2020 Ram 2500 — Known Issues & Recalls

When you pressed the brake pedal, the hydraulic brake booster started leaking brake fluid into the cabin, and your brakes failed. You were backing up your sister's driveway when you hit a telephone pole with the rear of the truck, causing a small dent. The brake system will need inspection and likely replacement of the hydraulic booster and brake fluid lines to restore braking function.

Your brake pedal may feel spongy with excessive travel before the brakes engage, and the brake system may not build enough pressure to stop the truck effectively. This issue has been reported by multiple 2500 owners online, but the manufacturer has been unresponsive to complaints. A dealer inspection of your brake system, including the master cylinder and brake lines, will be needed to diagnose and correct the problem.

Your parking brake won't work because the gear teeth inside it are broken, leaving it stuck in the up position. This is a safety concern since your truck can't stay parked safely on hills, especially when you're regularly towing heavy loads over 12,000 pounds. The dealership refused to cover this under warranty even though it happened at just over 30,000 miles. Fixing this will likely involve replacing the parking brake assembly or gear mechanism.

Your brake pedal requires excessive travel and feels spongy, making it difficult to stop the vehicle—you often have to push the pedal nearly to the floor to achieve adequate braking. The dealership told you this is normal, but the issue has persisted since you bought the truck new. This typically indicates air in the brake lines or low brake fluid, which reduces braking effectiveness and may compromise safety. A brake system flush, fluid level check, or bleeding of the brake lines should resolve the problem.

Your engine is leaking oil significantly, which is a known problem affecting many vehicles of this model. Additionally, a grid heater bolt can fail and cause engine damage. The oil leaks create environmental concerns and leave residue on roads.

Your check engine light came on due to a P0542 code related to a heating element relay, which your dealer confirmed is a known issue with a technical service bulletin available. The dealer is refusing to cover the repair under your powertrain warranty, even though the warranty should still be active. Fixing this will likely involve replacing the faulty relay or related heating element components in your engine management system.

Your truck is displaying diagnostic code P2609, which relates to the diesel glow plug grid heater system. This issue appeared at 38,000 miles and needs repair to prevent potential fire risk, similar to problems that have triggered recalls on other model years of this vehicle.

While towing your trailer, the trailer's brakes and lights cut out and turn back on randomly, even after having the trailer wiring repaired. This creates a serious safety hazard since other drivers may not see your trailer or expect sudden brake light changes, putting you at risk of accidents.

Your hood liner keeps falling out of its mounting points near the engine firewall, even after the dealer has replaced it three times. This appears to be a design flaw where the shaped material isn't holding the liner securely in place. There's a risk that the liner could completely drop onto the engine while you're driving, which could cause damage or create a safety hazard. The fix would likely involve redesigning or reinforcing the hood liner mounting system to prevent it from coming loose.

While driving on the highway, smoke began pouring out of your vents, and you discovered a fire had started behind the radio in your truck. The fire spread rapidly, and the entire cab was engulfed in flames within minutes. This electrical fire poses an immediate safety risk and requires investigation of the wiring and components behind the dashboard radio.

Your diesel engine's intake heater core has a bolt that can come loose from inside the manifold and fall into a cylinder, potentially causing severe engine damage. This is a serious mechanical problem that could lead to complete engine failure if the bolt gets lodged in the wrong place.

Your truck's engine has been damaged by a failed high-pressure fuel pump that leaked diesel fuel into the engine oil, causing severe contamination and internal wear. You experienced misfires, loss of power, and knocking noises, and an oil analysis confirmed fuel dilution over 10%, which thickened your oil and damaged engine components. Even though Chrysler has recalled this fuel pump for similar trucks, your vehicle wasn't included in the recall despite showing all the same symptoms. Fixing this will likely require fuel pump replacement, engine oil system flush, and possible engine rebuild or replacement.

Your DEF (diesel exhaust fluid) pump has failed twice, causing your truck to be limited to 5 mph after a countdown timer expires, making the vehicle undrivable at normal speeds. The dealership discovered that a clogged exhaust system led to the DEF pump failure and also caused your turbocharger to need replacement, though it's unclear if these problems are connected. Your truck is currently in the shop waiting for parts, with some components on backorder for potentially months. Repairs will likely involve replacing the DEF pump, turbocharger, and related fuel system components, as well as properly sealing and resetting the exhaust system.

While driving 75 mph, your brakes didn't respond normally when you pressed the pedal, and the vehicle took longer to stop than expected. When you pressed the brake pedal again, the truck suddenly stopped hard and pulled to the left, and multiple warning lights came on (ABS, 4x4, and brake warning lights). You also noticed a metallic burning smell coming from the vehicle, and the front driver's side wheel appeared bent. The issue likely involves brake system inspection and possibly wheel/suspension damage assessment.

Your truck's forward collision avoidance system is randomly activating the emergency brakes multiple times per month even when there's nothing in front of you. The dealership has confirmed there's a known software issue but refused to update it without charging you $285, even though you have an active MOPAR warranty. This safety-critical system needs a software update to prevent unexpected braking events.

Your truck is randomly shutting off while you're driving, as if you pressed the Start/Stop button. When this happens, the vehicle coasts to a stop, automatically engages the emergency brake around 3 mph, and shifts into Park—all while you're moving. You'll see a message saying "step on brake to restart" and the engine restarts normally, but the shutdown may happen again without warning. This is a serious safety issue because you lose power steering and power brakes while driving in traffic, and the problem is happening more frequently.

Your reverse gear stopped working while you were driving. This means you won't be able to back up your truck until it's repaired. The transmission will likely need to be inspected and possibly rebuilt or replaced to restore reverse functionality.

Your truck's traction control system is activating unexpectedly while driving on dry roads, causing a sudden loss of power and the vehicle to slow down dramatically. You have to pull over and restart the truck to regain normal performance. Additionally, the drive selector knob lights have started flashing intermittently and have now stopped working completely. This issue has occurred multiple times.

Your check engine light came on, and the dealer found that the high-pressure fuel pump failed and sent metal shavings into your fuel system, which then damaged the diesel particulate filter. The dealer says both the fuel pump and entire fuel system need to be replaced. This is the second time this has happened—you previously had this same component repaired under a recall, but the fix didn't hold. The repair will likely involve replacing the high-pressure fuel pump, fuel injectors, fuel lines, and diesel particulate filter to remove contamination and restore proper fuel delivery.

While driving at highway speed, you heard a knocking noise from the engine and your check engine light came on. The dealer found that the engine grid heater overheated and damaged the engine, requiring a complete engine replacement. This happened at 300,000 miles.