"What DON'T you like about your 5th Gen RAM"?

[yrraljguthrie]

I read a lot of posts from people who don't like the "New" features on trucks. Especially the electronics. They want to stay with the older stuff. With that attitude, we would all still be Europeans, no "new world". By the way, I'm 77 and I like new stuff. Old people want to live in the past.

 

[Tulecreeper]

I read a lot of posts from people who don't like the "New" features on trucks. Especially the electronics. They want to stay with the older stuff. With that attitude, we would all still be Europeans, no "new world". By the way, I'm 77 and I like new stuff. Old people want to live in the past.

Well yeah, sometmes old school is good school.

 

[Tulecreeper]

Double

 

[jejb]

Hmm well, there ya go….lol. Either leave the fob in the truck or if the fob is with you when you get out, leave the door open……

I'm not personally comfortable doing that. Around the house to hook up a trailer or something, maybe. Another way is to hold the fob up against the drivers side rear door window while shutting the door, assuming you have 4 doors.

of course, that probably wouldn’t be a good idea leaving the door open if you step out right quick to get a soda at a gas station and you feel you must leave the motor idling.

I don't like leaving the door open here at the lake in Northern Wisc either. Doesn't take long for it get a lot of mosquitos and horse flies in the truck.

 

[jejb]

The 18" wheels and tires have a smoother ride. In general, the smaller tires do.

Agreed. But the tires are actually bigger on 18's, in that they have more sidewall. The rims are smaller though.

 

[tron67j]

No, they’ve already taken care of that risk long time ago because if you leave the fob anywhere inside the cab and you either deliberately or accidentally hit the lock button on the door panel, while the ignition’s off, the truck will honk the horn and unlock the driver door. Already tested that and that’s what my 4th Gen does somi would assume that technology followed into the new bodystyles.

This is why I avoid pushbutton start in vehicles. My wife's van has it and already got dinged by it. I drove to Arlington Cemetery and dropped the whole family at the entrance and went to park. They jumped out so fast that she took the key and disappeared before the internal alarm could tell me I was screwed. Couldn't do anything else but drive and park with engine running for a long time until they finally called me (my family all leave phone on vibrate and NEVER answer their phones, but that is a pet peeve for another forum) to ask where I was. It was almost 2 hours from initial drop off before someone finally got back with key.

So while I hate keyless pushbutton, if the vehicle has it I guess I am a fan of horn honking a few times to warn. I am old school on some things, and the key should have to remain in a running vehicle. Would that annoy some people, yes, but much better than my friend who dropped spouse at airport and couldn't get back in touch with her to let her know key was in her bag. She had to mail it to him and we all drove him a bit for those few days.

 

[corneileous]

I'm not personally comfortable doing that. Around the house to hook up a trailer or something, maybe.

Even though it’s outlined below which one of the two things I said you were referring to, there was two options that I wrote up there so what’s wrong with leaving your fob in the cab of the truck? That way you don’t have to worry about leaving your door open.

Another way is to hold the fob up against the drivers side rear door window while shutting the door, assuming you have 4 doors.

Not sure I understand what you’re getting at…

I don't like leaving the door open here at the lake in Northern Wisc either. Doesn't take long for it get a lot of mosquitos and horse flies in the truck.

Again, then for whatever it is you’re having to get out of the truck for and if you don’t wanna turn the ignition off, leave your key fob in the little cubbyhole and close the door. Problem solved….

 

[Tulecreeper]

My bad, I was taking what you last said as being aimed at everybody in general, not just yourself… Lol. That’s why I said that if you(anybody) have the push-button start with the passive entry system, you don’t have to worry about locking yourself out.


But yeah, that could be somewhat eliminated if they just went back to actual key cylinders that require you to turn a key but then how would you lock your doors from the inside if it requires turning the key? Sure, if they would’ve made all vehicles like my 2004 Peterbilt 379 that I drive every day for work that if you somehow manage to push the plunger down and inadvertently lock the door, the door will unlock itself once it latches but not every car is made that way or at least, I don’t think any of the ones I ever drove were like that which, if you left the key inside and forgot it, and close the door with the lock button pushed down, you were screwed.

