2018 RAM 2500 — Complaint #2023982
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:COOLING SYSTEM:RADIATOR ASSEMBLY filed September 11, 2024
NHTSA complaint #2023982 (ODI reference 11613950) concerns a 2018 RAM 2500 and was filed on September 11, 2024. The owner reports the failure occurred on September 11, 2019. The report was geocoded to Georgia based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as engine and engine cooling:cooling system:radiator assembly, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same RAM 2500 cohort independently describe similar engine and engine cooling:cooling system:radiator assembly failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2018 RAM 2500 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2018 Ram 2500. The contact stated that while driving 70 MPH uphill and hauling a loaded trailer, the contact noticed that the radiator fan had engaged, and the vehicle made an abnormally loud shredding sound and the engine started overheating. Additionally, there was smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe and there was an abnormal coolant odor. The contact pulled over to the side of the road and inspected the vehicle. The contact noticed that the rubber part of the radiator fan shroud was stuck inside the radiator fan and was shredded, causing a hole in the rear of the radiator. The contact noticed that there was no coolant inside the reservoir. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, where the radiator, the fan, and the fan shroud were replaced; however, the failure recurred while hauling a loaded trailer. The vehicle was towed to a second dealer, Cronic Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram (2515 N Expy, Griffin, GA 30223), where the same repair was made. Additionally, the dealer ins
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2023982 |
| ODI Number | 11613950 |
| Date Filed | September 11, 2024 |
| Failure Date | September 11, 2019 |
| VIN | 3C6UR5HL3JG |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.