Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 2013 RAM 1500
1 fire 1 injury 2 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 control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure gets reported
Owners of the 2013 RAM 1500 report control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure at a median of 67,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 87,500 miles, from 25 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 7th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 20,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 125,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 105,794 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.
28% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20,000 miles | 25,000 miles | 68,000 miles | 88,000 miles | 125,794 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 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 $700–$3,000 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.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 12 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2023, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2017 at 140,000 miles.
By volume the 2016 carries the most reports, with 106; the 2013 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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 dodge ram 1500. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the instrument cluster failed intermittently. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the center stack control module needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 20,000 and the current mileage was 22,500.
Dash light and radio went blank. When they came back on the dash did not work correctly and the radio reset. Took to dealer and they said it needed a new control module and that it was safe to drive. When the new one came in I went to start the truck and nothing worked could not even take it out of gear to be towed to dealer. Called dealer and was told how to unlock shift selector. Since being replaced I have had it back into the dealer at least 5 times for the same original complaint. I had the module replaced again by a different dealer about a month ago. Again the same problems have started up as before. While driving the dash will go completely blank and may or may not reset with out having to turn truck off. *tr
Uconnect unit went out, no error codes it was dead no radio no A/C controls. Chrysler replaced it in august 2016. Within weeks ( sept. 17th) I was on I-59 headed out of town the entire dash went out, instruments reset came back on, 30 minutes later dash went out again and reset, 20 minutes later dash went out again. I turned around and headed back home it went out 2 more times. Speed seemed to not affect it as I was at different speeds and also in park when it went out. I have owned the vehicle for 3.5 years and never had problems until the uconnect unit went out nor did the A/C drip water on my foot and gas pedal which it has now been doing since uconnect unit was repaired now gas pedal is slick with water. I took it to the dealership on sept.19 after calling chrysler. Dealership first said BCM was bad waited to see what chrysler was going to do. Then I get told by dealership a week later that it is instrument cluster. I talked to chrysler and told them my concern something is making the electrical act up and doing research it makes sense that it could be BCM since both uconnect and instrument panel are connected to it. I now see…
Also reported on the 2013 RAM 1500
Other steering problem
Other electrical problem
Loss of power steering
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
Other engine problem
Other powertrain 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 control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure happen on the 2013 RAM 1500?
Across 25 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 67,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 87,500 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure on the 2013 RAM 1500?
47 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.5 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