The 2022 Ram 1500 and 2022 Jeep Wagoneer with the 5.7-liter V8 eTorque system are now being probed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Complaints by owners that the vehicles can lose power, shift into park and apply the emergency brake prompted this move by the NHTSA.
According to documents posted on the NHTSA website, there are now 80 complaints related to this issue. The common trend from said complaints is that “the vehicle’s engine would shut off, often while traveling at slow speed, the vehicle would shift into park and apply the emergency brake.” After that, the vehicles were “sometimes” able to be restarted, and many complaints state that a malfunction warning light with a battery fault symbol would appear on the dash. Another common note is a “low voltage condition fault” would be present, and the driver wouldn’t be able to restart the vehicle.
A recall of 2021 model year Ram 1500s with the 5.7-liter eTorque for an engine stall is thought to be unrelated to this issue with the 2022 model year vehicles. In that recall, a software issue caused an incorrect fuel mixture in the engine. Meanwhile, Ram/Jeep stated that “the loss of motive power was likely not caused by an over-rich fuel condition (as outlined in recall 23V-265), but rather some other cause (e.g., an electrical concern that causes the engine to shut down).”
A total of 150,000 vehicles could be affected by this, but note that NHTSA is still in the investigative stages, so there is no recall issued yet. We’ll also note that there are zero accidents, injuries or deaths reported as a result of the issue under investigation. We’ll be sure to keep you updated as we learn more.