2015 RAM 3500: what breaks, and at what mileage

The failures owners actually file about

Owners have reported 41 named failure modes on the 2015 RAM 3500, and the three most-reported carry 30% of everything filed, which is an unusually even spread for one model year.

Other powertrain problem leads with 26 reports, about 0.2 per 1,000 vehicles and with the middle half of reports between 2k to 70,000 miles.

Other engine problem follows with 20 reports, usually reported between 11k to 35,000 miles. 2 of those reports mention a fire.

Other steering problem follows with 15 reports, usually reported between 22k to 40,000 miles.

By system, the reports fall mostly into transmission (27), engine (24) and wheels (21).

What happens when these parts fail

Across the named modes, 3 mention a crash, 10 a fire and 4 an injury. Those are the words owners used in their own complaints, and NHTSA does not verify them, but they are the closest thing in this data to a measure of what a failure actually did.

The average severity weight across every report on this year is 4.14, where a stalled engine or a failed airbag weighs many times more than a rattling trim panel, and a figure this high means the reports are dominated by failures with safety consequences rather than annoyances. The weighting is set out in full on the methodology page.

What the top failures cost to put right, as editorial estimates for an independent US shop rather than figures from NHTSA: other powertrain problem at $400–$4,500, other engine problem at $300–$4,000, other steering problem at $350–$2,400 and other wheel or tire problem at $200–$1,500. Dealer labour, a seized bolt or a part that is no longer made can push any of these past the top of its range.

28% of the reports on this year sit in the engine, transmission, drivetrain or cooling systems — the four where a repair bill is usually four figures.

How often, against how many were built

Scaled by an estimate of how many of these cars exist, the 2015 RAM 3500 draws about 1.6 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 76th percentile of complaint rates among 2015 vehicles we can rate.

That denominator is the weakest number on the page and it is fair to say so plainly. Rate per 1,000 uses a fleet-size estimate derived from recall paperwork for this exact model year. It is a lower bound.

The working figure is 127,691 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 2015 vehicles, which is what the risk score uses, is far more robust than the rate itself.

Recalls on the 2015 model year

NHTSA has issued 16 recall campaigns covering the 2015 RAM 3500, affecting an estimated 649,680 vehicles. A recall is a different kind of evidence from a complaint: it is the regulator and the manufacturer agreeing that something has to be fixed, and the fix is free for as long as the car exists.

The campaigns cover air bags:side/window:curtain, wheels:lugs/nuts/bolts/studs, latches/locks/linkages:tailgate:latch and steering:linkages:drag:link:connection. Whether the work was actually done on the car in front of you is a question only the VIN can answer, and the manufacturer or NHTSA will answer it free.

One caution about reading these together: a recall usually raises the complaint count for the same part, because owners who read about it go and file. The mileages stay informative; the counts get noisy.

How 2015 compares with the other years

High risk for a 2015 — 134th riskiest of the 273 2015 vehicles we can rate. The comparison is always within the same model year, so an older car is never penalised for having had longer to break.

Across the 14 model years of this car that carry enough reports to score, 2023 comes out best at 66 and 2022 worst at 80, with 2015 itself at 72.

If the model year is negotiable, 2023 and 2025 score lower than 2015 by a margin worth acting on. Same body, same engines, different luck — usually a supplier change or a mid-cycle fix, which the complaint data can show but never explain.

Within the 2013–2018 generation specifically, 2015 is the strongest year at 72 and 2018 the weakest at 77.

What the numbers say to check

The mileages below are where the first quarter of reports for each mode had already been filed, which makes them the point at which a fault is worth looking for rather than the point at which it happens: other powertrain problem from about 2k, other wheel or tire problem from about 8k, other engine problem from about 11k and other steering problem from about 22k.

On a 2015 RAM 3500 with more miles than that on it, the useful question to put to a seller or a mechanic is whether other powertrain problem has been dealt with, and if so with what parts and at whose expense. A car that has already had the repair is in a different position from one that has not.

Treat it as where to point the inspection, not as a prediction. A well-maintained example can sail past every mileage on this page, and a neglected one can fail well before the first of them.

What this page cannot tell you

205 owner reports; fleet size estimated from this year's own recall paperwork. Every count on this page is therefore a floor: it is the number of owners who went to the trouble of filing with a federal agency, which is a small and self-selected fraction of the owners who had the fault.

Of those 205 reports, 146 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 71% of the sample rather than all of it. Owners also round: readings pile up on multiples of ten thousand, which is why this site publishes "about 90,000 miles" and not "91,438".

The failure modes are assigned by software reading the owner's own words, which is accurate in bulk and wrong in individual cases. A mode with a handful of reports may contain a misfiled one.

And nothing here predicts what one car will do. These are other people's complaints, filed years apart, on cars maintained by strangers. Read the page as a map of where this model year has previously gone wrong, then have the specific car in front of you inspected.