Deserved or not, some brands have a bad reputation for reliability and dealerships, and it’s fair to say that Fiat Chrysler Automobile brands have battled with this bad PR for years. My personal and family experience with FCA products over the past two decades have never given me pause, nor have any professional experiences, so the bad rap never registered on my radar when our 2018 Ram 2500 Power Wagon showed up.
A few weeks into its stay with us, the Power Wagon returned from its less-than-gentle inaugural photo shoot with its alignment off. The Ram could still drive straight with its steering wheel cocked about 15 degrees to the left, but something was clearly off. I made an appointment at our local Ram dealer for the following week. In the meantime, features editor Scott Evans took the Power Wagon on a weekend camping trip. On his way back home to Los Angeles, I got the following text:
By the time the Power Wagon made it back to the MT garage, the wheel had wrapped nearly 180 degrees around, so that it was completely upside down while driving straight. Adding insult to injury, once the wheel crossed the 90-degree mark, a “Service Electronic Braking System” message appeared, and cruise control stopped working.
Early the following morning, I took our battered Power Wagon back into the dealer to have the steering straightened out and the electronic warnings cleared. I was given a Jeep Grand Cherokee loaner, and six days later, with little communication other than “We’re working on it,” I picked our Power Wagon back up.
The steering wheel was certainly straighter than before, but it still looked and felt a little off. Not wanting to nitpick, I put the thought in the back of my mind and went on with my life.
I probably should’ve nitpicked.
Over the next week, like clockwork, the steering wheel slowly made its now annual trip round the dial, reaching about 25 degrees off-center to the left by the time I made it back to the same Ram dealer exactly a week after I’d picked it up.
This time, a new service advisor helped me out. He took the Power Wagon in but didn’t have a loaner available for me. So I hopped into a Lyft and got on with my life. Four days later, again after little real communication, I was told our Ram was fixed (again).
Our service advisor told me that the truck had just needed an alignment to get it sorted again. Not buying his story, I asked him why it took a combined 10 days for what should’ve taken 30 minutes. I was told (and this is a direct quote), “The reason for the crooked steering was because the alignment was way out of spec. Because the truck is so new it took the tech a few days of working on it to get the specs from Chrysler and get it right. It won’t [get off center] again.”
Now you probably know as well as I do—but the Ram Power Wagon ain’t exactly new. It may have received an update last year, but the current-generation Power Wagon has largely been unchanged since 2011. I fired a quick email off to Ram’s media team and had my suspicions confirmed.
Nevertheless, the Power Wagon was finally fixed, and it’s been running issue-free since. My experiences with FCA products over the years have still been largely positive, but this latest experience certainly shows the uphill battle automakers like FCA face.
Read more on our long-term Ram 2500 Power Wagon here:
The post 2018 Ram 2500 Power Wagon Long-Term Update 2: Dealership Dilemma and Shifty Steering appeared first on Motor Trend.
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