Engine sensor failure on the 2014 RAM 1500
When engine sensor failure gets reported
Owners of the 2014 RAM 1500 report engine sensor failure at a median of 110,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 31st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 160,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 152,022 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.
36% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5,600 miles | 7,435 miles | 110,000 miles | 127,885 miles | 157,622 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
Putting it right typically runs $180–$900 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 4 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 70,000 miles, and latest on the 2015 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 2015 carries the most reports, with 23; the 2014 has 18. 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.
December 16, 2014 check engine light came on. I took it to dealer and they said it was o2 sensor. They reset it and told me to blow 3.0 diesel engine out. Check engine light came back on as well as a message that DEF fluid was wrong. I called dealer and they said bring it back in. Dealer called me back and said I needed new catalytic converter but it was on back order and they couldn't give me a date. Dealer told me truck was ok to drive. December 24, 2014 a warning message came up on truck that said truck would cut off in 190 miles and would not re start. Dealer now has truck and still can't give me a date on when it will be fixed. They did tell me that there were 82 other trucks in the system like mine. There is an issue with the 3.0 ecodiesel engine and chrysler has no fix or won't tell anyone what is happening. *tr
December 16, 2014 check engine light came on. I took it to dealer and they said it was o2 sensor. They reset it and told me to blow 3.0 diesel engine out. Check engine light came back on as well as a message that DEF fluid was wrong. I called dealer and they said bring it back in. Dealer called me back and said I needed new catalytic converter but it was on back order and they couldn't give me a date. Dealer told me truck was ok to drive. December 24, 2014 a warning message came up on truck that said truck would cut off in 190 miles and would not re start. Dealer now has truck and still can't give me a date on when it will be fixed. They did tell me that there were 82 other trucks in the system like mine. There is an issue with the 3.0 ecodiesel engine and chrysler has no fix or won't tell anyone what is happening. *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2014 dodge ram 1500. When the accelerator pedal was depressed, the vehicle failed to accelerate and the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the throttle position sensor needed to be updated and the emc required multiple updates. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failures. The failure mileage was 5,600. Updated 09/15/15*lj updated 10/31/2017*cn
Also reported on the 2014 RAM 1500
Other steering problem
Other engine problem
Other powertrain problem
ABS module or sensor failure
Other electrical problem
Other fuel system problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 18 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 engine sensor failure happen on the 2014 RAM 1500?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 110,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is engine sensor failure on the 2014 RAM 1500?
18 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