2003 DODGE RAM 1500 — Complaint #502781
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SERVICE BRAKES, AIR:DISC filed October 21, 2004
NHTSA complaint #502781 (ODI reference 10096180) concerns a 2003 DODGE RAM 1500 and was filed on October 21, 2004. The owner reports the failure occurred on December 9, 2003. The vehicle had 1,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Texas based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as service brakes, air:disc, 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 DODGE RAM 1500 cohort independently describe similar service brakes, air:disc 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 2003 DODGE RAM 1500 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
1) BOUGHT NEW 03 DODGE QC/LARAMIE/HEMI IN OCT 2003. 2) AT 1000 MILES MY BRAKES BEGAN TO WARP 3) AT 3,245 MILES I BROUGHT MY TRUCK IN FOR SERVICE; TOLD THE DEALER (ROCKWALL DODGE) THAT MY BRAKES WERE WARPED. THEY'RE RESPONSE WAS (ON SERVICE BILL) "BRAKE PADS WORN OUT" BUT "NO TROUBLE FOUND ON TEST DRIVE" THEY TOLD ME TO TAKE MY CAR HOME BECAUSE NOTHING WAS WRONG WITH IT. 4) FOR THE NEXT 3,000 MILES I DRIVE IT UNTIL I CANNOT HANDLE THE TRUCK ANYMORE. BRAKES MAKE THE VEHICLE SHAKE VIOLENTLY; UNDER TOWING LOADS THE VEHICLE BECOMES UNSTABLE AND UNCONTROLLABLE. I TAKE THE TRUCK BACK TO THE DEALER WHO REFUSES TO GIVE ME A RENTAL FOR WORK UNDER WARRANTY TO THE BRAKES WHICH NOW REQUIRED MY CALIPERS, ROTORS AND PADS TO BE REPLACED BECAUSE THE WARPING WAS SO SEVERE. DEALER REQUESTS I PAY FOR A RENTAL FOR THE TIME IT TAKES TO FIX THE CAR BECAUSE THEY DO NOT HAVE THE PARTS. 4) STEERING GEARS WARP WHICH CAUSES THE NEED FOR THE ENTIRE RACK ASSEMBLY TO BE REPLACED AT 14,000 MILES; MORE T
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 502781 |
| ODI Number | 10096180 |
| Date Filed | October 21, 2004 |
| Failure Date | December 9, 2003 |
| VIN | 1D7HA18D73J |
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.