- Vehicles
- 385,686
- Built between
- Aug 2002 – Jul 2003
- Models
- 3
- Recall type
- Vehicle
- Initiated by
- NHTSA investigation
- Owners notified
- 16 March 2016
- Repaired
- 20%
- Unrepaired
- 205,398
Safety advisories
Do not drive this vehicle
NHTSA and the manufacturer advise that affected vehicles should not be driven until the recall repair has been completed. Contact your dealer to arrange the repair, and ask about transport in the meantime.
Does this affect my vehicle?
This recall covers vehicles built between August 2002 and July 2003. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.
- 2003 Dodge RAM 1500Built August 2002 to July 2003
- 2003 Dodge RAM 2500Built August 2002 to July 2003
- 2003 Dodge RAM 3500Built August 2002 to July 2003
Repair progress
205,398 of 385,686 vehicles in this recall had still not been repaired as of Q3 2017.
20% repaired — 78,178 of 385,686 reported
- Owners not reachable
- 21,968
- Scrapped or exported
- 80,142
Manufacturers file these figures with NHTSA each quarter. Vehicles the manufacturer could not trace, or that have been scrapped or exported, are counted separately and are not included in the unrepaired figure.
What the defect is
Chrysler (FCA US LLC) is recalling certain model year 2003 Dodge Ram 1500, 2500, and 3500 trucks manufactured August 29, 2002, to July 25, 2003 to address a safety defect in the passenger side frontal air bag inflator which may produce excessive internal pressure causing the inflator to rupture upon deployment of the air bag. This recall addresses both the passenger side frontal air bags that were originally installed in the vehicles, as well as replacement air bags that may have been installed as replacement service parts. A replacement air bag may have been installed, as one example, if a vehicle had been in a crash necessitating the replacement of the passenger side frontal air bag.
What could happen
In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passengers frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.
What gets fixed
Owners are advised not to drive their vehicle until the recall repair is complete. Owners are advised not to drive their vehicles until the remedy is completed. Chrysler will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag, free of charge. The recall began on March 16, 2016.
Timeline
- Vehicles builtAugust 2002 to July 2003
- Recall reported to NHTSA26 May 2015
- Owners notified16 March 2016
- Latest repair reportQ3 2017 — 20% repaired
Your rights
A safety recall repair is free. Under US federal law the manufacturer must fix a safety defect at no cost to you — no charge for parts, labor or diagnosis — whether or not you are the original owner. A dealer cannot charge you for recall work, and cannot require you to have bought the vehicle from them.
That entitlement is not unlimited. It applies where the vehicle was first sold less than 15 years before the recall was announced — 5 years for tires. Past that a manufacturer may still do the repair free of charge, and many do, but they are no longer obliged to. This recall was reported on 26 May 2015.
To arrange the repair, contact any franchised dealer for the brand. If a dealer refuses the work or tries to charge for it, you can report that to NHTSA at nhtsa.gov/recalls or on 1-888-327-4236.
Manufacturer contact
Owners may contact Chrysler customer service at 1-800-853-1403. Chrysler's number for this recall is R26. Note: This recall partially supersedes recall 14V770.
Official source
- Manufacturer's recall number
- R26
- Recalling manufacturer
- Chrysler (FCA US LLC)
- Recall initiated by
- ODI
Everything on this page — the models listed, the build dates and the repair figures — comes from the manufacturer's filing to NHTSA and describes the vehicle line as a whole, not any individual car. Only the manufacturer can confirm whether a specific vehicle is affected, and whether its recall work has already been carried out. Check yours by VIN and read the official notice at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Additional notes
Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.
Check your own vehicle
This page describes the recall, not any one car. To see which recalls cover a specific vehicle, search by make, model and year.
A VIN lookup here identifies your vehicle and shows recalls issued for that make, model and year. It cannot tell you what is still open on your individual car - only the manufacturer knows that. Search by VIN instead, or check your VIN at nhtsa.gov for whether a recall is still open on your individual car.