The key doesn't need to be in the On position. If you have electronic locks, push the button on the armrest. If they're manual, like mine, push the lock button on the door with your finger.

 

[corneileous]

This is why I avoid pushbutton start in vehicles. My wife's van has it and already got dinged by it. I drove to Arlington Cemetery and dropped the whole family at the entrance and went to park. They jumped out so fast that she took the key and disappeared before the internal alarm could tell me I was screwed. Couldn't do anything else but drive and park with engine running for a long time until they finally called me (my family all leave phone on vibrate and NEVER answer their phones, but that is a pet peeve for another forum) to ask where I was. It was almost 2 hours from initial drop off before someone finally got back with key.

So while I hate keyless pushbutton, if the vehicle has it I guess I am a fan of horn honking a few times to warn. I am old school on some things, and the key should have to remain in a running vehicle. Would that annoy some people, yes, but much better than my friend who dropped spouse at airport and couldn't get back in touch with her to let her know key was in her bag. She had to mail it to him and we all drove him a bit for those few days.

Of course, with any kind of technology like that, there’s going to be new problems that will arise that could possibly happen to someone but it’s not a reason to not be a fan of the technology. In the case of the Arlington cemetery, I would’ve had the key fob in my pocket which is what I already do anyways.

As for the spouse who left on an airplane with the key to the vehicle in her bag, why wasn’t the key fob in the other spouses front pocket who I’m assuming did the driving and dropped her off? Yeah, those are both unfortunate events but the way I see it, both of those could’ve very easily been avoided.

 

[yrraljguthrie]

I don't have the auto-lock feature. I do have auto parking brakes enabled. Besides keeping me from having to remember to use the parking brakes it won't automatically unlock the parking brake unless my seatbelt is buckled. Almost everywhere I park I am on a slope and letting the transmission soak up the movement of the truck I can depend on the parking brake being activated. Win win situation. I'm 77 and I like new features. Only old people get stuck in one way of doing things and want everyone else to comply with them

 

[corneileous]

The key doesn't need to be in the On position. If you have electronic locks, push the button on the armrest. If they're manual, like mine, push the lock button on the door with your finger.

I guess I’m confused as to what you were originally talking about then because when you said yesterday if everything still required a key, I thought you were talking about the door locks on the outside of the vehicle that you have to turn with a key to lock the door when you’re about to leave the vehicle unattended.

I don’t know, as with anything, comes responsibility. Push button start, in my opinion, is a lot nicer than what some people are giving it credit for because unlike older vehicles that still require a key to start the engine, the key has to be fully inserted into the ignition lock cylinder in order to fully protect yourself from accidentally locking yourself out of it. With push button start and passive entry, the key can be anywhere in the vehicle and it won’t let you lock yourself out. The alternative like to the instance where the person jumped on an airplane with the key in their bag or the other instance where everybody bailed out of the van and the wife grabbing the fob, the fob should’ve been in the driver’s pocket and for whenever it comes to having to open a gate somewhere right quick and you don’t want your horn to go off, that’s where you would take the key out of your pocket and put it in the cubbyhole so you can close the door and not have it honk at you. It’s really not that difficult.

 

[Tulecreeper]

I guess I’m confused as to what you were originally talking about then because when you said yesterday if everything still required a key, I thought you were talking about the door locks on the outside of the vehicle that you have to turn with a key to lock the door when you’re about to leave the vehicle unattended.

I don’t know, as with anything, comes responsibility. Push button start, in my opinion, is a lot nicer than what some people are giving it credit for because unlike older vehicles that still require a key to start the engine, the key has to be fully inserted into the ignition lock cylinder in order to fully protect yourself from accidentally locking yourself out of it. With push button start and passive entry, the key can be anywhere in the vehicle and it won’t let you lock yourself out. The alternative like to the instance where the person jumped on an airplane with the key in their bag or the other instance where everybody bailed out of the van and the wife grabbing the fob, the fob should’ve been in the driver’s pocket and for whenever it comes to having to open a gate somewhere right quick and you don’t want your horn to go off, that’s where you would take the key out of your pocket and put it in the cubbyhole so you can close the door and not have it honk at you. It’s really not that difficult.

