Other powertrain problem on the 2003 Dodge RAM 2500
11 crashes 2 injuries 1 death 14 of the 40 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 2500 report other powertrain problem at a median of 12,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 7,500 miles and a quarter after 45,000 miles, from 28 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 92,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 87,880 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.
68% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4,070 miles | 7,804 miles | 11,650 miles | 44,314 miles | 91,950 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, 11 a crash, 2 an injury and 1 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 2003, at a median of 12,500 miles, and latest on the 1998 at 105,000 miles.
By volume the 2004 carries the most reports, with 88; the 2003 has 40. 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.
Consumer pulled into a parking space and placed the vehicle in park with engine on and got out of the car. About 40 seconds later, heard a crash. The vehicle had rolled backwards and hit another moving car. Took to dodge and they stated consumer was not shifting properly. Ts the shift lever stops between park and reverse and then slowly disengages itself, resulting in roll-a-way. Consumers wife was present in the vehicle at the time of the crash and is now under doctors supervision. *jg
I have a 2003 2500 dodge ram diesel with 15,000 miles on it. I have just begun experiencing transmission troubles. As I'm driving 80 MPH down the freeway the truck will all of a sudden (on its own) slip down into 2nd gear (not 3rd, but 2nd) while going 80. The engine is red-lining and about to blow. I check the dash and the column and all say it is still in d(rive) when in fact it's in 2nd. It has also happened that while driving on the freeway the truck just shifts into neutral all by itself and the dash and column say it is still in d(rive); revs are high but no engagement (while in the fast lane and quickly dropping to zero in speed.) the only other weird thing that's happened is while merging onto the freeway and trying to pick up speed the truck would not shift to the next gear and started to red-line. I quickly look down to make sure that I had not somehow accidentally put it in 2nd gear. Nope, it was in d(rive), just not moving on to the next gear and well into 3,800 revs stuck in whatever gear it was. The dealer is dealing with it now, but are swearing up, down and backwards that they don't have any problems with this…
Vehicle is a 2003 dodge 2500, serial #x3g-790016 and it jumps from park into reverse. Vehicle has approx 10,000 miles and this happened the day before we were to leave for ellensburg, wa on central ave in great falls and then again in ellensburg at a goodwill store parking lot. I had a good friend killed by this happening on a ford truck so am very concerned that it be taken care of. The friend was woodrow mccracken in the late 60's or early 70's at conrad, mt. I have contacted chrysler and the dealer, but have been waiting over a week to hear back from chrysler legal. Accident happened in ellensburg wa and the police report number is e03=09377. It was reported to my insurance (safeco) and that claim number is #844587412007 just think this should be reported. Dick brown. *ak
Also reported on the 2003 Dodge RAM 2500
Other body or interior problem
Other steering problem
Other suspension problem
Airbag inflator rupture
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 40 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 2500?
Across 28 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 12,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 7,500 miles and a quarter after 45,000 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 2500?
40 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 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