[blasola65]

Just got my truck and have been very happy with it. On our first trip, I was parked at a trailhead and when I pulled out to leave I hit a 2 ft high boulder in the grass. I hit it at maybe 2-3mph as it was a foot or less from my truck bumper. I backed up and got out to see what happened. I had a small dent in the chrome of the drivers side bumper. I get back in the truck and I cant move the steering wheel! I turned it on and off a few times but that didnt fix it. I noticed the ESC light was on. I pushed the ESC off button but that didnt help. I called a dealership and they suggested disconnecting the battery to clear the system. That didnt work either. I had to get it towed to the nearest town with a Ram dealership and since it was Saturday afternoon I had to stay till Monday for it to open. They fixed it, said they had to reset all the codes to clear it. They said that the impact set off the sensor. Why would you ever want your steering to lock up? What if I were driving on the highway and hit an animal and my steering locked up? Does anyone else think this is crazy? Its a truck, you might bump a few things once in awhile!

I don't really know what I should do. Who do I talk to about this? Of course, it didnt happen in the town where I bought it so they don't have anything to go on except my explanation. Anyone else had this happen? Any thoughts on what action I can take?
thanks

 

[seiko]

I'm new to the truck, just bought it recently and going through a learning curve. I stand corrected, if my conclusion are off.

I don't like the fact, that momentary errors shut down things, especially if the issue is no longer there. It stores it and depending on which sensor it affected, you lose use of vehicle. When I had the engine light come on, momentary error, it disable the remote start. It had to be reset before that worked.

Also, just to clear an error, you need to go to dealership, make you wait to reset it. Or incur cost, if out of town. Don't like that dependance on dealership. When off warranty, I fear, it can be a money grab.

If it becomes an issue where I have to get error codes reset, I may invest in the Edge CS/CTS monitor or similar products, just to clear errors and monitor what going on. I'm looking into it, just in case it happens too often, hopefully I don't have to. May consider it when off warranty.

I don't want to depend on dealerships, so will do/learn what will reduce that possible bondage.

 

[blasola65]

Update

I spoke to the techs at my dealership this morning and they came up with 2 possible options:
1. something physically locked up like the ball joint. Not likely as the dealer cleared the codes and it worked again.
2. The impact of the "crash" was enough to set off the clock spring mechanism in the steering column which locks up when air bags are deployed. I hit it right below the threshold to set off airbags but still initiate sensor. To clarify it was the steering angle sensor that they reset.
This seems like a more likely reason, however its still troubling to me that I could set it off at such a low impact.
I had him enter it into my file and state that I have concerns that this will happen again. He also is entering it into the Star program, which is some chrysler group blog for them I think.
Not sure what else I can do? Leaves me very weary of going off road and scraping a rock or log and being stranded!

 

[Hershey]

I spoke to the techs at my dealership this morning and they came up with 2 possible options:
1. something physically locked up like the ball joint. Not likely as the dealer cleared the codes and it worked again.
2. The impact of the "crash" was enough to set off the clock spring mechanism in the steering column which locks up when air bags are deployed. I hit it right below the threshold to set off airbags but still initiate sensor. To clarify it was the steering angle sensor that they reset.
This seems like a more likely reason, however its still troubling to me that I could set it off at such a low impact.
I had him enter it into my file and state that I have concerns that this will happen again. He also is entering it into the Star program, which is some chrysler group blog for them I think.
Not sure what else I can do? Leaves me very weary of going off road and scraping a rock or log and being stranded!

I think you have every right to be worried. I would make a report to the NTSB website with a detailed report on what happened - it may lead to a safety recall. If no one reports these things, it doesn't get fixed. Recalls don't happen unless they are safety related.