I understand. I still prefer a keyed ignition, keyed door locks, and a keyed tailgate lock. I purposely ordered my truck with manual locks and windows, and I got those. I didn't know that it came with a push-button ignition, but that probably wouldn't have changed anything even had I known. I also didn't know the tailgate only had an electronic lock. I don't know if that would have changed anything. Here is my dilemma.

I must have the fob in my possession to start the truck...no problem. If I leave the truck with it in my pocket and the engine running to go open the gate, and I shut the door behind me, the horn honks. This is irritating. If I leave the door open the horn doesn't honk, but if it's pounding rain and the wind is blowing my truck fills full of water in the 30 seconds it takes me to open the gate and get back inside. Then I pull through the gate and now I have to get out again to go back and close the gate, leaving my truck open and again filling it full of water. If I have to pull it out of my pocket to put in the cupholder before I get out of the truck just so the horn won't honk, that is a PITA because I have to lift up off the seat to access my pocket from a sitting position. If I get in the habit of just leaving it in the cupholder while I drive, I guarantee I will eventually forget it when I get out of the truck, lock the door, and shut it behind me...locking my fob and keys in the truck.

Then there is the matter of the electronic tailgate. On several occasions, the button on the fob got pushed by junk in my pocket (or maybe my junk ) and the tailgate locked. Twice, I have come up to the back of the truck with my arms full and barely had enough ability to reach up an open the tailgate without having to put anything down...and the tailgate was locked. So, I had to put everything down anyway, dig in my pocket for the fob to push the button to unlock it, then pick everything back up again to load it in the truck. Another PITA that wouldn't happen if I just had a key to lock and unlock it. Then I would be in charge of when it's locked.

Then there is the panic button. It's only happened once, but it will happen again. The button on the fob got pushed and the horn started blaring. Luckily, I had just got out and was walking away when it happened, but I can envision it happening when I'm 50 yards away across a crowded parking lot and everyone is digging for their fob thinking it's their vehicle. Another PITA that wouldn't happen if I didn't have to carry the fob around all the time.

Then, of course, there is just the fact that I have to carry a golfball-sized thing in my pocket all the time. That's just a PITA in general.

 

[corneileous]

I understand. I still prefer a keyed ignition, keyed door locks, and a keyed tailgate lock. I purposely ordered my truck with manual locks and windows, and I got those. I didn't know that it came with a push-button ignition, but that probably wouldn't have changed anything even had I known. I also didn't know the tailgate only had an electronic lock. I don't know if that would have changed anything. Here is my dilemma.

I must have the fob in my possession to start the truck...no problem. If I leave the truck with it in my pocket and the engine running to go open the gate, and I shut the door behind me, the horn honks. This is irritating. If I leave the door open the horn doesn't honk, but if it's pounding rain and the wind is blowing my truck fills full of water in the 30 seconds it takes me to open the gate and get back inside. Then I pull through the gate and now I have to get out again to go back and close the gate, leaving my truck open and again filling it full of water. If I have to pull it out of my pocket to put in the cupholder before I get out of the truck just so the horn won't honk, that is a PITA because I have to lift up off the seat to access my pocket from a sitting position.

First and foremost, anything the manufacturers do isn’t going to mesh with every person. I get that. But, there are ways around that so that you can still enjoy modern technology.

But let me get this straight- you have manual locks but you have the push-button start, correct? I’m confused as to what you actually have. If you were like me and had the push-button start, electric locks(including tailgate), electric windows and passive entry- whenever I would have to get out and manually open and close a gate and didn’t want bugs/rain getting in the cab while leaving the door open, when I stop to open the gate, I would get out first and then reach in my pocket to pull the fob out and lay it on the console. I wouldn’t try to do all that while I was still sitting in the seat.

If I get in the habit of just leaving it in the cupholder while I drive, I guarantee I will eventually forget it when I get out of the truck, lock the door, and shut it behind me...locking my fob and keys in the truck.

Well sure, if you didn’t have passive entry and push-button start, you most certainly would be at risk of locking yourself out at some point but those above options protect you from doing that.

