Ram 2500
Problems & Worst Years

Few vehicles in this data set have a single model year as dominant as the 2018 Ram 2500's: it logged 2,375 total complaints, several times more than the other four years in this range combined, with safety-flagged complaints alone reaching 17. The overwhelming driver is cruise control that disengages on its own — reported 906 times — paired with a related cruise control malfunction complaint logged 873 times, together accounting for roughly three-quarters of the year's entire complaint volume. ABS module failure and broader ABS and traction control malfunctions fill out the rest of the top five, under recalls including 18E096, 18V332, 19V021, and 24V896.

That ABS and traction control theme actually started the year before: the 2017 model shows ABS and traction control system failure as its top complaint at 226 occurrences, safety-flagged, alongside a hydraulic control unit failure (89, also safety-flagged) and further ABS module problems, under recalls 17V562, 18E096, 18V332, and 19V021. The 2016 model, by comparison, centers on brake malfunctions leading to loss of control, throttle delay, and steering column slack, under an earlier set of recalls including 15V592 and 17V821.

Complaint volume falls off considerably after 2018 — down to 88 in 2019 and 71 in 2020 — with the focus shifting to high-pressure fuel pump failures causing engine stalling, under a fresh batch of recalls: 19V498, 19V635, 20V043, 21V880, and 22V140.

Given the sheer scale of the 2018 model's cruise control problem and the ABS issues that preceded it in 2017, those two years demand the closest look of the five — confirming that the relevant recalls were completed on a specific truck is essential, not optional, before buying either model year. The later years' fuel pump recalls are worth the same VIN check. As with any used truck, these complaint totals capture what owners reported to NHTSA rather than a measured failure rate, the most recent years here have simply had less time to accumulate reports than 2017 or 2018 did, and a pre-purchase inspection alongside full service history will tell a buyer more than the recall record or model year alone.