AtWhatMileage
Transmission · 38 owner reports

Other powertrain problem on the 2006 Dodge RAM 1500

2 crashes 2 fires 3 injuries 7 of the 38 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.

Reports of this failure 38
With an odometer reading 32
Reports per 1,000 built 0.2 per 1,000
Filed below 36,000 miles 34%
Mention a crash, fire or injury 7
Typical repair $400–$4,500
What it means when it happens High
Rank among this year's problems 9th

When other powertrain problem gets reported

Owners of the 2006 Dodge RAM 1500 report other powertrain problem at a median of 67,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 142,500 miles, from 32 reports that carried an odometer reading.

A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 9th most-reported problem on this model year.

The mileage distribution

The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 162,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 156,933 miles across the middle 80% of reports.

A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.

34% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.

The whole distribution

Percentiles of the 32 odometer readings owners gave.
10th25thMedian 75th90th
5,980 miles 20,450 miles 66,500 miles 143,700 miles 162,913 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 crash, 2 a fire and 3 an injury 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 2006 has 38. 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.

What owners wrote

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.

Dt*: the contact stated there is a noise coming from the transmission. The dealership determined the noise was normal and the vehicle needed to be broken in. The noise continues to come from the transmission and now the rear end vibrates. Additionally, on five occasions while driving 60mph the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle restarted each time after five minutes. The dealer has been unable to duplicate the problem.

5,000 miles NHTSA complaint 581355 filed 2006-05-08

Vibration at 60mph. Had 2 tires replaced did not help. Dealer put 4 new tires and rims on same problem. Problem is worse when towing trailer. 5 trips to dealer and they say it is normal to have vibration. Vibration is in seat and floorboard all tires ballanced properly they claim this is normal. Have found that this only seems to be a problem with 06 dodge ram 1500 4x4s.

200 miles NHTSA complaint 598858 filed 2006-10-09

Tl*the contact owns a 2006 dodge ram 1500 regcab swb. While driving 40 MPH on a clear day the contact smelled brake fumes and heard a loud noise from inside the engine compartment. The contact looked through the rear view mirror and noticed loose metal underneath the vehicle. The contact attempted to use the shifter and the clutch, but neither worked. The vehicle eventually shut off and coasted to a strip mall. The contact exited the vehicle and entered a building when a loud noise was heard. The vehicle had ignited into flames ,causing the hood to burst open. The vehicle was completely destroyed. The vehicle was towed to earnharts dodge. The contact called the company responsible for the vehicle's warranty, and was informed that it would be one to two business days before they could respond. The warranty company failed to respond, but the insurance company arrived and had the vehicle towed to their salvage yard. A week later, an investigator from dodge stated that the contact will not be given the investigation report because a claim was filed with the insurance company. The fire investigator for state farm insurance indicated…

5,800 miles NHTSA complaint 619469 filed 2007-04-05

Also reported on the 2006 Dodge RAM 1500

Airbag inflator rupture

82 reports median 111k

Other electrical problem

47 reports median 59k

Other steering problem

47 reports median 85k

Wheel bearing or hub failure

46 reports median 54k

How far this goes

Complaints are voluntary, so 38 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 2006 Dodge RAM 1500?

Across 32 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 67,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 142,500 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 2006 Dodge RAM 1500?

38 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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