Reliability issues. Consumers Reports

[rvj]

So Consumer Reports has come out with the results of reliability in vehicles again this year and Ram didn't do so good.

Buick becomes first U.S. brand to crack top 3 reliability rankings by Consumer Reports

You have to read down a ways to get to the FCA part.

I am so happy with mine and I'm wondering what issues they are finding. I have been thinking about not buying an extended warranty but if I have issues in the future to look forward to I feel maybe I should reconsider the warranty. Some complaints I see that keep coming up are dealer services areas and their inability to make the customers happy.
Is a warranty a good idea if issues can't be taken care of? Are people really seeing reliability issues or is this just CR hype?
Sorry for the long post but I tend to worry about high repair bills and a story like this really get me thinking.

 

[Murphy Slaw]

The most reliable vehicles I've ever owned have been Mopar. My wife's old Caravan, and my '05 Ram. That's why I'm lurking around the 4th Gen thread so much. She had 2 transmissions go out on 2 different Fords and a Honda Civic tried to kill her on the I-24 Ohio River bridge when the cat converter went out and dropped her from 70 mph to 20 mph in a few seconds. Neither brand will grace our property again.

It looks like her 2015 Jeep Patriot (loaded leather High Altitude 4x4) is a good one as well, hitting 40,000 trouble free miles in well under 2 years.

I think a lot of people just ***** about rattles and glove box doors and nit pickity crap and forget that they bought a pickup truck who's original job was to carry large piles of stuff from point A to point B.

And look cool doing it...............

 

[sandawilliams]

The most reliable vehicles I've ever owned have been Mopar. My wife's old Caravan, and my '05 Ram. That's why I'm lurking around the 4th Gen thread so much. She had 2 transmissions go out on 2 different Fords and a Honda Civic tried to kill her on the I-24 Ohio River bridge when the cat converter went out and dropped her from 70 mph to 20 mph in a few seconds. Neither brand will grace our property again.

It looks like her 2015 Jeep Patriot (loaded leather High Altitude 4x4) is a good one as well, hitting 40,000 trouble free miles in well under 2 years.

I think a lot of people just ***** about rattles and glove box doors and nit pickity crap and forget that they bought a pickup truck who's original job was to carry large piles of stuff from point A to point B.

And look cool doing it...............

I have no faith in CR. I started driving in the early 70's. According to CR every vehicle I ever owned was a POS. I've owned many cars/trucks over the years and only had one with problems, a late 60's ford fairlane. I always thought they were in the pockets of the foreign car manufacturers.

 

[ColdCase]

They may include all those software related complaints that get picked up in software updates, or functions that someone doesn't like but is normal. Dunno where they get their data, from disgruntled members perhaps.

According to truedelta, which gathers data from owners, except for the diesel, the RAM does very well. Its a small sample size, however.

http://www.truedelta.com/Ram/brand-reliability-Ram

Perhaps the diesel is being lumped into CRs overall score?

 

[Hootbro]

Jeez, where do I start with CR?

I grew up in a household where Consumer Reports magazine was a monthly staple brought to our mailbox. My parents and grandparents lived and died by that magazine when they made major purchases. It was probably 50/50 at best any CR recommended purchase they made was the quality level they stated.

When it came to their car ratings, a trend over time with them was plan and simple, they hated American vehicles. Their sampling methods are suspect.

Lastly, with most reliability survey's, unless you see the breakdown of what constitutes a "failure", all failures have equal stature. This problem is more evident in the last 10 years or so with "infotainment" systems that are buggy with software problems having the same weight as a mechanical drivability problem.

 

[kevperro]

I don't know the exact details of the initial quality survey but I think the spread between the best and the worst has essentially dropped to the point where the survey is no longer as meaningful as it used to be.

But make no mistake... Toyota and GM own that ground. It may or may not have meaning in terms of the longevity of your vehicle because many of the nature of the metrics.

 

[TerraNewf]

Chrysler, Daimler Chrysler now FCA has always been **** on by CR, so nothing new here. Been buying Mopar vehicle's for 28 years and can honestly says I have no intentions of switching brands.

 

[Rustycowl69]

I have no faith in CR. I started driving in the early 70's. According to CR every vehicle I ever owned was a POS. I've owned many cars/trucks over the years and only had one with problems, a late 60's ford fairlane. I always thought they were in the pockets of the foreign car manufacturers.

that's what I've long suspected. I remember them testing a 60''s to 70 Dart, and blowing up a 9" drum in a panic stop. They declared all Darts as inherently dangerous. I have no idea how they did that, as I've probably owned at least 30 or 40 of that era A-bodies, and I've done some pretty crazy things in them, and I never blew up a drum.