Then there is the matter of the electronic tailgate. On several occasions, the button on the fob got pushed by junk in my pocket (or maybe my junk ) and the tailgate locked. Twice, I have come up to the back of the truck with my arms full and barely had enough ability to reach up an open the tailgate without having to put anything down...and the tailgate was locked. So, I had to put everything down anyway, dig in my pocket for the fob to push the button to unlock it, then pick everything back up again to load it in the truck. Another PITA that wouldn't happen if I just had a key to lock and unlock it. Then I would be in charge of when it's locked.

Highly understandable, having the ability to not worry about whether your tailgate is locked when you leave it unattended certainly does come with that particular risk but I’m intrigued- what exactly are your arms full with to where you have to set everything down to pull your fob out of your pocket? If I’m loading up the truck with a bunch of stuff at the house, the fob is in the house and I’ll unlock everything from inside the house first. If I’m like, coming out of Sams or Walmart with a bunch of stuff, it’ll be in a cart and I’ll either pull the fob out of my pocket and unlock the truck(and the tailgate) or when I get to the truck, I’ll just reach for the driver door handle and do essentially the same thing. No worries.

But on a side-note, if you had the tailgate manually locked, you’re still going to have to pull the fob out to manually unlock the tailgate…lol.

Then there is the panic button. It's only happened once, but it will happen again. The button on the fob got pushed and the horn started blaring. Luckily, I had just got out and was walking away when it happened, but I can envision it happening when I'm 50 yards away across a crowded parking lot and everyone is digging for their fob thinking it's their vehicle. Another PITA that wouldn't happen if I didn't have to carry the fob around all the time.

Unfortunately stuff like that happens. It’s even happened to me on several occasions but I still wouldn’t downgrade from what I have because it still has many helpful features. I have a hard tonneau cover on my bed and I keep stuff in my bed all the time so knowing that when I push the lock button on the fob or on the door handles locks the tailgate, too.

Then, of course, there is just the fact that I have to carry a golfball-sized thing in my pocket all the time. That's just a PITA in general.

I hear ya but then again, when it comes to me, the few negatives things about this technology don’t even hold a candle to the many positive things about it all. I like being able to put the fob in my pocket and never really have to take it out to lock/unlock the truck until I get in my home.

 

[tron67j]

Of course, with any kind of technology like that, there’s going to be new problems that will arise that could possibly happen to someone but it’s not a reason to not be a fan of the technology. In the case of the Arlington cemetery, I would’ve had the key fob in my pocket which is what I already do anyways.

As for the spouse who left on an airplane with the key to the vehicle in her bag, why wasn’t the key fob in the other spouses front pocket who I’m assuming did the driving and dropped her off? Yeah, those are both unfortunate events but the way I see it, both of those could’ve very easily been avoided.

Just not a fan of pushbutton, won't ever change, but that is just me. It is just a different way to do something that worked, and created the potential for problems that never existed before. In my opinion I see no issue that existed with keyed starting (including the fob that my ram has that gets inserted part way) that pushbutton fixes which is a bigger issue than the new problems that present like the one I mention plus people accidentally getting out of car and forgetting to turn it off, etc.

The van is my wife's and she had originally driven that day but we switched on way there so she wouldn't have to walk by herself. So in the frenzy of having 7 people get out of the van at entrance, we missed the key in her pocket until it was too late. Keyed starting would have prevented that. For airport, his wife drove and jumped out and kissed good bye, running into the terminal. By the time he got back in car and realized what happened she had disappeared and she didn't hear phone ring. Keyed starting would have prevented this as well.

 

[corneileous]

Just not a fan of pushbutton, won't ever change, but that is just me. It is just a different way to do something that worked, and created the potential for problems that never existed before. In my opinion I see no issue that existed with keyed starting (including the fob that my ram has that gets inserted part way) that pushbutton fixes which is a bigger issue than the new problems that present like the one I mention plus people accidentally getting out of car and forgetting to turn it off, etc.

The van is my wife's and she had originally driven that day but we switched on way there so she wouldn't have to walk by herself. So in the frenzy of having 7 people get out of the van at entrance, we missed the key in her pocket until it was too late. Keyed starting would have prevented that. For airport, his wife drove and jumped out and kissed good bye, running into the terminal. By the time he got back in car and realized what happened she had disappeared and she didn't hear phone ring. Keyed starting would have prevented this as well.

