2018 RAM Promaster City

My vehicle has shut off on several occasions while driving. No oil or engine light appeared on, but my oil was very low. No ill or negative indicators came up whatsoever. The vehicle stopped in places which I was not able to stay or park at. Some people were honking because my vehicle was blocking traffic. I believe the first time I encountered the problem was around 106,000miles. The problem has continued up to now at 120,00miles. Dealerships and myself have added oil but the problem continues with no indicators communicating an issue, though there clearly is one.

The contact owns a 2018 Ram Promaster City. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light and the throttle control system warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was unsure of the diagnostic results; however, the contact was informed that the vehicle would be repaired under an unstated recall. The dealer performed an unstated test on the vehicle and then informed the contact that the vehicle could not be repaired because the vehicle was no longer under recall. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 139,405.

I am not contacting NTSA to report a new safety concern but rather reporting that a fix addressing a known safety concern is not working. The concern is associated with a recall notice of 2015-2018 FCA vehicles with 4 cylinder Tigershark engines (a pertinent excerpt of the notice is shown below with emphasis added). The recall is to check for excess oil consumption which could trigger a vehicle stall, a serious safely concern. To address this potential problem the recall notice authorizes a oil consumption inspection which basically involves the inspection of oil level on the vehicle’s dipstick after it is driven for a while to measure if excess oil consumption has occurred. The problem with this inspection is that it requires the vehicle to be returned to the dealership after 1500 to 1700 mile interval. According to FCA, any exceedance of this short mileage window invalidates the inspection. This is a problem for individuals that use their vehicle primarily for long road trips. The conditions of the inspection are not practical. I contacted FCA to authorize the test be completed after 3000 miles (the dealer indicated the test would not be accepted by FCA because the 1700 mile requirement was exceeded). They showed no flexibility on the required test parameter and really couldn’t explain why the narrow window for reinspection was technically sound. They had the audacity to state that if I was to have the inspection repeated, I would have to pay for it. The inspection to detect excessive oil consumption presumably resulted from the manufacturer selling defective engines. A two hundred mile window for the reinspection is so narrow that the recall notice to address a potential safety issue associated with the excess oil consumption should be considered a sham recall notice.

Driving on the expressway and the electrical gages started acting erratic then the motor turned off while driving. When the vehicle turned off we lost all control of the vehicle at 70 MPH. We hit the brakes hard causing traffic issues and stopped in traffic and could not move and had to call a tow truck to move the vehicle. Towed the vehicle to the dealer that said the motor was bad and that FCA would have to replace it. We were told prior to this happening that the van had recalls but ours was fine.

When driving down the hill of our neighborhood road, while approaching the stop sign to turn onto the main road, the van stalled. With no advanced notice, the vehicle lost all ability to accelerate, brake and turn. This resulted in the van stopping halfway into the middle of the main road. This is the second time that this issue has occurred. The first time the car was towed to the dealership and they had it for 2 weeks to 'just do an oil change'. Knowing oil is the cause for the unsafe "safety mechanism" to be triggered we added a couple of quarts until the vehicle was able to start and drove it back up the hill to our home.

THE LOW OIL SENSOR DOES NOT GIVE ANY TYPE OF WARNING, MESSAGE, OR STORE A FAULT CODE IN THE VEHICLE. THIS VEHICLE IS NORMALLY DRIVEN BY MY WIFE OR DAUGHTER. ON 2 OCCASIONS THE VEHICLE HAS BEEN IN MOTION COMING UP TO A STOP SIGN AND WHEN THE BRAKES WERE APPLIED THE VEHICLE DIED AND WOULD NOT RESTART. AFTER A PERIOD OF TIME, APPROXIMATELY 15 MINUTES IN THE FIRST CASE, THE VEHICLE WAS ABLE TO BE RESTARTED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE LOCAL DODGE/RAM DEALER. THE VEHICLE WAS CHECKED FOR FAULT CODES AND NONE WHERE FOUND, AND THE VEHICLE WAS PERFORMING NORMALLY AT THIS TIME. UPON SPEAKING WITH THE SERVICE ADVISOR ABOUT WHAT OCCURRED, HE INFORMED ME THAT MOST LIKELY IT WAS THE LOW OIL SENSOR. HE INFORMED ME THAT ON THIS VEHICLE THE LOW OIL SENSOR DOES NOT DISPLAY A MESSAGE OR SET A CODE, IT SIMPLY SHUTS OFF THE MOTOR. HE SAID THE SENSOR COULD BE ACTIVATED BY A BRAKING ACTION, AND IN THAT CASE IT WOULD SHUT OFF THE ENGINE WITH NO WARNING. HE SAID AFTER A PERIOD OF TIME WHEN THE OIL SETTLED BACK ON THE SENSOR THE VEHICLE WOULD RESTART WITH NO ISSUE. IN THE SECOND CASE, THE VEHICLE WAS APPROACHING A STOP SIGN WHEN THE VEHICLE IN FRONT OF IT BRAKED HARD UNEXPECTEDLY. WHEN THE BRAKES WERE APPLIED, THE ENGINE SHUT OFF, POWER STEERING AND BRAKES WERE LOST AND ALMOST RESULTED IN A REAR END COLLISION WITH THE VEHICLE IN FRONT OF IT. IN THIS CASE, THE VEHICLE WOULD NOT RESTART UNTIL ADDITIONAL OIL WAS ADDED. LUCKILY IN BOTH CASES THIS OCCURRED IN LOW SPEED RESIDENTIAL AREA STREETS. BUT, IF THIS OCCURRED IN A HIGHWAY OR HIGHER SPEED SETTING THE RESULTS COULD HAVE BEEN MUCH WORSE. HIGHER SPEEDS, UNEXPECTED BRAKING, VEHICLE LOSS OF CONTROL. THE OIL CONSUMPTION ON THIS VEHICLE IS OUTRAGEOUS. I DID HAVE THE OIL CONSUMPTION RECALL TEST PERFORMED ON THIS VEHICLE, BUT I DO NOT FEEL THAT IT WAS CONDUCTED PROPERLY BY THE DEALER. AND I AM TOLD THAT THEY WILL NOT RE-PERFORM THE TEST.