Rams Trucks Are Unsafe?

IIHS is a well respected organization. The process they follow is no secret and the auto industry knows exactly what they will test. I work in the consumer product industry and have been heavily involved in the research, design, development, quality control, and manufacturing process (not Auto). It always surprises me when a company fails some kind of well known industry test or standard. This means FCA was either negligent or made a management decision not to meet the IIHS standard (there are thousands of potential reasons).

As stated above, the product is greatly safer then past vehicles. The major marketing rule in any well known brand sold to consumers…. never give your potential customer an excuse NOT TO BUY your product. FCA just broke a major marketing rule. Maybe it is cheeper to explain it away then to actually make the changes to meet a better IIHS standard (speculative). I’m sure FCA knew at some point the 1500 would be tested. Glad i’m not in FCA's office today. Can’t imagine the onslaught coming there way.

Thanks a lot FCA… I was just about to pull the trigger on a REBEL… hours of research. Now this safety doubt is planted in my mind. At least they could of aimed for not being at the bottom of the list.

lasani1121 said:

oh well. already bought the truck.... drive carefully

Click to expand...

Safety ratings

go there and do some research.

here are my findings.

they changed the test in 2015. it used to be a moderate overlap front.

in the moderate overlap front the current generation ram did well. it received good ratings (equal to the current f150 in this years test). the f150 from that test (comparing 2014 f150 (steel) to 2014 ram in moderate overlap test) did worse than the ram.


right when the test changes in 2015 guess what else happens? ford releases the new aluminum f150. the test changes to the small overlap where everyone but the f150 does poorly.

not crying a conspiracy here im just pointing out the data is very skewed and you can't objectively make the call that any of the other brands are unsafe based off the most recent "test".

to summarize:

in 2014 and prior years the test was moderate overlap and the ram did well, better than the 2014 f150.

in 2015 the test changed to small overlap the same year the new aluminum f150 debuted. now the f150 is on top and everyone else is doing poorly in the new test.

make your own conclusions.

Its an old thread but I am going to open it back up. I believe the difference why the ford does so well is because of the weight of the vehicle. If every vehicle tested is tested at the same MPH, then it is unfair / unreal test because the lower weight a vehicle has the less energy it has to absorb on impact.

If the standard test process was based on energy it would be a more fair comparison because the heavier vehicle would have to be tested at a lower speed. In the real world, the heavier vehicle will have a better chance than the lighter vehicle if both try to occupy the same space at the same time.

We had a wreck locally where a RAM was waiting to turn left across oncoming highway traffic and someone rear ended him and pushed him into an oncoming car that resulted in the exact off set crash that was tested.

There were two people in the sedan that hit the RAM and both died sorry to say. The RAM driver was not seriously injured. It was a horrific crash to say the lease.

On a positive note, the Rebel has an all steel front and rear bumper. It should do even better than the standard RAM's.