You’re right, a keyed ignition would have prevented both of those two instances but all’s I’m saying is, failure to give the other person the key whether you’re switching drivers or about to jump on an airplane is a silly reason to say you don’t like the keyless-start and passive entry…lol. I shouldn’t have to say this but I mean no ill intentions when I say all that. I know that we as people are fallible beings but in the case of the wife that flew away with the car keys, why was she driving or if because of the situation, why wasn’t the fob anywhere else other than on her person, in a purse or in a bag that was going with her on the plane? That just doesn’t make sense to me or to even blame the fact that the ignition of the vehicle didn’t require a key to be in it.

As far as the van incident, you couldn’t just push the keyless start button to turn the ignition off after you parked and then just manually locked the doors and close it so you could go catch up with your crowd? I guess I’m just not understanding why you had to sit there idling for two hours, waiting for them to acknowledge that one of them had the key.

I’m pretty sure that if that would’ve happened in my pickup, I could’ve drove back to where I was going to park and without the fob, I could push the button to kill the ignition and turn it completely off, and then hit the lock button on the driver door to lock all the doors and then just close the door and walk away. I take it you can’t do that in her van? I guess maybe sometime this weekend I’ll have to try that in my wife’s Honda Civic just to see what it’ll do if the engine is running and you remove the key fob out of proximity of the car, if it’ll let you drive it, turn it off or any of that because now I’m curious.

 

[Tulecreeper]

First and foremost, anything the manufacturers do isn’t going to mesh with every person. I get that. But, there are ways around that so that you can still enjoy modern technology.

Very true.

But let me get this straight- you have manual locks but you have the push-button start, correct? I’m confused as to what you actually have.

I have a key fob that I need in the cab with me in order to start the truck. On that fob are 3 buttons - 1 that locks the tailgate, 1 that unlocks the tailgate, and one that sets off the panic alarm. That's it, the fob does nothing else.

Highly understandable, having the ability to not worry about whether your tailgate is locked when you leave it unattended certainly does come with that particular risk but I’m intrigued- what exactly are your arms full with to where you have to set everything down to pull your fob out of your pocket?

What difference does that make? One time it was an armload of firewood, the other time it was coming out Lowe's carrying 2 or 3 bags of ornamental lava rock.

But on a side-note, if you had the tailgate manually locked, you’re still going to have to pull the fob out to manually unlock the tailgate…lol.

No, if I could manually lock/unlock the tailgate with a key I wouldn't #1- need a fob to do it, and #2- I would know whether or not the tailgate was locked because I would have had to do it on purpose. I've never made it a habit of checking the tailgate to ascertain either one because I always know. With the fob I never know because it does it without me knowing. Coincidentally, I had a friend over this morning who wanted to see the trailer connector in the back. I tried to open the tailgate and it was locked, so I had to go all the way back into the house to get the fob to come back out and unlock it. That was a real PITA. I usually leave my tailgate unlocked by default, even when I had a key, and I always knew.

Unfortunately stuff like that happens. It’s even happened to me on several occasions but I still wouldn’t downgrade from what I have because it still has many helpful features. I have a hard tonneau cover on my bed and I keep stuff in my bed all the time so knowing that when I push the lock button on the fob or on the door handles locks the tailgate, too.

I can figure a way to disable the panic button, so that isn't a big issue. I can't disable the tailgate feature because once in a while I am actually going to want to lock it on purpose and without a key I'm screwed. I have a hard tonneau cover also, which has a keyed lock, but I usually leave it unlocked like the tailgate unless I'm carrying something I don't want pilfered. So, I almost always have my tailgate and tonneau unlocked and the tailgate locking randomly is a PITA.

 

[corneileous]

I have a key fob that I need in the cab with me in order to start the truck. On that fob are 3 buttons - 1 that locks the tailgate, 1 that unlocks the tailgate, and one that sets off the panic alarm. That's it, the fob does nothing else.

First off, I realize this is probably on a fifth GEN body style truck which there’s probably a lot about those that I don’t know but did all that come OEM on the truck or was that aftermarket? I just can’t imagine a truck in factory form that would have a fob that’s required to start the truck, but has a button to unlock the tailgate and then a separate button to lock the tailgate along with the panic alarm but all the doors are manual locks.