I also remember all the car mags touting the Vega, when it first came out. What a POS that turned out to be.

 

[mtofell]

Having driven (in order) Toyota, Ford, Nissan, Chevy/GMC and now Ram over the last 20 years I can tell you support and service at Ram dealerships is at the bottom of the list by a mile.

They make excuses for problems and just tell you it's "normal". And I've had experiences with 3 dealerships in my metro area and they are pretty much the same. Also, it's not just my own experience. As I sit in the service office and wait for my vehicle I routinely see poor customer service and excuses like I've had.

I understand things go wrong with vehicles. With the hi-tech complexity of today's autos that's unavoidable. Every business makes mistakes and has problems. How you deal with those problems makes all the difference.

And aside from how my problems have been dealt with, I've had more problems with my 2014 Ram in 40K miles then I had with my 2006 Duramax in 150K miles.

I overall love my truck but am not sure I'd lay out the cash for another Ram.

 

[ExpressRules]

Consumer Reports is as accurate as Ralph Nader. In my teens I owned a 1963 Corvair that was anything but unsafe at any speed. I'm sad to this day that I had to sell it to get some spending money for College. It was a turbo charged Spyder convertible with the 4 speed. What a fun car to drive!! It was quick for its time with that air cooled flat 6. I so wish I had kept it and restored it after college.

 

[yoda]

My Mom and Dad get CC. I am always curios how they rate the mopar brand. There ratings never match up to my real world experience. FCA makes some good vehicles and some vehicles I wouldn't recommend to anyone. CC rating is usually the opposite of my experience working on them day in and out for 25+years

 

[Ramped]

So Chevrolet is #15, GMC down at #24. But GMC is a re-badged Chevy?

 

[Rustycowl69]

Consumer Reports is as accurate as Ralph Nader. In my teens I owned a 1963 Corvair that was anything but unsafe at any speed. I'm sad to this day that I had to sell it to get some spending money for College. It was a turbo charged Spyder convertible with the 4 speed. What a fun car to drive!! It was quick for its time with that air cooled flat 6. I so wish I had kept it and restored it after college.

I agree, totally. I drove one for a few months, when I was in college. I think I once came close to "stubbing it's toe", but I was driving it like a madman. 99.999% of drivers would nevery drive it like that. Besides, VW''s had swing axles too, but he never complained about them.
Same thing with Pinto''s catching on fire. They used a similar fuel tank design on Mustangs, and Falcons. So why did the Pinto get panned for it. It's just not good form to criticize popular cars.

 

[dexter]

So Consumer Reports has come out with the results of reliability in vehicles again this year and Ram didn't do so good.

Buick becomes first U.S. brand to crack top 3 reliability rankings by Consumer Reports

You have to read down a ways to get to the FCA part.

I am so happy with mine and I'm wondering what issues they are finding. I have been thinking about not buying an extended warranty but if I have issues in the future to look forward to I feel maybe I should reconsider the warranty. Some complaints I see that keep coming up are dealer services areas and their inability to make the customers happy.
Is a warranty a good idea if issues can't be taken care of? Are people really seeing reliability issues or is this just CR hype?
Sorry for the long post but I tend to worry about high repair bills and a story like this really get me thinking.

CU has a anti American mfg bias. Also, the info comes from their subscribers and I doubt many of them have Rams.

 

[rvj]

Having driven (in order) Toyota, Ford, Nissan, Chevy/GMC and now Ram over the last 20 years I can tell you support and service at Ram dealerships is at the bottom of the list by a mile.

They make excuses for problems and just tell you it's "normal". And I've had experiences with 3 dealerships in my metro area and they are pretty much the same. Also, it's not just my own experience. As I sit in the service office and wait for my vehicle I routinely see poor customer service and excuses like I've had.

I understand things go wrong with vehicles. With the hi-tech complexity of today's autos that's unavoidable. Every business makes mistakes and has problems. How you deal with those problems makes all the difference.
[QUOTE

This is what got my attention, I know things break, need adjusted, are made defective and don't always perform as intended. It's the service after the sale that counts so much to me. I really like my truck a bunch and have not had any issues at all. I thoroughly love driving it and finding things to do to make it as nice as I can. I can see myself staying in a Ram and even trading in a couple years to a new Ram to drive till I can no longer climb into one however, It was an unfixable problem in a New F150 that got me into a Ram and if I had a problem with the Ram that couldn't or wouldn't be fixed under warranty that would be enough to turn me off on the truck for good.
Glad to hear so many people that have so little trouble with the trucks, it gives me confidence to look forward.

