AtWhatMileage
Brakes · 36 owner reports

Other brake problem on the 2016 RAM 1500

2 crashes 1 fire 1 injury 4 of the 36 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 36
With an odometer reading 14
Reports per 1,000 built 0.3 per 1,000
Filed below 36,000 miles 57%
Mention a crash, fire or injury 4
Typical repair $300–$1,800
What it means when it happens High
Rank among this year's problems 14th

When other brake problem gets reported

Owners of the 2016 RAM 1500 report other brake problem at a median of 35,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 65,000 miles, from 14 reports that carried an odometer reading.

A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 14th 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 118,195 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.

57% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.

The whole distribution

Percentiles of the 14 odometer readings owners gave.
10th25thMedian 75th90th
3,805 miles 11,125 miles 32,923 miles 63,080 miles 122,000 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, 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 $300–$1,800 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 13 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2025 at 155,000 miles.

By volume the 2019 carries the most reports, with 71; the 2016 has 36. 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.

Tl* the contact owns a 2016 ram 1500. While driving approximately 50 MPH and towing a camper, the brake controller computer failed and the brakes detached warning indicator illuminated. The headlights were turned on and the automatic braking system engaged without warning. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the brake controller computer failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 10,000.

10,000 miles NHTSA complaint 1291880 filed 2016-06-22

Tl* the contact owns a 2016 ram 1500. While driving various speeds, the vehicle vibrated abnormally. The contact noticed an abnormal odor due to the braking system. The vehicle was taken to the dealer on four separate occasions to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the tires needed to be balanced and the brake rotors showed excessive wear. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified. The approximate failure mileage was 250.

250 miles NHTSA complaint 1341226 filed 2016-12-15

My 2016 ram 1500 big horn crew cab 4x4 rolled away after being parked. It had been parked for about 3 minutes then I heard a loud screeching noise, turned around as my truck started to roll and jerk down the driveway which has a slight incline. I was able to get to my truck and stop it before it hit the parked car on the other side of the road. I took my truck to the dealership, they kept it for 2 days and I was told that there were no codes recorded on the truck and that they couldn't duplicate the roll away. I have only had my truck for 6 weeks and it has less than 1200 miles on it.

1,150 miles NHTSA complaint 1344913 filed 2016-12-30

Also reported on the 2016 RAM 1500

Other engine problem

225 reports median 60k

Other steering problem

179 reports median 70k

Other fuel system problem

147 reports median 71k

Other powertrain problem

145 reports median 32k

ABS module or sensor failure

143 reports median 90k

Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure

106 reports median 55k

How far this goes

Complaints are voluntary, so 36 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 brake problem happen on the 2016 RAM 1500?

Across 14 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 35,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 65,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.

How common is other brake problem on the 2016 RAM 1500?

36 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