What difference does that make? One time it was an armload of firewood, the other time it was coming out Lowe's carrying 2 or 3 bags of ornamental lava rock.

It makes a lot of difference if you think about it because from what I would think, if I had an arm load of firewood to go in the bed of my truck, I would already have the tailgate down ready to flop it in there and when it comes to the bags of ornamental rock that you bought at Lowe’s, I would also think you would have that in a cart so that when you got to your truck in the parking lot, you could very easily pull your fob out of your pocket and unlock the tailgate without having to set that stuff down from carrying it, but I guess that’s just me.

But if I was in the same situation with my truck and if didn’t have a style of tonneau cover that required me to open it before I could even let the tailgate down, even if I did decide to carry that stuff out to the parking lot, I wouldn’t even have to pull my key fob out of the pocket because I could just walk over there to the driver door handle, touch the inside of it and all my doors, including my tailgate, would unlock.

No, if I could manually lock/unlock the tailgate with a key I wouldn't #1- need a fob to do it, and #2- I would know whether or not the tailgate was locked because I would have had to do it on purpose. I've never made it a habit of checking the tailgate to ascertain either one because I always know. With the fob I never know because it does it without me knowing. Coincidentally, I had a friend over this morning who wanted to see the trailer connector in the back. I tried to open the tailgate and it was locked, so I had to go all the way back into the house to get the fob to come back out and unlock it. That was a real PITA. I usually leave my tailgate unlocked by default, even when I had a key, and I always knew.

Yeah, you’re right, my bad. I guess I didn’t realize the only way to unlock your tailgate was with the fob.

I can figure a way to disable the panic button, so that isn't a big issue. I can't disable the tailgate feature because once in a while I am actually going to want to lock it on purpose and without a key I'm screwed. I have a hard tonneau cover also, which has a keyed lock, but I usually leave it unlocked like the tailgate unless I'm carrying something I don't want pilfered. So, I almost always have my tailgate and tonneau unlocked and the tailgate locking randomly is a PITA.

I’m patiently waiting to hear if this key fob system you have is stock or if this is an aftermarket thing.

Due to the style of tonneau cover I bought which is the hard shell fiberglass painted to match version that wraps around the top of my bed sides, the front bulkhead and the tailgate and if so like for example, I’m coming out of Sam’s Club with a whole cart full of stuff, I may be able to go grab the doorhandle and unlock the doors and the tailgate but I still have to take the key fob out of my pocket so that I can use its own key to unlock the cover.

 

[Tulecreeper]

I’m patiently waiting to hear if this key fob system you have is stock or if this is an aftermarket thing.

Came stock with the truck The truck is new, 2023, and I just picked it up in March. I only have about 1300 miles on it so far.

 

[corneileous]

Came stock with the truck The truck is new, 2023, and I just picked it up in March. I only have about 1300 miles on it so far.

Wow. Seems to me like it probably would’ve been the better option to just get a truck that had the electric door locks and the passive entry system so that like, reverting back to the Lowes incident, even if you were arm-carrying those bags of rock, you could’ve just walked over there to your driver side door handle, grabbed it, and all the doors, including the tailgate would unlock for you and being that you said you primarily keep your tonneau cover unlocked, you could’ve just walked back there with one hand, threw up your cover and let the tailgate down.

Or if none of that electronic/electric stuff was desired, I would’ve gotten a truck that didn’t even have a key fob but one thing about it, you could just go buy you another tailgate handle that has a key cylinder in it so that you could unplug the wiring harness that goes to the lock actuator in the tailgate and then after you had that new cylinder keyed to your ignition/door key, you’d have full control over whenever your tailgate was locked.

 

[corneileous]

The key doesn't need to be in the On position. If you have electronic locks, push the button on the armrest. If they're manual, like mine, push the lock button on the door with your finger.

Wait a second… you say you have manual locks, but how is it you have the passive entry door handles that has the lock button on the outside of the handle and the touch sensor on the inside, or what exactly are you talking about that you have when you say you “push the lock button on the door”?