 

[Ram444]

I hope what I'm about to say doesn't butt hurt anyone but I'll speak the truth. For the past 15 years or so I have more or less bought anywhere from 2-4 new cars every two years. My wife and I more or less ran our vehicles until the warranty was to expire and then traded them in on a new one. I've had all kinds of manufacturers.

In the early years I ran Jeep, Ford, Chevy/GMC and lots of Dodge trucks (1/2,3/4 tons and Dakota). The problematic ones were the Jeep, Fords. I really didn't have much trouble with the Mopars trucks other than some recall and wiring stuff. I never was a fan of Mopar service. Along about 12 years ago I bought my first Toyota. 2-3 years later I traded it off and noticed I almost got back everything I paid in payments in positive equity towards my next purchase. I drove Toyota every since.

The kicker is I've had maybe 12-15 new ones and never had a single recall, part break or had to sit in the service department for anything other than a routine oil change. Given I generally traded them off when approaching 50K miles. I became intrigued by diesels and wanted to build a lifted beast. I waited on Toyota to release a diesel model but it didn't happen. My salesman knew I was interested in a lifted diesel and called me to say a guy just traded off his 2014 Ram on a Corolla. I more or less took in my Tundra and traded it off on the Ram with everything I planned on doing already done. Oh, the Tundra had $27000 in equity to put down on the Ram.The Ram only had 24,000 miles and the lift, wheels, tires, deleted, programming already done.

I soon learned the truck had some recall work that needed done. I took it to the local dealer and set there for a half day on the truck only to be told the truck wasn't safe to be driven off the lot. Reportedly the whole front end was unstable and the suspension was about to fall off at any time. I looked under there and spotted loose bolts on the steering box. A quick tighten of those two bolts and I was good to go. Later, I had a Toyota Master Technician go over every bolt on the suspension and torque them to spec after putting a moderate Loctite on the threads. My brother has a tree service and uses all Rams. Three of the three trucks have been in the shop in the last three weeks and two of them are still there. I'm not sure I'd buy another Ram unless the one I have now proves itself.

 

[sandawilliams]

Having driven (in order) Toyota, Ford, Nissan, Chevy/GMC and now Ram over the last 20 years I can tell you support and service at Ram dealerships is at the bottom of the list by a mile.

They make excuses for problems and just tell you it's "normal". And I've had experiences with 3 dealerships in my metro area and they are pretty much the same. Also, it's not just my own experience. As I sit in the service office and wait for my vehicle I routinely see poor customer service and excuses like I've had.

I understand things go wrong with vehicles. With the hi-tech complexity of today's autos that's unavoidable. Every business makes mistakes and has problems. How you deal with those problems makes all the difference.
[QUOTE

This is what got my attention, I know things break, need adjusted, are made defective and don't always perform as intended. It's the service after the sale that counts so much to me. I really like my truck a bunch and have not had any issues at all. I thoroughly love driving it and finding things to do to make it as nice as I can. I can see myself staying in a Ram and even trading in a couple years to a new Ram to drive till I can no longer climb into one however, It was an unfixable problem in a New F150 that got me into a Ram and if I had a problem with the Ram that couldn't or wouldn't be fixed under warranty that would be enough to turn me off on the truck for good.
Glad to hear so many people that have so little trouble with the trucks, it gives me confidence to look forward.

I am also very disappointed in my local dealership. I have had 8 recalls on my truck and it takes 3 weeks to get into the dealer for repairs. I just got two recalls on my mustang and the dealer had to order parts. I made the appointment on Tuesday and will be taking it in on Thursday. What a difference on customer service.

 

[bryan28]

I've never had to take a vehicle in for service other than my Ram and it was because of recalls, to install the limited slip diff and step rails i purchased, and for the free oil changes. Never for any defective part going bad or anything like that. When I call to schedule service I've always gotten in the same week I called. I've never had them not get my vehicle in at the agreed upon time and they've never (other than the limited slip diff install) taken the full estimated service time. They've always had me in and out sooner than expected. In fact, they put 2 people on the step rail install and I was done in less than half the time they'd told me it would take. I hope I haven't jinxed myself now but I have had nothing but good experiences with my dealers service team.

 

[augmister]

When did y'all start believing the American press? Why hold CR to a different standard? Nice to see so many folks with no issues with their late model Rams. Roll on!

 

[shibby927]

Consumer Reports is a joke. They're nothing but a bunch of pretentious douchenozzles that rip on almost everything manufactured by American companies while they lay out nothing but praise and high marks on foreign brands. I wouldn't trust them for anything. I've owned Chryslers, Dodges, RAMs, and 1 Ford. Guess which vehicle had the most problems?