Electrical fire or melted wiring on the 2003 Dodge RAM 1500
2 fires 2 of the 4 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
Only 4 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When electrical fire or melted wiring gets reported
There are 4 reports of electrical fire or melted wiring on the 2003 Dodge RAM 1500, 4 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 90,000 miles. It is the 36th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 72,152 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 2 a fire is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $1,500–$9,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure, every year of the Dodge RAM 1500
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
2003 dodge ram 1500 slt quad cab experienced over the course of the past year a malfunctioning speedometer, fuel gauge, brake warning light, ABS warning light, wiper motor, aux. Power outlet. As a result of recurring electrical defects vehicle suffered an electrical fire completely destroying it's value and use while it was parked and unattended. Owner had written complaint letters to dealership and manufacturer prior to fire incident and has service records documenting defective speedometer, replaced brake sensor (which continued to malfunction after repair), and replaced wiper motor. Other complaints were never addressed by dealer service department because "they were sporadic intermittent electrical problems that were impossible to diagnose and repair" according to service writer statements. *nm
Dodge ram 2002 has a recall that could cause a serious electrical fire and foggy windows. This problem also occurs on the 2003 model that I own as well and they do not want to repair it. I have photographs of the heat that has been caused by the under sized wiring harness to become bare and could cause a fire. I have repaired the truck my self with no help from dodge using the same repair kit for the 2002. Some dealerships will not sell me the item, one finally did. To help me out ******************mar 10, 2003 | recall id# 21715 recall reason steering:column recall date mar 10, 2003 model affected ram 1500 potential units affected 287725 recall summary on certain pickup trucks, the electrical connector at the bottom of the steering column contains an under-sized terminal for the hvac blower motor circuit. Localized heating from current flow with the blower speed set on high may cause the terminal contacts to relax and lose electrical contact. This can cause the hvac blower motor to become inoperative. Consequence this condition could cause impairment of visibility in inclement weather, increasing the risk of a crash. Remedy…
Ii own a 2003 dodge ram 1500,and my complaint is my dashboard is starting to fall apart. My issue is that the parts that are breaking off may cause an electrical short,due to the plastic falling into my electrical compartment. I am also concern it may even spark an electrical fire while I'm driving. So if you would please take this problem into consideration and investigate,because I do think it is a dodge problem not wear and tear. Thank you very much for your time. *tr
Also reported on the 2003 Dodge RAM 1500
Other body or interior problem
Airbag inflator rupture
CV axle or driveshaft failure
Other engine problem
Premature brake pad or rotor wear
Other powertrain problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 4 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 4 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does electrical fire or melted wiring happen on the 2003 Dodge RAM 1500?
Across 4 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 70,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is electrical fire or melted wiring on the 2003 Dodge RAM 1500?
4 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.0 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed