2020 RAM 3500 — Complaint #2178259
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION:INTERNAL:GEARS filed February 18, 2026
NHTSA complaint #2178259 (ODI reference 11718937) concerns a 2020 RAM 3500 and was filed on February 18, 2026. The owner reports the failure occurred on January 12, 2026. The vehicle had 150,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Arizona based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as power train:automatic transmission:internal:gears, 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: yes, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. 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 3500 cohort independently describe similar power train:automatic transmission:internal:gears 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 2020 RAM 3500 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2020 Ram 3500. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked and the engine was turned off, the gear shifter shifted into the drive position when the contact's minor [XXX] child entered the vehicle to retrieve an item using the steering wheel and gear shifter to enter, causing the vehicle to roll down a hill and collide with a tree. The impact resulted in significant damage to the passenger side door, bumper, and truck bed. Although a child was inside the vehicle at the time of the incident, no injuries were reported following the collision. No air bags deployed. The vehicle was towed to a dealer where it had notyet been inspected. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 150,000. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2178259 |
| ODI Number | 11718937 |
| Date Filed | February 18, 2026 |
| Failure Date | January 12, 2026 |
| VIN | 3C7WRTCL8LG |
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.