general problems of the 1996 Dodge RAM

1996 Dodge Ram left rear tire came off of vehicle while driving.

While inspecting the tires consumer noticed that they dry rotted and separated at the base where the tread was connected . Dealership inspected the tires, and acknowledged the failure. But did not provide the cause of the failure, instead offered consumer 50% off a new set of tires.

Front right tire separated at 65mph almost causing a major accident and possible death. Dealer was notified at 2,410 mileage about front end vibration/shimmy. No cause found. Vibration in front end reported numerous times to dealer without problem being found since it continued. Was told "normal ride" for truck. Truck experienced numerous problems with front end suspension, rattles in dash from vibration, steering column excessive play etc, etc, etc. Remaining tires show signs of bluging and cracking. Tire was defective from begining in my opinion and put me at risk! dealer rebalanced/rotated tires many times and simply concluded the vibration/shimmy was normal for truck and stated I might have a better ride when loaded. (dot number: load e tiresize: lt24575r16).

I am the owner of a 96 Dodge Ram 1500 ext. Cab truck. I purchased the truck with 33000 mile from vancouver Dodge in vancouver, washington on Jan 17, 1998. At the time of purchase the vehicle was equipped with firestone firehawk atx tires size 30 x 9. 50 r15. ( dot number: tire size: 30x9. 50r15 ).

While returning from taking children to school, left rear tire came off, causing driver to lose control.

I carry a heavy camper, although in spec for the tires, about 25% of the time. Two tires failed by tread separation at about 13000 miles, no more than 5000 miles loaded. I paid for replacements. There was lots of tread left. Two more had failed by about 25000 miles, with about 5000 miles of loaded operation. These miles were at greatly reduced speed because of fear of failure. Again I replaced the tires, they were not given to me. Goodyear says the truck is at fault, Dodge says the tires are bad. No one laughed out loud. In all cases the tires had lots of tread left and the failure was delamination around the tread area. The tires did not lose air and therefore no accident vehicle damage resulted. I went thru the customer arbitration board at Dodge, claiming they selected inappropriate tires, to no avail. A concensus of tire people was that the engine had too much torque for the tires even though no overloaded. I became concerned that, since no assurances were given that the problem would not recur, the next failure might produce a accident. I threw away 4 virtually new tires and replaced them with cooper tires at my own expense. Good tire wear and no problems have been encountered with the cooper tires in almost 20000 miles. I would be happy to provide more information if requested. (tiresize: lt24575r16)( dot number: tire size: lt24575r16 ).