Other powertrain problem on the 2003 Dodge RAM 1500
12 crashes 8 injuries 2 deaths 22 of the 47 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.
When other powertrain problem gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Dodge RAM 1500 report other powertrain problem at a median of 52,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 17,500 miles and a quarter after 77,500 miles, from 37 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 6th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 117,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 114,113 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
49% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3,887 miles | 18,000 miles | 51,584 miles | 77,642 miles | 118,000 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, 12 a crash, 8 an injury and 2 a fatality are 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 $400–$4,500 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.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 17 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2011, at a median of 30,000 miles, and latest on the 2005 at 112,000 miles.
By volume the 2005 carries the most reports, with 385; the 2003 has 47. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
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.
Transmission will not shift into reverse when left outside in the cold. Vehicle has 1200 miles on it. Vehicle was imported from canada and chrysler corp. Will not warranty, nor will selling dealer take vehicle back. I purchased vehicle 5 weeks ago. I was told by repair station that there is a recall on this vehicle because of problems with the transmission but it does not surface on carfax nor on this website because dodge does not report recalls to either. *jb
Transmission is not shifting properly. There is a period of free-wheeling when it downshifts from the od back into fourth gear, causing increased pressure to have to be applied to braking the pickup which in turn causes a jerking while braking. There is also a pause before the transmission shifts, it is slow getting into each gear and does not downshift properly. The rear-end has excessive slack to the point of startling people if nearby when shifting into gears. These have all been described as normal by the dealer. Not so! *jb
While driving down an on ramp toward the highway at about 20 MPH my entire left rear wheel assembly sheared or the side axle. This caused the vehicle to veer to the left and in fact made a complete u-turn. My travel trailer I was towing then jackknifed striking the rear quarter panel. Chrysler has denied liability. The vehicle was only 9 months only. A review of NHTSA site has shown 6 incidents within the last 5 months. Also a report filed by an engineer at chrysler axle plant report # 10007842 acknowledges that chrysler is aware of a problem in manufacturing and the heat currying. My axle is brittle and also appears to be crystallized in the interior. This is in my opinion a manufacturing defect, the total damage to my vehicle and trailer exceeds $15,000.00. *jb see voq 10059475, same incident. *jb
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 electrical problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 47 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 other powertrain problem happen on the 2003 Dodge RAM 1500?
Across 37 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 52,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 17,500 miles and a quarter after 77,500 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other powertrain problem on the 2003 Dodge RAM 1500?
47 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 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