Other powertrain problem on the 2012 Dodge RAM 1500
1 crash 1 fire 1 injury 3 of the 55 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 2012 Dodge RAM 1500 report other powertrain problem at a median of 62,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 17,500 miles and a quarter after 92,500 miles, from 26 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 5th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 120,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 115,522 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.
31% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4,800 miles | 16,698 miles | 62,000 miles | 92,500 miles | 120,322 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, 1 a crash, 1 a fire and 1 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 2012 has 55. 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.
I was on vacation in smokes going up a hill. I was behind a slow moving car about 25 to 35 MPH. When all the sudden my truck starts slugging. It was like it didn't know what gear to get in. It would go high and start jerking then low. Their was a car behind me so finally I just stopped in the road to let the one in front go on. It felt like the transmission was going fall out of the truck. Now it does it just going down the road . I can push the peddle 1/4 way down and it does not respond . It shifts in to a higher gear to soon this transmission in these truck need to be recalled before someone get hurt or killed. You never know what they going to do. Guess its the cause of the vibration at 60 to higher also. I took it to dealer today and they said its all normal . How can it be normal when it was not doing it when I first got it. Guess that is their answer to every problem makes their day easer. We the people of ram owners need help .can anybody help us we pay to much for those trucks for them to ride like that. And for our peace of mind knowing that we are controlling the truck not the transmission . Don't wait to have it…
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 dodge ram 1500. The contact stated that the four wheel drive was engaged and caused the front wheels to seized. The contact was also unable to maneuver the steering wheel. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who advised the contact that the four wheel drive was operating normally and there was nothing they could do. The failure was experienced whenever the four wheel drive was engaged. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 200 and the current mileage was 5,600.
While driving at 60 MPH the truck failed to downshift for an incline on the highway loosing momentum. I depressed the accelerator pedal to the floor and nothing happened. At this point I signaled to move onto the shoulder while the truck continued to lose momentum. When I turned the steering wheel, it was difficult to move as if I had lost my power steering too. The brakes worked and I stopped on the shoulder. I placed the truck in park and back to drive: nothing happened. I placed the truck in park, turned it off, waited a couple minutes and restarted. The transmission and steering now worked. At no time did any warning light appear on the dash. I could have caused a significant pile up on the freeway during rush hour. Since no warning lights appeared on the dash--how do I know what happened--or more likely, how will the dealership find the root cause for this failure. This behavior is dangerous and unacceptable for a 2 year old truck with less than 15k miles. I use my truck to sometimes pull a horse trailer. If this incident happens again while I am towing the outcome will be disastrous. I am now scared to drive my truck. *tr
Also reported on the 2012 Dodge RAM 1500
Other engine problem
Other electrical problem
Fuel pump failure
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
Exhaust leak or fumes in the cabin
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 55 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 2012 Dodge RAM 1500?
Across 26 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 62,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 17,500 miles and a quarter after 92,500 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 2012 Dodge RAM 1500?
55 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.8 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