1997 DODGE RAM 2500 — Complaint #972783
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about FUEL SYSTEM, OTHER:STORAGE:TANK ASSEMBLY:PRESSURE RELIEF DEVICES filed April 8, 2013
NHTSA complaint #972783 (ODI reference 10507509) concerns a 1997 DODGE RAM 2500 and was filed on April 8, 2013. The owner reports the failure occurred on November 1, 1996. The vehicle had 6 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 fuel system, other:storage:tank assembly:pressure relief devices, 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 2500 cohort independently describe similar fuel system, other:storage:tank assembly:pressure relief devices 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 1997 DODGE RAM 2500 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 1997 DODGE RAM 2500. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE VEHICLE WAS PARKED FOR SEVERAL WEEKS AND APPROXIMATELY ONE QUARTER TANK OF GASOLINE EVAPORATED. THE FAILURE RECURRED FIFTEEN TIMES. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO TWO DIFFERENT DEALERS BUT NEITHER COULD DETERMINE THE CAUSE FOR THE FAILURE. FIFTEEN YEARS PASSED AND THE CONTACT BEGAN TO SMELL GASOLINE WHEN EXITING THE VEHICLE. HE ALSO NOTICED GASOLINE FUEL LEAKING FROM THE VEHICLE. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC FOR DIAGNOSIS AND THE CONTACT WAS INFORMED THAT THE FUEL PUMP WAS LEAKING AND BASED ON THE COMPONENTS THAT WERE SURROUNDING THE FUEL PUMP, HAD BEEN LEAKING FOR QUITE SOME TIME. THE PRESSURE RELIEF ROLL OVER VALVE WAS IDENTIFIED AS THE CAUSE OF THE FAILURE. THE VEHICLE WAS REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED BUT OFFERED NO ASSISTANCE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 6 AND THE CURRENT MILEAGE WAS 43,385. UPDATED 6/14/13 *CN
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 972783 |
| ODI Number | 10507509 |
| Date Filed | April 8, 2013 |
| Failure Date | November 1, 1996 |
| VIN | 3B7KF23W5VM |
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.