
Ram's corrosion warr. is only for perforation of the body panels.

 

[SitKneelBend]

One question I do have is, my extended warranty (purchased at time of new sale) by a company called CNA denied the repair under warranty because they see it as a rust/corrosion issue. So the question is, what is RAM's rust corrosion guarantee? Anyone know?
Ram's corrosion warr. is only for perforation of the body panels.

Have the same company, same response, same answers...



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[SitKneelBend]

Just heard back from FCA - so far they are declining to cover parking brake repair under my Mopar Vehicle Protection warranty. I requested a supervisor to further review case which is pending. This is illogical as they are claiming I intentionally drove with parking brake engaged? Seriously comical!

Any suggestions to escalate beyond supervisor review? I have about had it at this point with Ram and ready to trade it in and be done with it!

You can try to see if there is anything @RamCares can do to help resolve this issue.

If they won't help and it really bothers you (it would bother me too with the extra warranty protection) I would seriously consider taking your business elsewhere (you can start with dealership change or go nuclear and leave the brand altogether).

If I'm not mistaken, there are no parts improvements for the fix so with the same habits you will likely end up with this issue again.

I just freed mine up and stopped using it. I "may" replace all of the components when I do my first brake change but I'll likely just cleanup what's there.

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[PoMansRam]

It's the shoe pad mating method, $35 and an hour of labor instead of wasting time complaining on the internet and to your dealer.

Your PM should involve lubricating the components every other tire rotation, but people are too lazy to take 4 bolts off to get under the rotor. This is the only thing that could potentially save your life in a modern vehicle and you don't even understand how it functions.

Boo ******* hoo, we have people losing $4-7 grand on cam failures and others nitpicking about parking brakes and exhaust manifold bolts...

I agree with you that periodically disassembling, cleaning and re-lubing these brake components should resolve the issue.

The fact still remains this shouldn't be happening as quick as it does on Rams.

I've had p-brake cables seize up on older cars, but this happened like 30-35yrs ago. I've also done all my own brake work all these years as well.

On a 2-3yr old truck should this be happening? No friggin way. Not even in Buffalo NY.

 

[TheEnder]

Never heard of this issue before, and my truck is 8.


Sent from my 2013 Magnum 4.7L V8

 

[SitKneelBend]

Never heard of this issue before, and my truck is 8.


Sent from my 2013 Magnum 4.7L V8

My 99 Ram sport never had a problem in 16 years but my 2014 had this problem in 3 years (twice in 5 years)...

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[LoadedExpressRam]

Maybe someone has already mentioned this but is your reservoir low? I know in some of the older models the e brake light would stay on if your fluid was low.

JP

 

[autumnwalker]

This is a design flaw IMO. Mine did it. I got the same response from the dealer and FCA Canada. I rebuilt it. It's now doing it again.

 

[RAMHON]

After a month of back and forth with dealer and FCA, FCA not covering warranty of faulty parking brake. Needless to say I'm disappointed as all prior warranty claims were covered 100% (less $100 deductible) and absurd to think I would intentionally drive with parking brake engaged. Decided will not to repair and just not have one I guess. Hardly ever used it in first place.

My hope is that sometime in near future this will come out as a recall.

 

[SitKneelBend]

After a month of back and forth with dealer and FCA, FCA not covering warranty of faulty parking brake. Needless to say I'm disappointed as all prior warranty claims were covered 100% and absurd to think I would intentionally drive with parking brake engaged. Decided will not to repair and just not have one I guess. Hardly ever used it in first place.

My hope is that sometime in near future this will come out as a recall.

My conclusion too. If I here anything I'll post up...

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[autumnwalker]

Unfortunately for me we do biennial safety inspections which require a working parking brake ... looks like I'm shelling out $$ every two years just so I can keep driving the stupid thing.